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[Woorloog]

Halo CE AR is cool, Pistol is boring.

Ok

It is cool but not actually that interesting to use. It sounds cool, looks cool, feels cool. But that's it. (Killing a player with it and then hearing them to scream at you makes it fun though. Nothing is better than annoying your opponents)
The pistol... i have never liked the pistol in Halo CE. My absolutely major issue with it is that it should not act like a rifle, it is a frigging pistol (which should be useful in games as weapons though, not just backup sidearms). Second issue is that i don't find single shot weapons interesting, unlike burst weapons, or unless they can be rapid fired like Halo 2 Carbine.
Single shot weapons are boring. Unless you give me extreme range and bullet drop, then shooting them becomes interesting.

EDIT the pistol is a semi-automatic weapon, ie single-shot weapon. Sure it has autofire in Halo CE, but the mode is kind of pointless, in campaign, where single shots against tje Grunts and Jackals are better, and against the Elites you use the noob combo. Or use grenades, much easier just to stick them with a plasma.

EDIT2, And no, playing Halo CE again doesn't feel great anymore. It is too easy, too limited sandbox, it lacks some great features from later Halos (namely hijacking, want to drive that Wraith). And its missions are too long (they get repetitive. I don't mind some long missions but usually i prefer shorter ones, and this applies to all games).

 

[Andodalf]

It is cool but not actually that interesting to use. It sounds cool, looks cool, feels cool. But that's it.
The pistol... i have never liked the pistol in Halo CE. My absolutely major issue with it is that it should not act like a rifle, it is a frigging pistol (which should be useful in games as weapons though, not just backup sidearms). Second issue is that i don't find single shot weapons interesting, unlike burst weapons, or unless they can be rapid fired like Halo 2 Carbine.
Single shot weapons are boring. Unless you give me extreme range and bullet drop, then shooting them becomes interesting.

Sounds like you should play Cod then. Halo has always had single shot guns high in the pecking order. The main reason is that a single shot to an unshielded head is worth so, so, much in Halo. A rapid fire weapon is a terrible way to attack grunts or jackals, and honestly elites on high difficulties.

Edit: not saying you should play Cod as an insult, just that you don't seem to like a pretty central feature of Halo gunplay.

 

[HTupolev]

EDIT AR blitzing a Zealot Elite is really fun in CE. Just because it is so insane.

On legendary? If you simply lay into them with an AR they'll rip you to pieces. I suppose both the sword and PR guys are dodgeable, but yikes. If you're on that level you might as well just step it up a notch and beat them down.

Single shot weapons are boring. Unless you give me extreme range and bullet drop, then shooting them becomes interesting.

So I take it you're a fan of plasma pistol sniping in Halo 1?

 

[Overdoziz]

I feel like Halo CE is the only Halo game where all the weapons are fun to use. Even the Assault Rifle in that game is fun, unlike the terrible ones we had since then. Everything felt like it had some punch to it which is something that hasn't been the case in any of the other games. Aside from the Needler they were also all quite useful. I remember playing through half of Truth and Reconciliation on Legendary using mostly a Plasma Pistol and it actually worked well too.

The Grenade Launcher and Plasma Launcher are of course good weapons, but the rest of the weapons in Reach weren't exactly mindbogglingly great. Overall Halo CE is still on top, easily.

 

[Woorloog]

Sounds like you should play Cod then. Halo has always had single shot guns high in the pecking order. The main reason is that a single shot to an unshielded head is worth so, so, much in Halo. A rapid fire weapon is a terrible way to attack grunts or jackals, and honestly elites on high difficulties.

CoDs don't have good campaigns and i haven't really liked COD MP since MW1. I haven't bought a COD since BLOPS1. Nor will i ever again.
Rapid fire Carbine is damn fun weapon, much better than any other single-shot weapon in Halos, not counting burst weapons). Against other players. Halo 2 campaign is played with the noob combo and precision from start to finish.
EDIT and far more importantly, CODs don't feel like Halos. No other shooter feels like Halo. I tried UT2k4 some time ago and i didn't feel good even though its weapons are wonderful. Halo just has too many boring weapons that are variants of a theme. Where's a chain-lightning gun or a plasma flamer, and where did my Grenade Launcher vanish, and where did the enemy sniper being interesting variation go (Focus Rifle)?

On legendary? If you simply lay into them with an AR they'll rip you to pieces. I suppose both the sword and PR guys are dodgeable, but yikes. If you're on that level you might as well just step it up a notch and beat them down.


