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Halo 4 |OT2| TURBO

So are we pretty much resigned to Halo 5 being 2015 now?
8ball1.gif
 

monome

Member
In-depth exploration of the UNSC rifle ammunition perhaps? :)

Halo : Bullets Kill. the new Traviss book. starts a trilogy that follows an ODST, a Spartan and a scientist all suffering some sort of PTSD under the watchfull eyes of ONI.
But does the bullets kill, or is it the man behind?

Intro by Greg Bear with the short story "The Chants of Millions Deaths". A mysterious artifact found on Iïr-Zeta chants all through the galaxy. A young forerunner will learn about tragedy...and love.
 

Omni

Member
Random question. Is there a particular reason why we're still not allowed to make a new Halo OT? That's what this thread has turned into nowadays anyway. Even whatshisface (the one who locked the thread in the first place) has partaken in the offtopic-ness. Very little discussion is on Halo 4 anymore... so why are we continuing to lie to ourselves?

Doesn't make sense to make people wait another 5 weeks when quite clearly we're all gonna be discussing whatever happens at E3 here anyway *shrugs*

...

On another note. I'm getting absolutely stomped on by parties tonight. Not havin' fun at all!
 

Fuchsdh

Member
lore excerpts pweatty pliz

Info cut from the Visual Guide about the composition of the ships in Battlegroup Dakota seen at the end of Halo 4; confirmation that Endurance from Bear's books is the Promethean we see at the very end of the Halo 4 terminals (headcanon vindicated!); and some more philosophical stuff about why the UNSC came together.

Also, "the terminals in Halo 4 are impressions of reality created by the Domain" raises a lot of interesting questions.
 
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District
 

wwm0nkey

Member
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District
Yes, though maybe not Vista maps
 

Omni

Member
I fully expect the maps to be redone visually. Which means there's no way in hell we're getting all of them. Probably 10 or so fan favourites

Just enough to keep us going until Halo 5.
 

monome

Member
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District

lol. it would kill matchmaking. at best the MP will be free of "additions" and have no MP packs. 12 maps.
 
Man, that map list.. And people were always iffy about remakes in later Halo games. Personally, I'd rather play on remakes than 93.7%* of the maps we received after Halo 3.

*Not a real statistic Karl. Calm down.
:]

EDIT:
I fully expect the maps to be redone visually. Which means there's no way in hell we're getting all of them. Probably 10 or so fan favourites

Just enough to keep us going until Halo 5.

We'll probably get Halo 5 about a full year after H2A, so they really need a good amount of maps; definitely more than 10 if they want to keep people playing until Halo 5 releases.
 

Woorloog

Banned
The issue with remakes is that they don't necessarily work in later games, with (even just little) different mechanics, and adjusting them fucks them up usually too (consider Blackout).
Of course, using remakes in wrong way does not help at all, such as normal CTF in Headlong in Reach (i can't actually recall if that happened. It wasn't like i actually got to play on the Anniversary maps properly).

EDIT I'd rather take good new maps over remakes, it gets boring playing the same maps again and again, and then getting the same fucking maps in another game. Yes yes, good maps are difficult to find and make... but how about making rough Forge versions first, have community test them for long enough and then make an actual map?
EDIT At least if Forge wasn't so limited. Some maps, especially the ones with organic shapes (hills rounded things, etc) are really difficult if not impossible to make in Forge.
 
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District

Halo 2 really was its MP, so it better have all of the original disc maps.

lol. it would kill matchmaking. at best the MP will be free of "additions" and have no MP packs. 12 maps.

How? If they were all on the disc you wouldn't have a fragmented MP population.
 

ElRenoRaven

Gold Member
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District

A man can dream but not a chance in hell. I'd be surprised if we see what the game launched with back in the days much less all of it. Hell that's even if it really does have the multiplayer which I'm very skeptical of. Best case default maps then map packs to add the others.
 
