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Halo |OT9| One Final Effort Is All That Remains

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
The grass is still there on the original map. It's just that this Valhalla isn't set on Halo...

ibf9TQQDrQOS0Q.gif


Top of the page? Have a .gif that you've already seen.


Many BroThans died to bring us this animation.

 
I made that up. I doubt there will be any Wraiths.
As a guess I would say:

2 Mantis (behind base far left)
2 Banshee (back of each base)
2 Default Hogs (Behind base right)
5 Mongooses (2 at each base on right ramp, 1 at the wall)

Perhaps with the wall mongoose replaced with a Ghost.
Each base has a Banshee, a Mantis and a Mongoose. To be honest I think there is a Warthog too but I am not 100% sure.
 
I like the overall aesthetics of Ragnarok, but it's not perfect. The rocks and sky look fantastic, as do the basis for the most part. I have one huge nitpick: the fins on the bases. Why are they there? I think they look silly. The terrain is the worst thing about the look the of the map, and that's a big deal for me. I don't like the grass-desert combination. What made Valhalla so beautiful and atmospheric was the snow and lush grass. Playing it you got the sense the average temperature on that map was in the 50s, maybe 40s. A chilly, crisp day. This map gives off the opposite feeling: average of 80s - 90s and hot. I don't like it.

It looks to be an almost 1:1 remake, and I've already said my doubts about Valhalla's layout working well in Halo 4's sandbox. I'm not too hyped for this. I'm very eager to try it out and be proven wrong, though.
I jumped to this opinion the moment I originally saw it, but wanted to wait until official footage to comment, the think the Mantis looks awful. Seems completely out of place, and I was further disappointed in this video discovering how incredibly large it is. It's going to take some convincing for me on this one.
*fist-bump* Steely, I completely agree with you. I had a general sense of apprehension while watching the video.
Good off-screen footage, but I really wish he had gone through the mancannon. Any videos in which someone goes through the mancannon? I need to see these things in action!
In the 9-minute video, guy says the laser still spawns top-mid at the beginning of the game.

Steely, I know they were on there for the event, but Exile had like every vehicle known to man on it and 343 said it wasn't the final vehicle layout.
I hope so.
 

Havok

Member
I made that up. I doubt there will be any Wraiths.
As a guess I would say:

2 Mantis (behind base far left)
2 Banshee (back of each base)
2 Default Hogs (Behind base right)
5 Mongooses (2 at each base on right ramp, 1 at the wall)

Perhaps with the wall mongoose replaced with a Ghost.
Neutral Ghost does make a lot of sense. I wonder if the Scorpion from the video was just placed for effect, not actually in the default settings. Thanks for clarifying, by the way. I suspected it was just speculation, but I wasn't sure.
Each base has a Banshee, a Mantis and a Mongoose. To be honest I think there is a Warthog too but I am not 100% sure.
Hogs can be seen in this shot. Unless those weren't there when you played them, but...

They wouldn't omit Warthogs from a Valhalla remake - that would be crazy. Right?
 
It looks to be an almost 1:1 remake, and I've already said my doubts about Valhalla's layout working well in Halo 4's sandbox. I'm not too hyped for this.
I asked Frankie and it is nearly 1:1 remake except fpt one path(I don't know which one.) which wad widened.

And Frankie loves the Mantis or is eager to hear people's opinion about it. He literally asked me ten times: Did you try the Mantis yet?
 

Ken

Member
I asked Frankie and it is nearly 1:1 remake except one path(I don't remember which one.) was widen.

And Frankie loves the Mantis or is eager to hear people's opinion about it. He literally asked me yen times: Did you try the Mantis yet?

How many times is that in USD.
 
I want a full Forge reveal soon.

I feel like there might be something coming soonish that will scratch that particular itch.
Would this week fall under "soonish" in this instance?

Being in the Mantis makes you as powerful as a Titan on steroids, until anyone with a plasma pistol decides they have had enough of your crap. Or approaches from a massive cone to the rear of your area of effect, or runs away from you, or moves laterally out of the cone of your slowly rotating bulk. It's fun, it's dangerous, it is absolutely not OP.
Did I see it fall to it's knees when it was Plasma shot? Regardless, it was a cool video and great to see what Ragnarok looks like now.
 