So I take it you're a fan of plasma pistol sniping in Halo 1?

Sure, on Legendary. On Heroic blitzing them works almost certainly if i'm careful. On Legendary, it is suicidal, and so much more fun when it works.

As for PP sniping, i never bothered with that really. Something to try later on, i guess.

As i noted, Halo design drives me to careful, methodical playstyle in campaigns. I sit back and kill the enemies with from as far away as i can. The stupid AI doesn't react well against ranged attacks so...

 

[HTupolev]

As for PP sniping, i never bothered with that really. Something to try later on, i guess.

Halo 1 PP has slow muzzle velocity, a long range of fire (~150m), is quite precise, and has a bit of bullet drop.

 

[Booshka]

Who cares that it is skinned as a Pistol when it acts like a Rifle, 500 years in the future, space marine fighting Aliens. "This Pistol is too good, it's bullshit and not realistic!"

As far as Halo weapons go, the CE Pistol is probably the best of all guns in the series, the firefights that result from it are some of the most skill based and varied of any gun duel I can think of. There is no bullet drop, but you do have to lead your shots as the range gets further and further out, and the pacing of your shots does matter a little bit. That tiny difference between holding the trigger down, and you manually pulsing the trigger for every accurate shot makes a big difference in the skill gap.

As for single shot weapons being boring, whereas burst fire or automatic rifles being more fun, I disagree. A single shot moderate to high damage weapon punishes you far more for missing than a burst fire or automatic weapon does. Especially in the case of Halo, where when your shields are down, landing the killing blow to the head is crucial. The amount of times I have been out-shot or I out-shot someone in a pistol duel, solely because myself or my opponent failed to land that final killing blow on the shieldless player is way higher than Halo games where you can just swipe a BR burst and get the kill.

The mechanics of aim assist, strict hitboxes and better player movement also play a huge role in making the single shot Pistol an excellent main hand weapon to use. Most of this applies to Campaign as well, cleaning up a shieldless Elite, as he attempts to dodge or duck away, landing that perfect headshot on Grunts and Jackals, etc.

Far more satisfying in my opinion to anything that the BR or Carbine has to offer in the later Halo games. This may also be a big reason why I like Reach campaign so much, I am just a huge fan of single shot medium to long range weapons. Although the DMR is far less satisfying than the CE Pistol, it's still very fun to use.

 

[Woorloog]

Halo 1 PP has slow muzzle velocity, a long range of fire (about 150m, 30m longer than the pistol's maximum), is quite precise, and has a bit of bullet drop.

Yeah i remember that it has strong "bullet" drop. It just i never really bothered with it for sniping, its range felt way too short (though the larger issue is that i was never a good judge of range in Halo CE. Not that it mattered). And of course, when playing seriously, i'd never consider that an option. When playing silly, i'm probably doing something else...

EDIT @Booshka. It matters how it feels, which is very difficult, if not impossible, to explain. A pistol acting like a high-powered rifle just feels plain wrong (oddly, i don't have this issue with the ODST pistol. On the other hand, that weapon doesn't act like a high-powered weapon). Semi-auto single shot weapons feel mostly boring, and rapid-fire Halo 2 Carbine (especially on PC with 60FPS) feels really great (Unfortunately the weapon doesn't feel the same in Halo 3, and even less good in Halo 4).
As for player versus player, no comment. Halo PC MP is/was, as i've understood it, rather different from local Halo CE LAN game. I played BTB and used vehicles.

 

[HTupolev]

And of course, when playing seriously, i'd never consider that an option. When playing silly, i'm probably doing something else...

AotCR legendary, no vehicles, PP/PR/needler/grenades only.

 

[Chettlar]

It is cool but not actually that interesting to use. It sounds cool, looks cool, feels cool. But that's it. (Killing a player with it and then hearing them to scream at you makes it fun though. Nothing is better than annoying your opponents)
The pistol... i have never liked the pistol in Halo CE. My absolutely major issue with it is that it should not act like a rifle, it is a frigging pistol (which should be useful in games as weapons though, not just backup sidearms). Second issue is that i don't find single shot weapons interesting, unlike burst weapons, or unless they can be rapid fired like Halo 2 Carbine.
Single shot weapons are boring. Unless you give me extreme range and bullet drop, then shooting them becomes interesting.

