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Halo |OT10| The Calm Before The Storm

Fuchsdh

Member
Was nice to see more Forge stuff. It's pretty incredible how much the lighting helps make the maps look far better. If it performs better than Reach I'm sold (although I really hope in porting the pieces they adjusted the depth issues on blocks, that was just bizarre.)

Really nice animation on the boarding/Mantis opening, etc. The character animation is really nice.

I wonder how successful 343i will actually be at getting multi guys to play campaign, and vice versa. They're certainly pulling out all the stops... but I'm not sure how much influence that has on people's mindsets.

EDIT: Also really happy the quality of the Ops cutscenes is analogous to the gameplay/cutscenes. Would have bothered me if they were far better, would have felt incongruous.

EDIT 2: Also, anyone else think that this game is sort of what Reach should have looked like, color wise? It's certainly not the super-saturated look of the main trilogy, but everything still feels clean and less obnoxiously gritty.
 

orznge

Banned
Its when it gets personal that it pisses me off. If i respond to your criticisms of the game with counterpoints and you tell me to change my attitude, its obviously not me who needs the change in attitude.

Yeah, people need to be more reasonable. Here's an example of how a reasonable conversation would go:

Person 1: I think you should be able to change the color of stuff in Forge. That would probably be a simple thing to implement and would make a lot of players happy.

Person 2: I don't think that feature should be implemented, because the resources would be better spent on marketing or maybe not at all.
 

Jibbed

Member
Yeah, people need to be more reasonable. Here's an example of how a reasonable conversation would go:

Person 1: I think you should be able to change the color of stuff in Forge. That would probably be a simple thing to implement and would make a lot of players happy.

Person 2: I don't think that feature should be implemented, because the resources would be better spent on marketing or maybe not at all.

Nicely put.
 
About 200 Pages into First Strike and I'm really enjoying it. It finally shed's some light on how
Johnson made it off of the original Halo
. Also like the references to the biofoam whihc I just realized is used in ODST. I also liked the way they introduced the H2 pistol and the BR. The use of engineers in Fall of Reach and First Strike is also kind of cool since they only appear in ODST.

One thing I've found interesting about biofoam is that it's described as feeling like "burning ants crawling around the wound." Could it have some sort of nanomachine component, hence the feeling of the individual "ants" crawling around?

Yeah, people need to be more reasonable. Here's an example of how a reasonable conversation would go:

Person 1: I think you should be able to change the color of stuff in Forge. That would probably be a simple thing to implement and would make a lot of players happy.

Person 2: I don't think that feature should be implemented, because the resources would be better spent on marketing or maybe not at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqvHdSvUu4k
 

Fuchsdh

Member
One thing I've found interesting about biofoam is that it's described as feeling like "burning ants crawling around the wound." Could it have some sort of nanomachine component, hence the feeling of the individual "ants" crawling around?

No nano machines. I think a better analogy would be to concrete (which if you've ever been stupid and got on yourself, you know how much that stuff can burn.) It's essentially sealing you up tight so you won't bleed out or tear yourself up in transit, but it's got to be incredibly painful while it's doing that.
 

Homeboyd

Member
OT, but HaloGAF, how accurate are these compared to your accents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo_DCIdpM&feature=related

Entertaining to say the least. Some of these sounds pretty damn good.

Yeah, people need to be more reasonable. Here's an example of how a reasonable conversation would go:

Person 1: I think you should be able to change the color of stuff in Forge. That would probably be a simple thing to implement and would make a lot of players happy.

Person 2: I don't think that feature should be implemented, because the resources would be better spent on marketing or maybe not at all.
I know you're just making an example, but you know that isn't how game development works right? i.e. resources shared between marketing and implementing in-game features
 
No nano machines. I think a better analogy would be to concrete (which if you've ever been stupid and got on yourself, you know how much that stuff can burn.) It's essentially sealing you up tight so you won't bleed out or tear yourself up in transit, but it's got to be incredibly painful while it's doing that.

I've gotten thick housepaint in an open wound before if that counts.
 