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District

Probably take the best of. The better half of each pack/on disc.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
If Containment, Lockout, WaterWorks, Sanctuary, Beaver Creek,Turf, Relic, Headlong, Terminal, Ascension, Foundation, Burial Mounds, Zanzibar or Midship; just one of those missing would kill me on the inside.

Headlong especially, assault and 1 Flag on that is heaven
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Like?

The Domain is pretty much the Force and the Internet having a baby.

That's actually a fairly apt description, but I don't think they're going to pull a Lucas and go into full-blown bacteria-based mysticism :p

At the end of Silentium the Gravemind basically said the Domain was a Precursor construct and thus firing the Halos would destroy it… so what is the Domain in Halo 4? Is it something created by the new Gravemind? Was the Domain beyond even the Precursor's control and reason by the end? Or is it essentially a "local backup" based on the memories of the Didact and the Forerunners who stayed on Requiem? Perhaps more importantly, why is it "helping" the Chief by showing him what he needs to know about the Didact's story?

In terms of rewriting the Forerunner story, Bear and 343 did it pretty masterfully. The nature of the Domain to Forerunner civilization explains partially why the Halo 3 terminals are so fragmentary and inaccurate in the finer details.
 
Mike Colter set to star in Ridley Scott's Halo Feature

Expected to follow the same format as Machinima's “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn,” the story is set in the 26th century and follows a surgically-enhanced super soldier who is not Master Chief, TheWrap has learned.

Instead, Colter is expected to play Marlowe, a rising star in a futuristic army who is troubled by aspects of the military industrial complex he inhabits. Approaching combat situations with caution and logic, he inspires loyalty in his fellow Spartans.
 

belushy

Banned
many maps, many playlists, probably a daily active base of a few ten thousand players.

Remember Reach.

That isn't how it would be if everyone had the same map pool at launch. There would be no need for "many playlists" since you don't need to separate who has what maps.
 

monome

Member
That's actually a fairly apt description, but I don't think they're going to pull a Lucas and go into full-blown bacteria-based mysticism :p

At the end of Silentium the Gravemind basically said the Domain was a Precursor construct and thus firing the Halos would destroy it… so what is the Domain in Halo 4? Is it something created by the new Gravemind? Was the Domain beyond even the Precursor's control and reason by the end? Or is it essentially a "local backup" based on the memories of the Didact and the Forerunners who stayed on Requiem? Perhaps more importantly, why is it "helping" the Chief by showing him what he needs to know about the Didact's story?

In terms of rewriting the Forerunner story, Bear and 343 did it pretty masterfully. The nature of the Domain to Forerunner civilization explains partially why the Halo 3 terminals are so fragmentary and inaccurate in the finer details.

Bear is awesome and I suggest you read Rogue Planet, his Star Wars book.

local backup is the only thing that makes sense as the Domain is indeed closed for repair (I suppose the Mantle/Domain somewhat go together).

The Chief's DNA is Anakin Skywalker's midchlorians already. The now non-canon SW lore implies the Skywalker line may have been created by Palpatine's master...a Master of Midchlorians and probably the equivalent of the Ur-Librarian if she was even uglier and evil.

That isn't how it would be if everyone had the same map pool at launch. There would be no need for "many playlists" since you don't need to separate who has what maps.

good luck with rotating 25 maps into 3 playlists, and playing them when you have a voting option.

threading on UNSC/ONI dubious morals will kill Halo...
 

Mistel

Banned
I fully expect the maps to be redone visually. Which means there's no way in hell we're getting all of them. Probably 10 or so fan favourites

Just enough to keep us going until Halo 5.
I'd expect the originals then maybe like on or two dlc maps not the whole 25 but the would be nice if it happened.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Bear is awesome and I suggest you read Rogue Planet, his Star Wars book.

local backup is the only thing that makes sense as the Domain is indeed closed for repair (I suppose the Mantle/Domain somewhat go together).

