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Halo |OT9| One Final Effort Is All That Remains

MrBig

Member
Can you or anyone else do me a better quality avatar?

iTKsatXpjCYEQ.jpg
 
Not suprised Mantis Damage being OP.
Stated it before leaks lol, but it looks slow & vulnerable enough using power weapons and vehicles from afar in demolishing it.
 
Mantis looks incredible and a bit overpowered, but I imagine it being new and people not knowing its in and outs on how to fight it is an issue. I really like it though, it really feels like a halo vehicle and yet something brand new.

On another note, can anyone tell how the water reacts? Due to killcams I couldn't see if bodies float.
Things in play:

1) It appears to be a Midship -> Heretic style remake. Same overall geometry layout with a level of spitshine, instead of an overhaul like Avalanche, Reflection, etc.

2) This is the first 360 era map to be remade. There's going to be less of a dramatic jump than a 360 remake of an OXbox era map.

3) Ragnarok is also limited in that it's a wide open map. Less opportunity to go crazy with graphical effects like Reflection because you can see most of the map most of the time instead of one small part of it.

Thats understandable, but I think it lost a little bit of its charm along with the snow. The new dirt/sand really doesn't do it justice and kinda feels a little less..lush? I mean, its such a minor thing, and in the end all that really matters is how it plays.. But I was hoping for something a little more beautiful. I think this is the first map in Halo 4 that visually has left me a little meh.
 

Fotos

Member
Not suprised Mantis Damage being OP.
Stated it before leaks lol, but it looks slow & vulnerable enough using power weapons and vehicles from afar in demolishing it.

At least the missiles dont lock on to vehicles. It would be the missile pod all over again.
 

blamite

Member
Interesting to see that Ragnarok seems to have the same kind of set weapon spawns as in Halo 3, as opposed to the random-ish drops on other maps. Snipers are always in the base, Laser always on the hill, etc.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Mantis looks incredible and a bit overpowered, but I imagine it being new and people not knowing its in and outs on how to fight it is an issue. I really like it though, it really feels like a halo vehicle and yet something brand new.

On another note, can anyone tell how the water reacts? Due to killcams I couldn't see if bodies float.


Thats understandable, but I think it lost a little bit of its charm along with the snow. The new dirt/sand really doesn't do it justice and kinda feels a little less..lush? I mean, its such a minor thing, and in the end all that really matters is how it plays.. But I was hoping for something a little more beautiful. I think this is the first map in Halo 4 that visually has left me a little meh.

I really haven't liked the ground in any of Halo 4's multiplayer maps, but I haven't remarked on it because I didn't really know how to explain it. It goes in line with my opinion of the overall graphical appearance of multiplayer, though. Ragnarok's ground does look outdated and overly flat, and whether is is a result of building off the original map or 360 limitations is up for debate. The closest map in look and feel would probably be Tempest:

HaloReachPicture-6.jpg


Halo_Reach_NobleDLC_Tempest_02.jpg
 
but he was saying it took 2 shots to take out certain vehicles, as opposed to 1. Not to mention, 4 sniper shots in a banshee didn't do too much damage.

I am excite.

Not saying that sniper versus vehicles hasn't been toned down, but when he said that in the video, the player definitely doesn't hit the banshee with all 4 shots. He missed one for sure, and I think he missed two.

Correct me if this is just poor memory from Valhalla, but it looks like they raised the railing around the base you can't just stand in the base and snipe like you could in H3.
 
Ehh, your shields recharge uber slow when you're in it, I'd say that's pretty balanced.

The fact that everyone has sprint and can spawn with plasma pistol will probably mean that this thing becomes less and less useful as time goes by. Good players will figure out how to deal with it. In BTB it's going to have 8 PP shots coming at it anywhere it goes.