EDIT the pistol is a semi-automatic weapon, ie single-shot weapon. Sure it has autofire in Halo CE, but the mode is kind of pointless, in campaign, where single shots against tje Grunts and Jackals are better, and against the Elites you use the noob combo. Or use grenades, much easier just to stick them with a plasma.

EDIT2, And no, playing Halo CE again doesn't feel great anymore. It is too easy, too limited sandbox, it lacks some great features from later Halos (namely hijacking, want to drive that Wraith). And its missions are too long (they get repetitive. I don't mind some long missions but usually i prefer shorter ones, and this applies to all games).

It is not a pistol. It isn't anything but a bit of code. They can make it look how they want. Plus, having it a pistol is a good thing, since it takes up less screen space.

If you can't get over that, there is something terribly wrong with you. The pistol you see is just a skin over some properties. This game has guns that shoot plasma lol. Why should the pistol not be powerful and useful instead of, ya know, like in 3 where it might as well not exist, because you're best off getting rid of it at first opportunity.

And yes, playing Halo CE again does feel great anymore. It's fantastic. I can go back to it any time I want and it still plays great. It plays great, as I was saying, to people who only played it for the very first time in 2014.

The missions aren't about the place. They're about the enemies and weapons, which is different than most games, and very refreshing. Two betrayals is a fantastic level.

That way, the places feel like actually places. Like you're not moving from stage to stage, but in an actual place that you get to know, and different things happen in that same place. In real life, if you were really having an adventure, while sure there would be some places you only visit once or twice, most of the time, there would be places that you visit several times. Sometimes you would go through one area and return through it later. That's what CE does. It treats it's world as a real one, despite being a fantastical sci-fi world. It still treats it like one, and I can, in turn, pretend I'm there, having the adventure myself. And it happens to be really fun as well.

Messing around with a few other people in CE's campaign is one of the funnest things you'll ever do. And it remains that way.

Though yes, hijacking would have been really useful.

 

[Woorloog]

AotCR legendary, no vehicles, PP/PR/needler/grenades only.

I can barely play the mission with vehicles. It is too repetitive and long for my tastes. Always preferred the Silent Carthographer. While Halo CE is far from my favorite Halo, that single mission is probably one of the best missions any Halo, or any shooter for that matter.

It is not a pistol. It isn't anything but a bit of code. They can make it look how they want. Plus, having it a pistol is a good thing, since it takes up less screen space.

It looks like a pistol, therefore it is a pistol. (Giving it a DMR makeover wouldn't help though, it is still a single shot semi-auto weapon i don't care for).
As for taking less screen space, i couldn't care less. That has never been an issue for me (putting text in the middle of the screen is far more annoying like Halo 4 insist on doing).
EDIT making it some other kind of single shot weapon might help. Give it some interesting after/side effect or make it shoot chain-lightning (no idea how that would work in Halo), give it a piercing laser beam and i might like it better.

 

[Overdoziz]

choo fucking choo

 

[Chettlar]

EDIT @Booshka. It matters how it feels, which is very difficult, if not impossible, to explain. A pistol acting like a high-powered rifle just feels plain wrong (oddly, i don't have this issue with the ODST pistol. On the other hand, that weapon doesn't act like a high-powered weapon). Semi-auto single shot weapons feel mostly boring, and rapid-fire Halo 2 Carbine (especially on PC with 60FPS) feels really great (Unfortunately the weapon doesn't feel the same in Halo 3, and even less good in Halo 4).
As for player versus player, no comment. Halo PC MP is/was, as i've understood it, rather different from local Halo CE LAN game. I played BTB and used vehicles.

That's your problem.

Honestly, if 500 years in the future we still haven't made military pistols that are high-powered enough to kill large animals with a single shot, I'd be terribly surprised.

Plus, the only way you can kill these things in one shot with the pistol is if you shoot them in the head. That makes perfect sense. You can kill people with one pistol bullet to the head. Or even to the body if you hit the right spots.

It looks like a pistol, therefore it is a pistol. (Giving it a DMR makeover wouldn't help though, it is still a single shot semi-auto weapon i don't care for).
As for taking less screen space, i couldn't care less. That has never been an issue for me (putting text in the middle of the screen is far more annoying like Halo 4 insist on doing).
EDIT making it some other kind of single shot weapon might help. Give it some interesting after/side effect or make it shoot chain-lightning (no idea how that would work in Halo), give it a piercing laser beam and i might like it better.