TCKaos

Member
People also need to keep in mind that you can now stash your Plasma Pistol in your loadout as your spawning secondary weapon. If you don't want to get hit by the enemy Mantis, there's nothing stopping you from grabbing your PP and rushing it at the start of the game.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
Went through the gameplay video(s) and made this:

i2RKtTpmOLYfx.png


There may be more, but that's all I got.

I think we can guess that there will be a second Railgun in the other cave path, right?

Hopefully not the final layout, this is almost like a heavy variant.

edit: also great work setting this up
 
I think we can guess that there will be a second Railgun in the other cave path, right?

Hopefully not the final layout, this is almost like a heavy variant.

edit: also great work setting this up

I would assume so, but I didn't see it in the gameplay.

Also worth noting is that rockets spawn near the Pelican (where I've marked shotgun) in the trailer, but I've ignored that as there is also a Scorpion in that trailer...
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Ragnarok looks nice except for the terrain. I don't know how anyone could think splotchy terrain is anything but an eyesore. Especially when you're remaking a map known for its lush terrain.

By the way, it looks like to me that the walls surrounding the base are higher on Ragnarok. I don't remember them being that high on Valhalla.

RagnarokSnipe.png

i think he had crouch toggled, as 1) he was terrible and 2) he seemed to have no issue looking over the wall after that awkwardness
 
So I still think the ground looks off, which is a shame since everything else looks ridiculously good.

Kind of wondering how dominion will work on valhalla with only two bases though.

Metal Gear looks really powerful. Can't wait to try it out. It seems like your team would dominate if you grabbed both somehow.

Until the other team changes there loadouts to plasma pistols and stickies
 

lilty

Member
Metal Gear looks really powerful. Can't wait to try it out. It seems like your team would dominate if you grabbed both somehow.
 

Fotos

Member
Am I crazy in thinking Valhalla looks better?


I admit I got all warm and fuzzy seeing Valhalla in action again. My favorite Halo map ever is back in a very faithful remake. It looks wonderful. I will take this moment to be optimistic about it.

Okay, done.

Please take the Mantis off it.

But I like the Mantis
 
Ragnarok looks nice except for the terrain. I don't know how anyone could think splotchy terrain is anything but an eyesore. Especially when you're remaking a map known for its lush terrain.

By the way, it looks like to me that the walls surrounding the base are higher on Ragnarok. I don't remember them being that high on Valhalla.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/Blueblur1/GAF/RagnarokSnipe.png[IMG][/QUOTE]
I've never thought of Valhalla as having lush terrain to be fair. It's always looked like more of a tundra-ish terrain to me.
[quote="GhaleonEB, post: 42729170"]Am I crazy in thinking Valhalla looks better?


I admit I got all warm and fuzzy seeing Valhalla in action again. My favorite Halo map ever is back in a very faithful remake. It looks wonderful. I will take this moment to be optimistic about it.

Okay, done.

Please take the Mantis off it.[/QUOTE]
I think the lighting will give it much more life during actual game play. The older valhalla looks more crisp in those shots, but I think that's basically because you're not looking through a haze or filter of lighting.
 
I'm going to wait until we get proper MP footage of the Mantis before I decide if I want it on Ragnarok or not. I mean, it is a video made to show off the Mantis. I imagine the gameplay we've seen is purely just to highlight how fun it can be without really drawing attention to the drawbacks it has.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Just had a minor epiphany, mixed with déjà vu regarding deja view.
Halo Reach, Bungie announced Hemorrhage on Bungie Day 2010, then, soon after, they announced Hemorrhage was part of Forge World

343i just announced a Valhalla remake, and have mentioned forge information is coming soon....

Valhalla is a Forge Canvas.

I would nod in potential agreement had they not specified that the remake is part of the 10 base maps, and the 3 Forge maps are separate.

It does look like there are forgeable elements, though, such as the man cannons.
 
Am I crazy in thinking Valhalla looks better?


I admit I got all warm and fuzzy seeing Valhalla in action again. My favorite Halo map ever is back in a very faithful remake. It looks wonderful. I will take this moment to be optimistic about it.

Okay, done.