Having said that: the spawn-trapping that it is capable of is certainly something to worry about, but I'd blame crappy spawns for that before I'd blame a vehicle/weapon.
 

senador

Banned
Thats understandable, but I think it lost a little bit of its charm along with the snow. The new dirt/sand really doesn't do it justice and kinda feels a little less..lush? I mean, its such a minor thing, and in the end all that really matters is how it plays.. But I was hoping for something a little more beautiful. I think this is the first map in Halo 4 that visually has left me a little meh.

Nah, I agree with you, but I did before too. The official stuff caught me off guard a bit. From the crappy offscreen stuff, it appeared to be nearly the exact same, but its not exactly. The ground isn't nearly as green, which is disappointing after seeing Solace and Complex having similar rocky/sandy ground. The rocks though are very impressive and threw me off a bit. They look great. I just wish they had added more of that vibrant green all over. Perhaps they chose not to because of the Forge environment having that look already and from Forge World being basically all green?

Overall I'm happy with it, but I can't help but think about what it would have been like as a more vibrant map or with a different aesthetic altogether.
 
RIP lush, snowy Valhalla.

I kind of agree with demoncarnotaur. Simply swapping out the ground texture with something new would have kept the map geometry and game play completely the same, but it would have given it an upgraded look and feel. So bored of the halo 3 valhalla ground

EDIT: The ground in valhalla ranks very closely with how boring forge pieces look in Reach imo.


I agree. Something about it looks like it should look amazing, but it comes off a bit flat.. Like Forge World. Honestly, snow really, really would have helped. Its so weird, the look of this map has me delfated.

I really haven't liked the ground in any of Halo 4's multiplayer maps, but I haven't remarked on it because I didn't really know how to explain it. It goes in line with my opinion of the overall graphical appearance of multiplayer, though. Ragnarok's ground does look outdated and overly flat, and whether is is a result of building off the original map or 360 limitations is up for debate.

I defintely agree with that on Exile.. That one looks very..off, ground wise. I think a little extra vegetation on both maps would help.. or a little dust/snow blowing around on the ground to hide it a bit. Also, I agree Tempest looks the closest, but Tempest pulled the look off a lot better IMO. Something seems out of place or off with Ragnarok.. Ultimately they should have made it look more like wilderness fit for gods, lush and beautiful.
 

Enfinit

Member
Ehh, your shields recharge uber slow when you're in it, I'd say that's pretty balanced.

Good point.

Sucks more getting into a badass looking vehicle and getting pulverized immediately by a red line out of nowhere. I don't see what's so difficult about hitting the slow thing twice with the laser if you're a somewhat decent player who knows how to use cover.

edit-

Without giving it much thought and possibly will regret it, I'll just say that big vehicles like the Warthog and Banshee shouldn't get destroyed by a single laser hit.
It sucks more from the perspective of the laser-wielder, especially if you have to put two shots into the thing and it remains a four-round weapon. That only leaves two shots left, of which doesn't allow a lot of wiggle room. Warthog should remain a one-shot kill with the laser, however I agree that the Mantis and Banshee should be at least two. The Banshee I could understand if it remained one, however.
 
Not saying that sniper versus vehicles hasn't been toned down, but when he said that in the video, the play definitely doesn't hit the banshee with all 4 shots. He missed one for sure, and I think he missed two.

Correct me if this is just poor memory from Valhalla, but it looks like they raised the railing around the base you can't just stand in the base and snipe like you could in H3.

He definitely missed at least one, saw that too. The bases are a little higher but you can jump on the little lip if you want to shoot over it and risk getting cross-mapped. Cool way to balance that problem IMO.
 
Mantis looks awesome, can't wait to try it out. I don't understand the people that don't think it fits in the Halo universe. I kind of have a thing for mechs and robots though.

And to rewind the conversation a bit, all those people placing Halo 2's campaign above Halo 3, gameplay-wise, need to pass whatever they're smoking. I love the narrative and the Covenant politics, but it definitely the weakest level and encounter design of the series.
 
Mantis looks awesome, can't wait to try it out. I don't understand the people that don't think it fits in the Halo universe. I kind of have a thing for mechs and robots though.