It's a utility weapon for getting the job done. Letting people play with the rest of the sandbox as they will.

Leave the fantastical weird laser stuff to other new weapons. We've got a whole universe of weapons for that.

 

[Overdoziz]

The fuck are you guys talking about "500 years in the future blablabla"? Its visual design clearly doesn't fit its power and that's an issue. Doesn't take away that it's a great weapon, though.

 

[HTupolev]

I can barely play the mission with vehicles. It is too repetitive and long for my tastes.

That's a pretty easy opinion to hold if you're playing it with vehicles. Last time I went through AotCR I used the tank, and I had loads more fun in the interior sections than I did on the epic push through chasms 1&2. Fighting the tank segment in a tank (and maybe warthog as well, though it feels more upbeat like that) is one of those things that, unfortunately, does lose some of its luster after 100 or so playthroughs.

If you like methodical long-range shenanigans, taking the exterior on foot with a restricted sandbox ought to be exactly your cup of tea.

 

[Woorloog]

That's your problem.

Honestly, if 500 years in the future we still haven't made military pistols that are high-powered enough to kill large animals with a single shot, I'd be terribly surprised.

Plus, the only way you can kill these things in one shot with the pistol is if you shoot them in the head. That makes perfect sense. You can kill people with one pistol bullet to the head. Or even to the body if you hit the right spots.

If Halo were even semi-realistic, we would have something drastically different for humankind. We wouldn't have a few Spartan super soldiers, we would have AI driven combat robots with perfect reflexes, we'd have strongly different culture and language, we would have different values, we wouldn't fool around like the humanity in Halo does.

There is a limit how strong a pistol can be, realistically. Take Desert Eagle as an example. It is like a rifle in some aspects, and utterly impractical as a real weapon.

If you like methodical long-range shenanigans, taking the exterior on foot with a restricted sandbox ought to be exactly your cup of tea.

Except i don't like my playstlye that much. I use it because it is effective (on higher difficulties), simple and safe. I don't like the damn Scorpion tank but i use it because it is effective.
It a curse of mine, if it is effective, i will do it, whether it is fun or not, because victory matters more. When playing seriously. Which is most of the time.
Guess i'm a min-maxer or power player or something.

 

[Chettlar]

The fuck are you guys talking about "500 years in the future blablabla"? Its visual design clearly doesn't fit its power and that's an issue. Doesn't take away that it's a great weapon, though.

No it doesn't, because as I said, it makes perfect sense that in 2500 A.D. humans have figured out a way to have high-powered weapons that are also very small. And when we make small weapons, it makes sense that they would be "pistol"s since the definition of pistol is just a hand gun -- a handle, a triggering device, a magazine, and a barrel.

So yes, the visual design fits the power.


And even if not. Who cares?

Oh yes, Woorlong does.

If Halo were even semi-realistic, we would have something drastically different for humankind. We wouldn't have a few Spartan super soldiers, we would have AI driven combat robots with perfect reflexes, we'd have strongly different culture and language, we would have different values, we wouldn't fool around like the humanity in Halo does.

There is a limit how strong a pistol can be, realistically. Take Desert Eagle as an example. It is like a rifle in some aspects, and utterly impractical as a real weapon.

That's my entire point.

If we say Halo has to be realistic: well 500 years from now it makes sense we'd have powerful handguns.

If we say Halo is NOT realistic: well who the hell cares that it's a pistol that's super powerful.

I can counter you either way and make more sense. It's a flipping video game and in NO WAY means that Halo CE's pistol is "poorly designed."

 

[Woorloog]

Physical limits do not change in 500 years.
Realistically, a high-powered handgun doesn't make sense because it is impractical mostly (high powered laser pistol has other issue. Like the battery being like a grenade if it is damaged).
Perhaps we could have genetically or mechanically augmented human who could use a high-powered handgun... or they could have in-built weapons or some small rapid fire weapon (volume of fire is practical thing, even if it uses small caliber ammo).

Of course we'd probably conduct warfare via drones and robots, which would have build-in weaponry, making the whole concept of a pistol kind of moot point.

When it comes to feeling, Halo CE pistol doesn't feel great. That's just me. You like it, fine. You can't convince me it feels great though.

EDIT i never claimed the pistol is "poorly designed", you're just putting words in my mouth. I called it boring (which is quite distinct from "poorly designed") and not feeling right.