Satchel

Banned
Im in semi disbelief. I get that there's things that people used that are missing but seriously, supplemental stuff that i barely ever looked at. Give me good weapons good graphics and good map design. Oh noes i cant set the game to make me a pot of coffee every 3 games and update my twitter every time i get a headshot!! Who gives a fuck. Game looks awesome.

Pretty much.

Oh no, this setting that only a tiny percentage of the most fanatical section of the userbase ever used isn't available anymore! Fix this shit 343!

It sounds like people want a Halo game from 2004. It's 2012 guys. Move on.

This game looks close to perfect to me. SP and MP.

We'll know in a few weeks.
 
Pretty much.

Oh no, this setting that only a tiny percentage of the most fanatical section of the userbase ever used isn't available anymore! Fix this shit 343!

It sounds like people want a Halo game from 2004. It's 2012 guys. Move on.

This game looks close to perfect to me. SP and MP.

We'll know in a few weeks.
Agreed, I mean who ever dropped the flag before anyway? Just makes sense with how they've changed it, no point in adding options since no one would want to go back to the other way. Y'all just complainin' 'bout stupid shit.
 
I went from playing halo 2 all the time

To playing halo 3 all the time

Then reach for a week

Then nothing...

This is me too. I'll play Halo 4 because the game looks enough to keep me playing more, but if I end up not having a goal to achieve well then I will slowly stop playing. No point in being the best If I can't prove it.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
I'm okay with the criticism, I just love a good debate.
6jaSn.jpg
 

MrDaravon

Member
Pretty much.

Oh no, this setting that only a tiny percentage of the most fanatical section of the userbase ever used isn't available anymore! Fix this shit 343!

It sounds like people want a Halo game from 2004. It's 2012 guys. Move on.

This game looks close to perfect to me. SP and MP.

We'll know in a few weeks.

Yes, because 8 years have passed we should want less options in custom games, and have extremely basic things taken away like being able to drop the flag, disable sprint, or play matchmaking 8v8 matches in anything other than Slayer.

The counter-complainers are more annoying than the complainers.
 
I feel like the people who complain about people complaining don't care if they win or lose a game. I feel that way in Reach, but I never felt like that in HAlo 2 or 3.
 

nomis

Member
Pretty much.

Oh no, this setting that only a tiny percentage of the most fanatical section of the userbase ever used isn't available anymore! Fix this shit 343!

It sounds like people want a Halo game from 2004. It's 2012 guys. Move on.

This game looks close to perfect to me. SP and MP.

We'll know in a few weeks.

Yah brah, seeing where your teammates just died in a team based game be niche as FUCK.

It's been repeated ad nauseum, but for the last time, the problem with major changes isn't that 343 is blazing their own trail. It's that by removing things and then not keeping them as a custom option, they don't have to actually prove that these new ideas are any good because they simply offer no alternative. There's a monopoly on game style. "Flag commitment" is certainly DIFFERENT, but if they actually thought they could convince me that its BETTER, they wouldn't have removed the old method from the game code completely.
 

MrDaravon

Member
I feel like the people who complain about people complaining don't care if they win or lose a game. I feel that way in Reach, but I never felt like that in HAlo 2 or 3.

Yup, annnnnnnnd that's probably because in Halo 2/3 your rank could go down if you lost, whereas in Reach there was no rank to go down (except Arena I guess) and you still got cR so who cares? That's one of the problems with CoD, no one gives a shit if you win or lose since it's all about personal performance to get dat XP son. W/L was relevant to me in Halo 2 and 3, but I never even looked at it in Reach. It's also a completely useless stat in CoD due to join in progress, and while I'm all for mid-game joining that does now mean that W/L is going to be irrelevant in Halo 4 as well.
 

Satchel

Banned
Yes, because 8 years have passed we should want less options in custom games, and have extremely basic things taken away like being able to drop the flag, disable sprint, or play matchmaking 8v8 matches in anything other than Slayer.

The counter-complainers are more annoying than the complainers.

343 have to make hard calls in the best interest of keeping the online alive and buzzing.

I know most people (including myself normally) think "options are good". But sometimes, less is more. There are instances where you can have too many options.

Halo playlists is one of them. Every time I jump on Reach, everyone is either on Slayer or SWAT so I doubt these changes are going to hurt a decent portion of the userbase.
 