The Chief's DNA is Anakin Skywalker's midchlorians already. The now non-canon SW lore implies the Skywalker line may have been created by Palpatine's master...a Master of Midchlorians and probably the equivalent of the Ur-Librarian if she was even uglier and evil.



good luck with rotating 25 maps into 3 playlists, and playing them when you have a voting option.

While I understand the complaints about "space magic" in Halo 4, I think that was a matter of mediocre writing and cinematics rather than any sort of Star Wars chicanery.* The Librarian said she tried to steer humanity towards a certain course of evolution—but all the "Halsey was secretly manipulated by the Librarian" stuff is made-up bullshit at this point. No reason to be alarmed until 343 actually pushes that narrative anywhere.

(I feel like some people have drawn too much from the Bear novels as to how it relates to the greater franchise. Bear seems like he was clearly given a lot of room to develop stuff that they may or may not use elsewhere. For me, a lot of it works fine in the context of Bear's corner of the universe but wouldn't in the more mil-sci-fi world of the games.)

*Speaking of which, I wonder how people would react to that scene if the Librarian's imprint basically said the Chief was already immune due to Spartan augmentations. Would that feed into the "OMG geas control everything" line of thinking, or would it have been easier to explain in the context of the story? And if we're complaining about space magic the only part that really qualifies to me is Cortana's moves at the end--again, not necessarily a problem but it wasn't presented clearly or in a manner that avoids the implication.
 

monome

Member
While I understand the complaints about "space magic" in Halo 4, I think that was a matter of mediocre writing and cinematics rather than any sort of Star Wars chicanery.* The Librarian said she tried to steer humanity towards a certain course of evolution—but all the "Halsey was secretly manipulated by the Librarian" stuff is made-up bullshit at this point. No reason to be alarmed until 343 actually pushes that narrative anywhere.

(I feel like some people have drawn too much from the Bear novels as to how it relates to the greater franchise. Bear seems like he was clearly given a lot of room to develop stuff that they may or may not use elsewhere. For me, a lot of it works fine in the context of Bear's corner of the universe but wouldn't in the more mil-sci-fi world of the games.)

*Speaking of which, I wonder how people would react to that scene if the Librarian's imprint basically said the Chief was already immune due to Spartan augmentations. Would that feed into the "OMG geas control everything" line of thinking, or would it have been easier to explain in the context of the story? And if we're complaining about space magic the only part that really qualifies to me is Cortana's moves at the end--again, not necessarily a problem but it wasn't presented clearly or in a manner that avoids the implication.

I agree. Bear had a free pass. His stuff is too High Drama/High Concept to play nicely with the realities of making FPS shooters.

And there is no space magic in Halo. it's a matter of control/chaos in that Universe. Halo is more or less hard sci-fi.
Handling the mantle is control. and by not bothering with the Mantle themselves, the Precursors are free to play with chaos. Good luck in giving Precursors a motive for their actions beyond the very weak "revenge" thing against the Forerunners ; just like wiping humans to make room for a neven better species is pretty weak...

Halo 4 story was destroyed by the insistance to make it a love story too.
it should have dealt with that of the Didact and Librarian in the terminals (so easy to find) and culminating in-game, and not run after the tragic death of Cortana this soon. The Chief is terrible as an emo soldier.

That part of Requiem's story was kept for Season 1 was...good on paper.
 
The issue with remakes is that they don't necessarily work in later games, with (even just little) different mechanics, and adjusting them fucks them up usually too (consider Blackout).
Blackout was a fun map and better than most of Halo 3's maps. It "didn't work" according to some people because they made questionable design changes compared to the original like the Library window.
Of course, using remakes in wrong way does not help at all, such as normal CTF in Headlong in Reach (i can't actually recall if that happened. It wasn't like i actually got to play on the Anniversary maps properly).
Exactly, poor design change. And like I said about Blackout, Headlong was better than most of Reach's maps.
EDIT I'd rather take good new maps over remakes, it gets boring playing the same maps again and again, and then getting the same fucking maps in another game. Yes yes, good maps are difficult to find and make...
People have been saying this for years, but let's be realistic: Can you name 10 maps between Halo Reach and 4 that are undoubtedly better than maps from Halo 1-3? Question goes to everyone.
but how about making rough Forge versions first, have community test them for long enough and then make an actual map?
Good idea.
 