And to rewind the conversation a bit, all those people placing Halo 2's campaign above Halo 3, gameplay-wise, need to pass whatever they're smoking. I love the narrative and the Covenant politics, but it definitely the weakest level and encounter design of the series.

So confused. I thought I just responded to you. You guys and your wolf avatars.
 
Mantis looks awesome, can't wait to try it out. I don't understand the people that don't think it fits in the Halo universe. I kind of have a thing for mechs and robots though.

And to rewind the conversation a bit, all those people placing Halo 2's campaign above Halo 3, gameplay-wise, need to pass whatever they're smoking. I love the narrative and the Covenant politics, but it definitely the weakest level and encounter design of the series.

Mechs are a thing for me too. I feel like the RJ legs could definitely be heavier. Btw that thing makes the Scorpion look like a toy in size. lol...
 
In the video, the Mantis destroys a Scorpion. I would assume its for awesomeness only, and not representative of what will ship, as it would be crazy to have 2 banshees, 2 scorpions and 2 mantises on such a small map.

Right?
 

Computron

Member
I noticed something, there's a lot of DoF effects going on in the first few clips here. Is that featured in the game? Added in post? Part of theatre?

All in engine baby!

That why I have been hoping the new theatre mode would allow us more control. They could give us control of the post processes such as DOF, distortions, filters and let us control aspects of the HDR with exposure and bloom and all that.

As it is now, all those cool screenshots people used to put in their file shares were triggered manually by putting the camera into grenade explosions, through gravity hammer waves, etc...
 

senador

Banned
In the video, the Mantis destroys a Scorpion. I would assume its for awesomeness only, and not representative of what will ship, as it would be crazy to have 2 banshees, 2 scorpions and 2 mantises on such a small map.

Right?

I would think/hope so, but never know now. I would hope that is for bigger team modes. I'd still like to play Infinity Slayer on Ragnarok with just Warthogs and Mongeese. It'll be interesting to see how vehicle heavy the bigger maps are, I don't really want to play vehicle centric games for the majority of the time.
 
Hope gameplay doesn't revolve around the Mantis, looks pretty awesome.
How will it not? It's going to be another vehicle where people race to it so they can get a bunch of stupid easy kills. Reach Scorpion 2.0 or Reach Banshee 2.0 - You pick. It's just a further deviation from what I think makes the fps aspect of halo so good: the individual player, and not vehicles... (at least in matchmaking. Campaign is a different story). Vehicle mayhem can be fun, but I just can't take it seriously when it's become as obnoxious as it is in Halo3 and Reach (Reach being far worse), and soon to be Halo4. First person shooters should not revolve around bloated vehicle combat. Vehicle retardation has infiltrated halo to the extreme imo.

Headlong, Containment, and Waterworks, at least, are all good examples of maps where vehicles really can't dominate, despite their power. Valhalla simply doesn't offer that luxury. It's hide in your base or open yourself up for spawn kills. I foresee games where one team has both mechs, both banshees, and the laser, and people will cry. I know I will.

Hopefully it is tied to specific game types, though. Honestly, I want a BTB game type where there are no vehicles. I have no idea why that has never been offered. It's nice to enjoy the heart of halo game play within the confines of a larger map. But vehicles quickly take that core experience away, which has always made me sad. I'm too nostalgic for combat evolved BTB where most maps didn't even have vehicles, and the ones that did were usually played without tanks. That left only the ghosts to deal with which were very unwieldy. Oh well. I'm so far in the minority that I'll have to adjust.

EDIT:
Anyone else see a gummy bear with an Promethean Knight poking out it's butt?

y7FRj.png
Dude, spoiler that crap. I was looking forward to discovering the origin of prometheans in-game................................... /sigh
hahahahha good catch!
 
The vehicle heavy BTB is probably just temporary.

When Halo 3 shipped, valhalla had covie tanks and ghosts. Once people have played the game a while, the vehicle candy might get toned down a bit.
 
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