Gui_PT

Member
Pretty much.

Oh no, this setting that only a tiny percentage of the most fanatical section of the userbase ever used isn't available anymore! Fix this shit 343!

It sounds like people want a Halo game from 2004. It's 2012 guys. Move on.

This game looks close to perfect to me. SP and MP.

We'll know in a few weeks.

Yeah you morons! We want less features than the ones we had in 2004!

Jesus Christ what a bunch of babies.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
343 have to make hard calls in the best interest of keeping the online alive and buzzing.

I know most people (including myself normally) think "options are good". But sometimes, less is more. There are instances where you can have too many options.

Halo playlists is one of them. Every time I jump on Reach, everyone is either on Slayer or SWAT so I doubt these changes are going to hurt a decent portion of the userbase.

Less is never more

Less may be neater but if its more popular it just proves you sucked at providing more [ie didn't have foresight and a proper scalable strategy]
 

MrDaravon

Member
343 have to make hard calls in the best interest of keeping the online alive and buzzing.

I know most people (including myself normally) think "options are good". But sometimes, less is more. There are instances where you can have too many options.

Halo playlists is one of them. Every time I jump on Reach, everyone is either on Slayer or SWAT so I doubt these changes are going to hurt a decent portion of the userbase.

Please explain how taking away those options in custom games is defendable.

I agree with your general sentiment, but having only a single gametype for 8v8 I think is inexcusable. Also the CTF changes don't seem to relate at all to consolidating playlists, since there's still only (apparently) one CTF playlist.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Thankfully, halo 4 is more.

But it's less in certain areas. So it's a rearrangement

I'm confident it will be better than reach and likely halo 3. But not having some things will hold it back from being the best multiplayer on consoles.

An incomplete experience is still an incomplete experience.
 

Mayyhem

Member
Vidoc was amazing. I'm hyped. The only way I could be REALLY hyped for this though is if there was a visual ranking system like in 2 and 3.

Although the game-play looks amazing, I don't see myself being able to play this long term with the only incentive being grinding this EXP crap.
 

nomis

Member
Yup, annnnnnnnd that's probably because in Halo 2/3 your rank could go down if you lost, whereas in Reach there was no rank to go down (except Arena I guess) and you still got cR so who cares? That's one of the problems with CoD, no one gives a shit if you win or lose since it's all about personal performance to get dat XP son. W/L was relevant to me in Halo 2 and 3, but I never even looked at it in Reach. It's also a completely useless stat in CoD due to join in progress, and while I'm all for mid-game joining that does now mean that W/L is going to be irrelevant in Halo 4 as well.

Making people care about WINNING in a team game was a virtuous cycle that made everyone's experience better. 343 can deny all they want that they are including surface-level CoD style gameplay elements, and the argument will never end as to what their true impetus was. But really the far more heinous crime that started with cR in Reach is perpetuating this new age console shooter mindset that personal K/D is all that matters, and playing your game MORE as opposed to actually improving your abilities as a teammate is what should facilitate your change in "rank". Keep playing the game, your number will keep going up. It keeps people locked in a grind at their current proficiency level, instead of truly pushing to become better at the game.
 
Yup, annnnnnnnd that's probably because in Halo 2/3 your rank could go down if you lost, whereas in Reach there was no rank to go down (except Arena I guess) and you still got cR so who cares? That's one of the problems with CoD, no one gives a shit if you win or lose since it's all about personal performance to get dat XP son. W/L was relevant to me in Halo 2 and 3, but I never even looked at it in Reach. It's also a completely useless stat in CoD due to join in progress, and while I'm all for mid-game joining that does now mean that W/L is going to be irrelevant in Halo 4 as well.

Exactly. I played hard heck I even trained during Halo2 and 3. Didn't do it once for Reach. If Reach had rank like 2 or 3 even though I didn't like Reach I would have played it a lot more.
 

Satchel

Banned
Yah brah, seeing where your teammates just died in a team based game be niche as FUCK.