 

[tasch]

Physical limits do not change in 500 years.
Realistically, a high-powered handgun doesn't make sense because it is impractical mostly (high powered laser pistol has other issue. Like the battery being like a grenade if it is damaged).
Perhaps we could have genetically or mechanically augmented human who could use a high-powered handgun... or they could have in-built weapons or some small rapid fire weapon (volume of fire is practical thing, even if it uses small caliber ammo).

Of course we'd probably conduct warfare via drones and robots, which would have build-in weaponry, making the whole concept of a pistol kind of moot point.

When it comes to feeling, Halo CE pistol doesn't feel great. That's just me. You like it, fine. You can't convince me it feels great though.

EDIT i never claimed the pistol is "poorly designed", you're just putting words in my mouth. I called it boring (which is quite distinct from "poorly designed") and not feeling right.

the whole point of the pistol in CE was to be the BR/DMR. That was the general evolution of the BR, it was about balancing the sandbox so that there was a strong medium-long range weapon for the sandbox.

 

[Woorloog]

the whole point of the pistol in CE was to be the BR/DMR. That was the general evolution of the BR, it was about balancing the sandbox so that there was a strong medium-long range weapon for the sandbox.

That's not the question here. Just that i feel a pistol should not be the "rifle" of a game.
Liked the BR much better, it felt better, it felt right.

 

[Chettlar]

Physical limits do not change in 500 years.
Realistically, a high-powered handgun doesn't make sense because it is impractical mostly (high powered laser pistol has other issue. Like the battery being like a grenade if it is damaged).
Perhaps we could have genetically or mechanically augmented human who could use a high-powered handgun... or they could have in-built weapons or some small rapid fire weapon (volume of fire is practical thing, even if it uses small caliber ammo).

Of course we'd probably conduct warfare via drones and robots, which would have build-in weaponry, making the whole concept of a pistol kind of moot point.

When it comes to feeling, Halo CE pistol doesn't feel great. That's just me. You like it, fine. You can't convince me it feels great though.

EDIT i never claimed the pistol is "poorly designed", you're just putting words in my mouth. I called it boring (which is quite distinct from "poorly designed") and not feeling right.

If it's boring, then why do you care if it's a BR, DMR, or pistol? It would be boring either way.

 

[Woorloog]

If it's boring, then why do you care if it's a BR, DMR, or pistol? It would be boring either way.

The BR doesn't feel boring. It feels fun to use. The DMR? Boring, in both its incarnations. The Needle Rifle felt better (sound, looks, supercombine) but its awful balancing (read: weaker than the DMR) made it too bad to use unless you had no options. Halo Reach Beta pistol was a wonderful weapon, it felt really good. The ODST pistol is really fun thing and interestingly balanced as it is absolutely worthless for anything but headshots.
It boils down to how a weapon feels. How do you explain how something feels?

EDIT generally speaking, i find single-shot/semi auto weapons boring in other games too, though there are some exceptions. Snipers with extreme range and bullet drop are interesting, as are practically all iterations of M1 Garand in shooters. Other single shot weapons tend to be boring, though pistols are kind of interesting to use in games where they're meant as backup weapons, though not for serious playing). Single shot weapons with something non-standard bonus may be interesting.

 

[SpartanN92]

Halo 1 is pretty easy.
Halo 2 is unfair, has terrible checkpoint locations and autoaim 1 shot jackals.
Halo 3 is average
Halo ODST was on the easy side
Halo Reach is average
Halo 4 is easy.

I think 1 just wins out being easier than 4, I was super surprised when I went back to it recently with Halo CE:A and the whole thing was a cake walk.

WTF?

Dude...Truth and Reconciliation on Legendary is harder to pass than a kidney stone.

Believe me...I know.

Halo CE was vicious
Halo 2 is pretty goddamn difficult but the BR helps.
Halo 3 had a few difficult segments. Mostly vehicle segments and the level Cortana.
ODST wasn't bad. The final Highway stretch was tough.
Reach had a couple tough spots. Long Night of Solace was really difficult.
Halo 4 was so damn easy. Only Covenant vehicle sections in missions 3 and 5 gave me any trouble.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Halo CE AR is cool, Pistol is boring.

Ok

This sounds legit

 

[Buckethead]

That box art is pretty bad.

 

[Ran Ran]

WTF?

Dude...Truth and Reconciliation on Legendary is harder to pass than a kidney stone.

Believe me...I know.