Please take the Mantis off it.
Yeah, so far I think Valhalla looks better.
I asked Frankie and it is nearly 1:1 remake except fpt one path(I don't know which one.) which wad widened.

And Frankie loves the Mantis or is eager to hear people's opinion about it. He literally asked me ten times: Did you try the Mantis yet?
Cool. Hopefully the mech – and Ragnorok – are at NYCC so I can get my hands on it. However, if opportunity allows it, the first thing I'll do when I play Halo 4 is hop in a Banshee, fly it as high as I can, then get out to see if there's fall damage.
Went through the gameplay video(s) and made this:

i2RKtTpmOLYfx.png


There may be more, but that's all I got.

This is great. Hope to see it updated as we find out more.

...

I've been thinking about why, from the start, I've felt apprehensive – from a fiction and thematic point of view at least – about a mech being in Halo, and I think I've finally figured out why. Humans in the Halo universe are very practical, grounded; rooted in today's world. Think back to the first time you played Pillar of Autumn. Take a look at this console:

poa-bridge-lpod1.jpg


What do you see here? No touch screens, no control panels like this, and nothing that a person from the twenty-first century wouldn't be unfamiliar with. It has knobs, buttons, and 2D screens. The floor plating and structure is built only as what's required, out of a metal that's available to us on Earth – not some unknown element that has yet to be discovered. This theme of familiarity doesn't stop here. You don't see teleporters, replicators, hover cars or anything like that. They have tanks, jeeps, ATVs, cars, and helicopters (though smaller and more efficient) – all stuff we have today. In ship-to-ship combat, the UNSC doesn't fight with laser, phasers, photon torpedoes or other made-up futuristic weapons. They battle with missiles, rail guns, nukes and huge fucking cannons: all things we know about today. Humanity in Halo is very much a futuristic civilization, but it is very much rooted in today's technology.

Something like mantis trips over the practicality of humanity and the theme of familiarity.

Not saying anything about it from a gameplay standpoint with any of that.
 

monome

Member
Being in the Mantis makes you as powerful as a Titan on steroids, until anyone with a plasma pistol decides they have had enough of your crap. Or approaches from a massive cone to the rear of your area of effect, or runs away from you, or moves laterally out of the cone of your slowly rotating bulk. It's fun, it's dangerous, it is absolutely not OP.

I like what this man says.

I'm optimistic because Halo can't be about good looks, it's just a requirement to stay competitive in the FPS space, allows for a better depiction of events, and makes 343i proud.

But mostly I need a fun game, like yesterday. And dangerous ain't bad.
 

broony

Member
Be interested to see how the Manits works on Exile. There seems to be alot of ditches and holes it could fall into and get stuck in, and also there is a lot of first floor balconies and windows which will assist is hijacking it.
 
The real question is...How is the water????
From the limited video shown Halo 3 water I think still edges it mostly because I don't think the water here has the same physics and object interactivity with bodies, objects, etc... I'm not holding my breath for floating bodies and stuff which is very disappointing.
 
I've been thinking about why, from the start, I've felt apprehensive – from a fiction and thematic point of view at least – about a mech being in Halo, and I think I've finally figured out why. Humans in the Halo universe are very practical, grounded; rooted in today's world. Think back to the first time you played Pillar of Autumn. Take a look at this console:

poa-bridge-lpod1.jpg


What do you see here? No touch screens, no control panels like this, and nothing that a person from the twenty-first century wouldn't be unfamiliar with. It has knobs, buttons, and 2D screens. The floor plating and structure is built only as what's required, out of a metal that's available to us on Earth – not some unknown element that has yet to be discovered. This theme of familiarity doesn't stop here. You don't see teleporters, replicators, hover cars or anything like that. They have tanks, jeeps, ATVs, cars, and helicopters (though smaller and more efficient) – all stuff we have today. In ship-to-ship combat, the UNSC doesn't fight with laser, phasers, photon torpedoes or other made-up futuristic weapons. They battle with missiles, rail guns, nukes and huge fucking cannons: all things we know about today. Humanity in Halo is very much a futuristic civilization, but it is very much rooted in today's technology.

Something like mantis trips over the practicality of humanity and the theme of familiarity.

Not saying anything about it from a gameplay standpoint with any of that.