It's been repeated ad nauseum, but for the last time, the problem with major changes isn't that 343 is blazing their own trail. It's that by removing things and then not keeping them as a custom option, they don't have to actually prove that these new ideas are any good because they simply offer no alternative. There's a monopoly on game style. "Flag commitment" is certainly DIFFERENT, but if they actually thought they could convince me that its BETTER, they wouldn't have removed the old method from the game code completely.

So all this complaining in this thread really just essentially hating change for the sake of hating it?

Again, the complaints seem to be coming from the real fanatical/MLG Halo players. I'd say the larger portion of Halo players like myself aren't quite as competitive as you guys. I adore my Halo, but I jump on to have fun and shoot shit. If there's something I'm not liking? I'll avoid it. Like Armour lock.

As to the flag thing, I understand you have no alternative but

A) you don't know you won't like it yet
B) it may come later down the track

I'd say the rest of us will roll with the punches. 3 changed from 2, as Reach changed from 3. As 4 will change from Reach.

Games change man. 5 will change again.

CoD changes too. Doesn't stop people loving it.
 
But it's less in certain areas. So it's a rearrangement

I'm confident it will be better than reach and likely halo 3. But not having some things will hold it back from being the best multiplayer on consoles.

An incomplete experience is still an incomplete experience.

What was your best multiplayer experience on consoles? I don't normally chime in with this stuff but expecting Halo 4 to be that is ridiculous, especially in today's generation. Yes, 343 thinks it's the best Halo game. And who knows? Maybe in time it'll turn out they're right. But you shouldn't be going into every Halo game expecting it to be the pioneer of a generation. And best console multiplayer is a whole different story. Cue people saying Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Did anyone complain about those limited feature sets? Games that are exclusively barebones arena shooters with minimal elements possible just aren't as profitable to today's market and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
 

MrDaravon

Member
Making people care about WINNING in a team game was a virtuous cycle that made everyone's experience better. 343 can deny all they want that they are including surface-level CoD style gameplay elements, and the argument will never end as to what their true impetus was. But really the far more heinous crime that started with cR in Reach is perpetuating this new age console shooter mindset that personal K/D is all that matters, and playing your game MORE as opposed to actually improving your abilities as a teammate is what should facilitate your change in "rank". Keep playing the game, your number will keep going up.

THIS IS WHY HAVING A VISUAL RANKING SYSTEM IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE

I do however think having a separate but overall system like cR/Prestige/whatever is good and should be there though; not everyone is a top player, and you need incentive for people who aren't going to advance very far in ranked play to keep going. But Halo 3 was the last game I was ever on the edge of my seat really trying to win matches. In CoD (and Reach to a lesser extent) it really didn't matter so I mostly just try to do well. I still try to win of course since winning is fun, but there's not the same pressure to do well without a ranking system.

So all this complaining in this thread really just essentially hating change for the sake of hating it?

Again, the complaints seem to be coming from the real fanatical/MLG Halo players. I'd say the larger portion of Halo players like myself aren't quite as competitive as you guys. I adore my Halo, but I jump on to have fun and shoot shit. If there's something I'm not liking? I'll avoid it. Like Armour lock.

As to the flag thing, I understand you have no alternative but

A) you don't know you won't like it yet
B) it may come later down the track

I'd say the rest of us will roll with the punches. 3 changed from 2, as Reach changed from 3. As 4 will change from Reach.

Games change man. 5 will change again.

CoD changes too. Doesn't stop people loving it.

If that's what you're getting from the posts in this thread, I have no idea what to tell you.

As to the flag thing it's not a question of "liking it." It's a change that makes no sense and breaks CTF; I would maybe be okay the not being able to drop the flag if the entire enemy team didn't see where you are at all times. It completely removes the element of actually trying to you know, use stealth and strategy to steal a team's flag and get away with it. I also don't get their logic as to how it will encourage your teammates to protect the flag carrier, since you could already do that and your team could already see where you are. Some of the other gameplay changes they've made like throwing the Oddball and whatnot I agree people need to wait and see on, but the CTF thing is stupid on paper and in practice based on livestreams and impressions.

Also CoD doesn't really change.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Remember when it looked like the Scattershot had an EMP effect in that one trailer a long time ago?

Looks like we were wrong.
 