Halo CE was vicious
Halo 2 is pretty goddamn difficult but the BR helps.
Halo 3 had a few difficult segments. Mostly vehicle segments and the level Cortana.
ODST wasn't bad. The final Highway stretch was tough.
Reach had a couple tough spots. Long Night of Solace was really difficult.
Halo 4 was so damn easy. Only Covenant vehicle sections in missions 3 and 5 gave me any trouble.

Fuck that level

 

[BeforeU]

That box art is pretty bad.

Its not an official box art, its a place holder.

 

[Andodalf]

Fuck that level

Is that the one where you go into the flood ship? I hated that level hard.

 

[Woorloog]

Is that the one where you go into the flood ship? I hated that level hard.

That's Keyes.
T&R is a cakewalk, a couple encounters aside.

Thought we were talking about Halo CE.
Cortana is a cakewalk too.

 

[Ran Ran]

Is that the one where you go into the flood ship? I hated that level hard.

Yes and they just throw a billion flood at you

 

[Regret Upon Approval]

I'm playing it now.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a sequel with more factions and bigger and better MP would be amazing.
The SoF was recently mentioned in the escalations comics and I believe Forges cyclops unit was in the Halo 4 map adrift (although it was newer model).

That is nice that it hasn't been forgotten at least.
Faction addition, Flood? Forerunners?

Would it follow the hero unit or super unit theme? I think flood would have hero units and the forerunner would have super units.

 

[SpartanN92]

Fuck that level

It's difficult but actually one of the most artistic and well written levels in Halo.

Between Cortana's pleas for help and decent into rampancy and Graveminds philosophical questions and taunts it was wonderful for Halo lore fans. A lot of the lines in that level were either quoted or references to the Cortana Letters from back in '99 ('98?)

 

[EchoChamber]

i just only want halo to be halo again no cod

Spoiler

please

 

[Booshka]

i just only want halo to be halo again no cod

Spoiler

please

I dunno man, those CoD games make a lot of money.

 

[HTupolev]

A lot of the lines in that level were either quoted or references to the Cortana Letters from back in '99 ('98?)

Here you go.

Graveminds philosophical questions

Philosophical questions? Like, "YOU WILL SHOW ME WHAT SHE HIDES, OR I SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR BONES"? I don't remember much of anything very philosophical coming from his mouth, just lots and lots of anger, threats, and perhaps some indigestion.

It's difficult but actually one of the most artistic and well written levels in Halo.

Eh.

The level feels like loads of random rampancy references for the sake of referencing rampancy, and Gravemind competing with Halo 4's Didact for the spot of most pathetic whiny turd in the universe. Dialogue is often the weakest facet of Halo 3's storytelling, and the penultimate level is no exception.
Even outside of dialogue, there's room for improvement. In particular, I think the level would have been more impactful if its visual identity was more connected with Halo 2's High Charity; I get that the heavy Flood infestation is necessary, emphasizing the enormity of the Flood infestation needs more contrast with the not Flood infestation, and that would have been aided by calling the player's brain back to Halo 2. As it is, it's basically just Cortana's room and the Mausoleum in the skybox that seems to have anything to do with High Charity, which establishes the fact of the location, but not, in full, the feel.
There also could have been a more interesting progression of Flood presence throughout the level. I would have liked to see ever-increasing amounts of Flood crap approaching Cortana's room, which could have been encompassed by an absolutely grotesque Flood mass, but inside the room just have tendrils breaking and sneaking in. Or something. Anything other than the monotonous visual progression we actually got. Because as it is, the level is below Halo 3's standards in that department.

I guess it's alright, the sound work is great, and the level basically kinda serves its purpose in the narrative. But it doesn't knock it out of the park, and it totally could have.

 

[IHaveIce]

People talking shit about the Gravemind here?

Ffs gamingside.

With the forerunners being now revealed as nothing really special the Flood abd Gravemind are the last cool mystery in Halo.

He is probably the coolest character, also love the short story human weakness( I think that was the cortana/gravemind one), probably the only piece of halo fiction by traviss that's good

 

[HTupolev]

People talking shit about the Gravemind here?

Ffs gamingside.

With the forerunners being now revealed as nothing really special the Flood abd Gravemind are the last cool mystery in Halo.