This already sounding more promising than FUD (which turned out better than I expected), so I am fairly excited.

I'm assuming 'Marlowe' is a Spartan IV, but judging by his character description he sounds like the opposite of Palmer, so at least they learned. They're gonna have to start shooting this soon to hit the fall release window, so hopefully we see some set pictures in the near future.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Blackout was a fun map and better than most of Halo 3's maps. It "didn't work" according to some people because they made questionable design changes compared to the original like the Library window.

Exactly, poor design change. And like I said about Blackout, Headlong was better than most of Reach's maps.

People have been saying this for years, but let's be realistic: Can you name 10 maps between Halo Reach and 4 that are undoubtedly better than maps from Halo 1-3? Question goes to everyone.

Good idea.

I liked Lockout but i fucking hate Blackout. The reason is not, in my case, actually the design changes to the map, but rather that Halo 3 mechanics do not suit the map. The spawns especially work horribly.

As for later Halo maps, no, there are not many even okay ones (i can't think of any post-Halo 3 map i actually like), but that doesn't change that i want new good maps, again because most remakes don't actually work that well in later games (and making new games to be like old ones is another thing i don't like).

Bungie/343i just need stricter quality control for maps, and their maps should be made with specific goals in mind (no jack of all trades maps as most post-Halo 3 maps seem to be). Tailor maps for specific modes, and use the maps right in the matchmaking. And keep working on them until they're perfect.
I've said it before: I don't mind if there are not many maps, as long as they're super high quality. If they're bad, variety won't save them or the game.
 
So assuming Halo 2A is real, do you think we'll get all the maps? All 25?

Disc maps:
Lockout
Midship
Ascension
Ivory Tower
Burial Mounds
Headlong
Waterworks
Coagulation
Beaver Creek
Colossus
Foundation
Zanzibar

Bonus map pack:
Warlock
Containment

Killtacular map pack:
Sanctuary
Turf

Maptacular map pack:
Backwash
Relic
Gemini
Elongation
Terminal

Blastacular map pack:
Tombstone
Desolation

Vista maps:
Uplift
District

We'd better! Let's pretend only 10 return. Can you narrow it down effectively? I bet not. ALL the maps are too damn good not to be included.
 
What's your favorite non-playable moment in the Halo franchise?

Mine has to be the ending to the final Halo 4 terminal. It's the one time where Revival actually got some decent usage.
 

Released

Member
Eh, I could do without everything from Maptacular on. Backwash is particularly offensive. And I don't care for Gemini, Elongation, Tombstone, or Desolation either.
 
Quick question. Why might I be losing connection on Halo 2 Vista every ten minutes? I drop out of games often but my connection is stable. It doesn't happen in CE.
 
I've said it before: I don't mind if there are not many maps, as long as they're super high quality. If they're bad, variety won't save them or the game.

I've mentioned this idea before, but judging from what you just said it seems like you might like it: If Halo 5 is to have 20 maps at launch, have 13 of them be remakes and 7 of them fresh. Why? For reasons like you just said. That allows them to focus on making this smaller number of new maps really good for what they're designed for without spreading resources/focus on any specific map too thin. Realistically, remakes should require less focus than a brand new map because they should already know how the combat flows and what should be altered to adjust for differences in movement, etc., so that's why I think having a larger number of remakes could benefit the map selection as a whole. We all know fans love remade maps. On forums though, fans may complain just like you did, but in reality they're going to play the shit out of them and love every bit if they're true to the original.

Personally, I just want more than the 10 or less maps in the next Halo game like we've been getting, so if that means more remakes to bring that number up, I'd be all for it.
 
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