THIS IS WHY HAVING A VISUAL RANKING SYSTEM IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE

I do however think having a separate but overall system like cR/Prestige/whatever is good and should be there though; not everyone is a top player, and you need incentive for people who aren't going to advance very far in ranked play to keep going. But Halo 3 was the last game I was ever on the edge of my seat really trying to win matches. In CoD (and Reach to a lesser extent) it really didn't matter so I mostly just try to do well. I still try to win of course since winning is fun, but there's not the same pressure to do well without a ranking system.

I like to win, but I didn't care if I lost(concerning Reach). The other team would have to talk trash to make me even thinking about giving it a great effort. It is a night and day difference when I try.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
What was your best multiplayer experience on consoles? I don't normally chime in with this stuff but expecting Halo 4 to be that is ridiculous, especially in today's generation. Yes, 343 thinks it's the best Halo game. And who knows? Maybe in time it'll turn out they're right. But you shouldn't be going into every Halo game expecting it to be the pioneer of a generation. And best console multiplayer is a whole different story. Cue people saying Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Did anyone complain about those limited feature sets? Games that are exclusively barebones arena shooters with minimal elements possible just aren't as profitable to today's market and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Halo 2. Easily.

I come from PC background where I played Counter-Strike and Rocket Arena 3 (Q3A) religiously.
 

nomis

Member
So all this complaining in this thread really just essentially hating change for the sake of hating it?

Again, the complaints seem to be coming from the real fanatical/MLG Halo players. I'd say the larger portion of Halo players like myself aren't quite as competitive as you guys. I adore my Halo, but I jump on to have fun and shoot shit. If there's something I'm not liking? I'll avoid it. Like Armour lock.

As to the flag thing, I understand you have no alternative but

A) you don't know you won't like it yet
B) it may come later down the track

I'd say the rest of us will roll with the punches. 3 changed from 2, as Reach changed from 3. As 4 will change from Reach.

Games change man. 5 will change again.

CoD changes too. Doesn't stop people loving it.

Actually yes, as a general rule, time tested and proven > change for the sake of change.

I'm not saying that the new flag rules won't make for fun gameplay. I'm saying that from what I've seen of it, it will not make for as exciting or team oriented flag running as what you might see in a Halo 3 game on say Narrows. I also just think its hubristic of them to be so convinced that their new way is better that they don't even include the old mode as a custom option to appease us.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Do you mean the Boltshot's flame bursty thingy?

there was a clip of a hog getting emp'd at the same time a scattershot shot it. it was a stretch then to think it was the scattershot IMO, but thats where the speculation came from
 

Booties

Banned
Can't disable sprint!?

"Don't worry the game was designed around it unlike reach"

Can't disable bloom?!

"Don't worry the game was designed around it...you just didn't see it before"

Get these good enough kids out of here. This is 12 years into the current fps generation. We deserve to get everything we want. What's stopping us from buying another company's product? Not much, I know. Stop licking 343's balls and actually try being critical. Don't you kids pride yourself in your influence on the gaming industry here? Stop accepting everything as the best possible alternative. Go read Candide or shut up.
 

PNut

Banned
After watching that EGL stream it hit me how much fun SWAT is going to be in Halo 4 with the BR. God that BR is nice. Halo 4 looks amazing and I can't wait to play it.

Read the stuff about competitive from earlier today too. At least they acknowledged it and looks like something is in the works.
 
So all this complaining in this thread really just essentially hating change for the sake of hating it?

Again, the complaints seem to be coming from the real fanatical/MLG Halo players. I'd say the larger portion of Halo players like myself aren't quite as competitive as you guys. I adore my Halo, but I jump on to have fun and shoot shit. If there's something I'm not liking? I'll avoid it. Like Armour lock.

As to the flag thing, I understand you have no alternative but

A) you don't know you won't like it yet
B) it may come later down the track

I'd say the rest of us will roll with the punches. 3 changed from 2, as Reach changed from 3. As 4 will change from Reach.

Games change man. 5 will change again.

CoD changes too. Doesn't stop people loving it.