He is probably the coolest character, also love the short story human weakness( I think that was the cortana/gravemind one), probably the only piece of halo fiction by traviss that's good

Gravemind is cool when he's relaxed. He's cool when he's rattling off trochaic heptameter in Halo 2. He's cool in the terminals. He's even briefly cool in some spots in Cortana. He's pretty bland when he's angry and shouting cheap threats, though, and he stays cool enough most of the time that he seems completely out of character when he gets pissed off. Maybe that's to emphasize the moment? I don't know, but the implementation isn't interesting, and if the intent was to emphasize that he's un-chill for once, it almost seems to build up in a random way through the level's progression.

 

[l Zealot l]

With the forerunners being now revealed as nothing really special the Flood abd Gravemind are the last cool mystery in Halo.

He is probably the coolest character, also love the short story human weakness( I think that was the cortana/gravemind one), probably the only piece of halo fiction by traviss that's good

Yep. I love his sad/reflective poetic moments. Forerunners had so much potential now are just bland.

 

[SpartanN92]

Here you go.


Philosophical questions? Like, "YOU WILL SHOW ME WHAT SHE HIDES, OR I SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR BONES"? I don't remember much of anything very philosophical coming from his mouth, just lots and lots of anger, threats, and perhaps some indigestion.



Eh.

The level feels like loads of random rampancy references for the sake of referencing rampancy, and Gravemind competing with Halo 4's Didact for the spot of most pathetic whiny turd in the universe. Dialogue is often the weakest facet of Halo 3's storytelling, and the penultimate level is no exception.
Even outside of dialogue, there's room for improvement. In particular, I think the level would have been more impactful if its visual identity was more connected with Halo 2's High Charity; I get that the heavy Flood infestation is necessary, emphasizing the enormity of the Flood infestation needs more contrast with the not Flood infestation, and that would have been aided by calling the player's brain back to Halo 2. As it is, it's basically just Cortana's room and the Mausoleum in the skybox that seems to have anything to do with High Charity, which establishes the fact of the location, but not, in full, the feel.
There also could have been a more interesting progression of Flood presence throughout the level. I would have liked to see ever-increasing amounts of Flood crap approaching Cortana's room, which could have been encompassed by an absolutely grotesque Flood mass, but inside the room just have tendrils breaking and sneaking in. Or something. Anything other than the monotonous visual progression we actually got. Because as it is, the level is below Halo 3's standards in that department.

I guess it's alright, the sound work is great, and the level basically kinda serves its purpose in the narrative. But it doesn't knock it out of the park, and it totally could have.

Your memory sucks. Go back and listen to everything Gravemind says.

Also while yes more diverse flood (Like Origins 1) would have been nice remember that the game was made in '07. They were pretty limited on what could be done.

 

[FyreWulff]

Cortana still bugs me because they re-used a Halo 2 line directly from Halo 2 ("We exist together now..") Same recording and everything. And the Halo 3 gravemind is done in a different style than the Halo 2 one, so it's like "halo2_gravemind_twobodiesonegrave.wav is now playing". So it takes me right out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S43L0djtk0s#t=437

 

[Overdoziz]

No it doesn't, because as I said, it makes perfect sense that in 2500 A.D. humans have figured out a way to have high-powered weapons that are also very small. And when we make small weapons, it makes sense that they would be "pistol"s since the definition of pistol is just a hand gun -- a handle, a triggering device, a magazine, and a barrel.

So yes, the visual design fits the power.


And even if not. Who cares?

Oh yes, Woorlong does.

It could be a billion years in the future and it wouldn't matter. At this point in time people perceive smaller handguns as being weaker than bigger rifles and that's where you get an issue with the Halo CE pistol. Why do you think so many newcomers were surprised that they were constantly getting destroyed by people with pistols? Because it doesn't make sense for a handgun to be such a powerful weapon in the game. It messes with people's expectations in a bad way. Developers should always try to make sure the visuals fit the function to make it more intuitive. Bigger weapons (Rocket Launcher) are powerful, smaller ones (Pistol) aren't. This of course is harder to do with alien weaponry, but with familiar human weapons this should definitely be the case.

 

[User 73706]

It could be a billion years in the future and it wouldn't matter. At this point in time people perceive smaller handguns as being weaker than bigger rifles and that's where you get an issue with the Halo CE pistol. Why do you think so many newcomers were surprised that they were constantly getting destroyed by people with pistols? Because it doesn't make sense for a handgun to be such a powerful weapon in the game. It messes with people's expectations in a bad way. Developers should always try to make sure the visuals fit the function to make it more intuitive. Bigger weapons (Rocket Launcher) are powerful, smaller ones (Pistol) aren't. This of course is harder to do with alien weaponry, but with familiar human weapons this should definitely be the case.