Should humanity 250 years from now still e so familar that even a bipedal mech is too out of the ordinary?
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I am officially endorsing the Mantis. That thing looks absolutely disgustingly fun.

It does look fun. My first thought was - we're going to get to tear the shit out of stuff in Campaign and Spartan Ops with it, and it will be amazing. Being able to stomp other vehicles to death? Yes please.

I'm just worried about it in MP, and on Valhalla in particular. We'll see how it goes, but Valhalla is a relatively open map and the video showed the Mantis taking infantry out in a faction of a second.
Being in the Mantis makes you as powerful as a Titan on steroids, until anyone with a plasma pistol decides they have had enough of your crap. Or approaches from a massive cone to the rear of your area of effect, or runs away from you, or moves laterally out of the cone of your slowly rotating bulk. It's fun, it's dangerous, it is absolutely not OP.

Encouraging, and the first time I've thought that spawning with a Plasma Pistol might not be a bad thing.
 
I'm going to wait until we get proper MP footage of the Mantis before I decide if I want it on Ragnarok or not. I mean, it is a video made to show off the Mantis. I imagine the gameplay we've seen is purely just to highlight how fun it can be without really drawing attention to the drawbacks it has.
Hydranockz, you're always too reasonable. Stop it!
<3
 
Am I crazy in thinking Valhalla looks better?


I admit I got all warm and fuzzy seeing Valhalla in action again. My favorite Halo map ever is back in a very faithful remake. It looks wonderful. I will take this moment to be optimistic about it.

Okay, done.

Please take the Mantis off it.
Ragnarok certainly seems...brighter (though it looks like storm clouds overhead in one of the pics). Dunno if that makes Valhalla better, though. There's a bit of a Gears of War vibe in all of the maps I've seen so far with the lighting, and I kind of like it.

So far, the Mantis looks incredibly powerful. Considering that we can have Plasma Pistols in our loadout, high-value weapons like the laser, railgun, snipers already on the map, AND ordnance drops, I think it needs to be powerful. I may change my tune when a team has both Mantii (?), the laser, and Banshees, but for now I'll stay incredibly giddy on Team SLRP.
 
Should humanity 250 years from now still e so familar that even a bipedal mech is too out of the ordinary?

Probably not, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. It's not familiar to us, and that's why, at first thought, it doesn't fit well. Not saying I can't get used to the idea, but when a franchise has, for ten years, been with a human race that's very much like today's society, it does come off a bit silly. "Oh yeah, they fight with guns, jeeps, ATVs, helicopters, bullets, rockets, nukes, railguns, missiles, and...mechs – wait, what?"

I know this comment may seem a bit silly if you consider half-ton soldiers running around with super advanced technology, but when all things considered I think it's just a bit out of place. It's not outside their technological range, but it doesn't give me "practical" in the UNSC sense.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Ragnarok certainly seems...brighter (though it looks like storm clouds overhead in one of the pics). Dunno if that makes Valhalla better, though. There's a bit of a Gears of War vibe in all of the maps I've seen so far with the lighting, and I kind of like it.

So far, the Mantis looks incredibly powerful. Considering that we can have Plasma Pistols in our loadout, high-value weapons like the laser, railgun, snipers already on the map, AND ordnance drops, I think it needs to be powerful. I may change my tune when a team has both Mantii (?), the laser, and Banshees, but for now I'll stay incredibly giddy on Team SLRP.
I love Valhalla, and want to be awesome in Halo 4. And the Mantis looks great. I think I'm too pessimistic about BTB in Halo 4 to get too excited until I've played it, but it sure looks fun. Color me very cautiously optimistic. (My daughter while watching the video: "It looks like the one from Avatar!")

That's..brilliant.
That would be a lot of fun. I wonder if there's a way to bind vehicles as being the "hill" in KotH again, that could be interesting as players fight for control of the Mantis.
I'm sure the Mantis can be countered with PP, so I'm not too worried.

I just don't think that creating a powerful vehicle, and then letting everyone spawn with plasma pistols sounds like a good idea. It's Jaime Griesemer's tank/mine analogy verbatim. Plasma pistols on spawn is one of the main reasons I'm nervous about BTB.
 
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