Eh Reach is the first game where I will not say everybody hate it or even majority of people hate it. I will say a good amount of people hated it and that in itself is a problem. I loved every Halo game. Reach is the first one I truly dislike. Reach killed gaming for me lol

I used to be upset on how Halo was taking away all my free time from other games. Now I have all this free time, but hate the fact Reach sucks. I have no interest in even playing games because it reminds me how much Reach sucks.
 

Redford

aka Cabbie
Get these good enough kids out of here. This is 12 years into the current fps generation. We deserve to get everything we want. What's stopping us from buying another company's product? Not much, I know. Stop licking 343's balls and actually try being critical. Don't you kids pride yourself in your influence on the gaming industry here? Stop accepting everything as the best possible alternative. Go read Candide or shut up.

:lol
 

nomis

Member
As to the flag thing it's not a question of "liking it." It's a change that makes no sense and breaks CTF; I would maybe be okay the not being able to drop the flag if the entire enemy team didn't see where you are at all times. It completely removes the element of actually trying to you know, use stealth and strategy to steal a team's flag and get away with it. I also don't get their logic as to how it will encourage your teammates to protect the flag carrier, since you could already do that and your team could already see where you are. Some of the other gameplay changes they've made like throwing the Oddball and whatnot I agree people need to wait and see on, but the CTF thing is stupid on paper and in practice based on livestreams and impressions.

Also CoD doesn't really change.

The most tense part of getting your flag stolen is not being 100% certain which way the enemy flag carrier is going.

As for "MLG style" flag juggling, it's a risk/reward system because not only do you trade off carrying faster for being visible to the enemy instead of stealthy, when you're juggling at the extent of your ability, you risk fumbling it. I'm sorry, even having never used a flagnum myself yet, I don't see any way it can be more exciting.

I can't help but feeling that turning the flag carrier into a beacon for everyone in the game was done for the cheap seats.
 

Satchel

Banned
Actually yes, as a general rule, time tested and proven > change for the sake of change.

I'm not saying that the new flag rules won't make for fun gameplay. I'm saying that from what I've seen of it, it will not make for as exciting or team oriented flag running as what you might see in a Halo 3 game on say Narrows. I also just think its hubristic of them to be so convinced that their new way is better that they don't even include the old mode as a custom option to appease us.

But is it change for the sake of change?

Microsoft and 343 want to take back, or at least try to take back the console FPS crown that was taken from them in 2007.

This requires change. Not taking Halo back to 2004/2007. Infinity Ward took elements of Halo and added their own ideas to make CoD huge.

343 are simply returning the favour.
 
So all this complaining in this thread really just essentially hating change for the sake of hating it?

Again, the complaints seem to be coming from the real fanatical/MLG Halo players. I'd say the larger portion of Halo players like myself aren't quite as competitive as you guys. I adore my Halo, but I jump on to have fun and shoot shit. If there's something I'm not liking? I'll avoid it. Like Armour lock.

As to the flag thing, I understand you have no alternative but

A) you don't know you won't like it yet
B) it may come later down the track

I'd say the rest of us will roll with the punches. 3 changed from 2, as Reach changed from 3. As 4 will change from Reach.

Games change man. 5 will change again.

CoD changes too. Doesn't stop people loving it.
I remember other games from this year that were taken by other devs and changed to make their mark on it. They were Diablo and Max Payne 3, and they both failed to deliver in aspects that were clear from near the start. More often than not if it's an established series I can tell exactly what I'll like or dislike just from seeing it in action, and I'd eat a buffet of crow if I turn around on the flag change.

That said, I don't mean to construe that as either a "343 is going to be responsible for Halo's decline" because I'm sure a lot of people, myself included, would feel even less willing to accept changes like that from Bungie given what happened with Reach. I also don't want this post to be construed as me being a part of Team Downer either, even if I do have my own list of elements I'm wary about. :p

But here you are talking about accepting change. Will you be around in this thread a year down the line? I might not be either. By the time you and I are on to the next thing the people you're thinking about will still be slumming it up in here probably butting heads with how playlists are being handled or whatever else. Change is fine and all, but I'd also like something that is authentically classic; which would be fine to omit if there was some other avenue to have that experience. You can't exactly go back to Halo 2 at this point, so it would be nice for at least one of these games to have a classic setting that can authentically be substituted in.
 
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