Even the Covenant weaponry at least follows it to some degree. The Plasma Pistol and Rifle, while useful, still have lower base damage offset by being so good as shield strippers. On the flipside, you've got bigger weapons like the Plasma Launcher, and then it's taken to its logical extreme with the Gravity Hammer - a weapon bigger than the bipeds that are actually using it.

 

[HTupolev]

Your memory sucks. Go back and listen to everything Gravemind says.

I did, before I made that post. I even just now glanced through Hindsight Halo 3 to check if I was missing some brilliance hidden deep down. I'm not seeing much.

Also while yes more diverse flood (Like Origins 1) would have been nice remember that the game was made in '07. They were pretty limited on what could be done.

I'm not asking for more diverse Flood. I'm asking for a different selection of "Covenant area" materials and geometries, and a different distribution of Flood materials throughout the level.

 

[Woorloog]

SNIP

That is an interesting way of seeing this. I wonder if i do subconsciously think that.
I do like a game's pistol to be useful weapon (when we are not talking about games like Battlefield where it is meant to be a backup weapon), Mass Effect series is a good example of a game where the pistol isn't really a rifle (mostly because the game does have actual rifles) but is very useful weapon.

It is true many games have more powerful weapons to be bigger...

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

Personally, i think Halo takes a really good job of portraying a realistic human future.
The idea of humanity living in some sort of Rodenberry-esque harmonious civiliation that spans the stars is both absurd and highly unlikely. The fact that the main governing body, ie the Unified Earth Government and its military and exploratory force of the UNSC is governed by earth, kinda makes it hard to exert influence on planets/colonies that are XX light years away. It didn't work for the British when they colonized the America's, so why would it work in the Future. The idea of dissent within the Colonies is both a realistic and clearly logical issue.

As far as weapons and their primitive nature go, if you read the books, the encounters with the Covenant only serve to prove the theories that they speculate, such as controllable and guided plasma and so on. Humanity is quickly able to learn much from this. Also launching a super conductive round via magnetic acceleration isn't "primitive". The force that which one of those rounds hits a target is probably like the same as several high yield nuclear weapons minus the radiation.

 

[Woorloog]

Humankind in Halo is extremely unrealistic. Technology advances so fast we can't even really begin to speculate what kind of stuff we have in 500 years. And with tech, culture (consider the Internet, which has strong effect on communication, and through communication to culture)
100 years is very difficult to predict as it is.
Halo's humankind is remarkably similar to modern day humans, in many ways. Many things are not used to their fullest extent.
I don't think humankind will live in peace... but war will be different.

EDIT pretty sure Bungie themselves remarked Halo isn't realistic. It is driven by need to make the humans approachable, and the Covenant is made to be alien. Neither one is made to make sense.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

It could be a billion years in the future and it wouldn't matter. At this point in time people perceive smaller handguns as being weaker than bigger rifles and that's where you get an issue with the Halo CE pistol. Why do you think so many newcomers were surprised that they were constantly getting destroyed by people with pistols? Because it doesn't make sense for a handgun to be such a powerful weapon in the game. It messes with people's expectations in a bad way. Developers should always try to make sure the visuals fit the function to make it more intuitive. Bigger weapons (Rocket Launcher) are powerful, smaller ones (Pistol) aren't. This of course is harder to do with alien weaponry, but with familiar human weapons this should definitely be the case.

IRL
this

Is far more powerful than

Only difference with the Halo Magnum is range which is currently unrealistic do to barrel length and such.

 

[Woorloog]

IRL
this

Is far more powerful than

Overdoziz talked about expectations and perceptions. People generally speaking assume a pistol is not as dangerous or powerful as a rifle, and usually they're right too. Desert Eagle, while powerful, probably lacks accuracy to be truly dangerous at long range. And its heavy recoil and size make it kind of impractical (and when it comes to weapons, practical is usually more useful than impractical).

 

[Overdoziz]

IRL
this

Is far more powerful than

That's why I said that generally people perceive handguns as being less powerful weapons. If you have both a handgun and a rifle in a game, which one do you think people will assume is more powerful? Having a gun be big is a good way of communicating to a player that it's a more powerful gun. Whether or not that's always the case in real life doesn't really matter.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

practical is usually more useful than impractical).

True