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[The Librarian]

Other than Halo 2 (greatest of Halos so far when it comes to story and narrative), i don't think Bungie did good job at telling the story. Well, Halo CE was okay but then its story was standard "superweapon and ancient evil" story. Halo 3 had a couple of strong moments but the characters were awful (why the fuck did they downgrade the Arbiter to boring sidekick?), dialogue was meh ("To war"), cinematics lacked action and/or political intrigue and interesting exposition.
ODST had interesting premise but in the end, the game doesn't have a real story... finding out what happened to your squad is all fine and good but otherwise, meh. Greatest Halo game otherwise.
Reach? Excellent premise, wasted oppoturnity at every fucking point. I really mean it. Other than the end of New Alexandria and the moment when the Covenant reinforcements come, the game didn't even have strong moments. And even that was good only because of that haunting piano, every death was pure idiot ball and/or poor writing or simply badly executed.

I posted a list of my favorite H3 cutscenes (can't find it now), but there are some good ones in the pile of trash.

 

[Rand0m TAG]

Construct MLG King is one of the GOAT gametypes.



?

I agree. Construct mlg was my favorite halo 3 map

 

[Arnie]

I'll stick with my CoD popular answer. 60 fps creates less input lag and a better smoother sense of control. People really really like to control their weapons. This is the foundation, the skeleton is really solid, then you tack on a pretty decent FPS with decent graphics on top of it and you have a good fucking game. Americans love guns. Match made in heaven. Speaking of Matches CoD just tosses you in games, fuck boring ass lobbies and infinite reloading MM screens, CoD lets you PLAY the game.

Fuck I can't even get an Arena game half the time. N if I even want to win I have to wait and get a team (See plywood for proof) CoD I go in alone and win half lose half, and I don't think that even uses any skill matching at all.

Halo has the skin but its skeleton is getting weak. It needs to run better and faster.

I'd happily wait and be matched with people of a similar skill level, thus creating a more competitive experience. That's in theory, mind. Regardless of matchmaking times in Reach it feels as if the game is trolling me.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

I'd say MLG's greatest gametype was Lockout Oddball
I also really enjoyed Pit Slayers and Onslaught CTFs

Some really good play came out of those three gametypes. Setups/Controls/Breaks, so good.

Construct had some really amazing comebacks on MLG mainstage though.

 

[Silly.Mikey]

hahaha I know, I was more talking about the Uncharted part, just inciting general confusion than anything else. Believe me, I loved Halo 2's story and ODST's premise/"story."

The cut-scenes and story telling are amazing in Uncharted. It does a great job at making your character say narrative stuff even through game play too and Its one of the few games that make you feel like you earned a cut-scene at the end of every level. And some cut-scenes are rather long which is good, but never too long. They never get boring, the acting and animations are amazing, etc... I couldn't wait to see the next cut-scene after i started a new level. If there's one franchise that does story telling right, its Uncharted.

I agree that Halo had good moments, but overall, its by far the weakest aspects of all their games.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I posted a list of my favorite H3 cutscenes (can't find it now), but there are some good ones in the pile of trash.

Here's another good one

From the fearful dread of the Flood's betrayal and your escape, that slowly gets phased out for caution and wonder, until the awesome reveal of the new Halo, right in front of our eyes. The shot of Cheif and the Arbiter silhouettes against the impossibly huge structure rising above them is gangbusters.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I feel like the next console cycle should last as long as the 360 has, but the current cycle was in a kind of technological transition period which sucks. Hardware for the 360 was probably locked for production in 2004, which means we got HD... but barely. Just give me current gen assets at 60fps locked, no draw distance, and 1080p native and I'm good to go for a decade.

More or less this. We've passed the biggest tech hurdles as far as I can see. A console that can upscale past 1080p if necessary would be nice, but mostly I'd just like optimization so we can spend all those CPU/GPU cycles on adding more enemies and dynamic environments instead of cramming 2048x2048 textures on a deck of cards.

I'm still not a fan of 60fps in anything (games, movies, TV, whatever) so I'd just be fine with making 30fps locked mean "it will never dip in normal gameplay".

Best bits? Cohesive narrative?
Did we play the same game?

Yeah. I'm referring not to the overarching plot, but the mission narrative--your goals, goals change, how you can accomplish those. In particular, just putting your objectives in sight to give you a visual goal to work towards is a nice return to Halo CE--the relay, the launch facility, the corvettes, the Pillar of Autumn.

A lot of the encounters were just much more dynamic--chasing the Zealots through Winter Contingency, the "Glacier" combat for The Package, the random linked objectives for New Alexandria--the only Reach mission I would include among the pantheon of top Halo missions. As much as I'll always hold Reach a grudge for its story retcons, I still realize it did a lot of things right too.

Here's another good one

From the fearful dread of the Flood's betrayal and your escape, that slowly gets phased out for caution and wonder, until the awesome reveal of the new Halo, right in front of our eyes. The shot of Cheif and the Arbiter silhouettes against the impossibly huge structure rising above them is gangbusters.

I think Halo 3's cinematics were wonderful. It's just a shame so much of the rest of the story was gutted.

By contrast, Halo 2's cinematics partly suffered because they were cobbled together from levels that got cut--I always think about how much more I'd have enjoyed that game if the massive "Gravemind" cutscene had been blended with the Forerunner Tank reveal.

The cut-scenes and story telling are amazing in Uncharted. It does a great job at making your character say narrative stuff even through game play too and Its one of the few games that make you feel like you earned a cut-scene at the end of every level. And some cut-scenes are rather long which is good, but never too long. They never get boring, the acting and animations are amazing, etc... I couldn't wait to see the next cut-scene after i started a new level. If there's one franchise that does story telling right, its Uncharted.

I agree that Halo had good moments, but overall, its by far the weakest aspects of all their games.

I disliked Uncharted's cutscenes because there's such a massive discontinuity between Drake's shrugging off bullets during gameplay and suddenly being afraid of a handgun when someone gets held hostage, etc. I do think they're pretty good as far as video games go, but I wouldn't credit its story with anything more than being a game adaptation of the Raiders of the Lost Ark-type adventure film.

 

[Woorloog]

I posted a list of my favorite H3 cutscenes (can't find it now), but there are some good ones in the pile of trash.

I did say Halo 3 had its moments. The speech of Truth, opening of the Portal, arrival on the Ark, the end sequence in the Covenant mission (if we forget the Graveminds tentancles coming from nothing), and of course, the ending (if we forget Johnson's death which was pretty lame, lamest boss ever certainly). But the rest, ie majority? Really lame. Most of Halo 2s cutscenes were awesome. Actually, i think all of them were great.

 

[Silly.Mikey]

These are all the Uncharted 2 cut-scenes to give you an idea of what i mean by great story telling, so spoilers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLsYkPhicU

When i compare that to the Halo one posted above, its not even in the same league for me.

 

[The Librarian]

Here's another good one

From the fearful dread of the Flood's betrayal and your escape, that slowly gets phased out for caution and wonder, until the awesome reveal of the new Halo, right in front of our eyes. The shot of Cheif and the Arbiter silhouettes against the impossibly huge structure rising above them is gangbusters.

I did say Halo 3 had its moments. The speech of Truth, opening of the Portal, arrival on the Ark, the end sequence in the Covenant mission (if we forget the Graveminds tentancles coming from nothing), and of course, the ending (if we forget Johnson's death which was pretty lame, lamest boss ever certainly). But the rest, ie majority? Really lame. Most of Halo 2s cutscenes were awesome. Actually, i think all of them were great.

Here's the post!

We all know Halo 3 doesn't have a good story, but some of the cutscenes are amazingly well done.

1. The Covenant – Storm the Beach
2. The Ark – Closing
3. The Ark – Cartographer
4. The Ark – Arrival
5. The Storm – All Clear. Doesn't look as good as the E3 trailer, but still gets the blood rushing.
6. The Covenant – Truth's Death. Probably the weakest one here, but in comparison to how the game handled the character, I thought his death was pretty decent.
7. The Covenant – True Purpose
8. Halo (3) – Crash Landing
9. Halo (3) – Portal Escape
10. And the game's opening cutscene: Sierra 117 – Arrival

Too bad the other cutscenes are pretty poor, but if this quality was maintained throughout, imagine what could have been. Le sigh.

 

[Tashi]

I'd say MLG's greatest gametype was Lockout Oddball
I also really enjoyed Pit Slayers and Onslaught CTFs

Some really good play came out of those three gametypes. Setups/Controls/Breaks, so good.

Construct had some really amazing comebacks on MLG mainstage though.

No way. Midship CTF was. Awesome to watch even better to play.

 

[thezerofire]

I'd say MLG's greatest gametype was Lockout Oddball
I also really enjoyed Pit Slayers and Onslaught CTFs

Some really good play came out of those three gametypes. Setups/Controls/Breaks, so good.

Construct had some really amazing comebacks on MLG mainstage though.

Pit Slayer could get pretty standoff-ish at times though. Guardian Ball and Ons CTF were my favorites

edit: and well, yeah Midship CTF kinda goes without saying.

 

[Karl2177]

Awesome, thanks! You should totally try to finish the article, Halo 3 ODST was a fantastic game and an analysis and critique is well deserved. Also, it could spawn some good discussion about design choices in Halo games.

If you do decide to finish it and want someone to play some ODST with lemme know, I keep trying to find an excuse to play it.

I'm not too big on playing ODST online simply because of my internet connection. Otherwise if I could have a stable connection at all times I would love to.

Countdown is much better than Construct, but I don't think AAs have anything to do with it.

HaloGAF.com is always available for hosting any Halo-related Gaffer project that needs a home.

I probably shouldn't have said only because of AAs, but without Jetpack and/or Sprint, the distances between encounters is poor, especially if you are on a lower level.

Some people are insane.

Some of the Rooster Teeth guys did this. There was a distinct lack of milky vomit though. I also have a salsa that is made from the bhut jolokia pepper. Pro-tip: don't lather your chips with it or it will kill you. I'm glad no one took pictures of me rolling on the floor praying for my life.

WE WANT MILHOUSE BACK.

Shit, what Heckfu said.

I would be good with either of them.

 

[The Henery]

This behavior is well documented by psychiatrists. If you reward someone for an activity (even something that has its own intrinsic reward, like fun) and then take the reward away, that someone is much less likely to continue the activity and/or enjoy it. Our brains really suck sometimes.

I must be weird then because I enjoy Halo matches (providing the teams are well balanced and the map/gametype is sound) without the need for an artificial reward. The reward is in the gameplay itself; pulling off an improbable no scope, capping a winning flag in sudden death, having your hog flipped by a grenade yet somehow landing and barely getting away - these are the moments I play for. I don't play shooters for RPG tropes.

I'd say MLG's greatest gametype was Lockout Oddball
I also really enjoyed Pit Slayers and Onslaught CTFs

Some really good play came out of those three gametypes. Setups/Controls/Breaks, so good.

Construct had some really amazing comebacks on MLG mainstage though.

Pit slayers? I mean I'd be with you on Pit flag games but a lot of Pit slayers devolved into standoffs/stalemates with professional Halo players crouched on top of the lamps at the side ramp entrance to sword. That's not to say it didn't have its moments (Snipedown vs TD, Goofy's snipe on SK, Ambush's comeback against Str8 08).

 

[Woorloog]

Yeah. I'm referring not to the overarching plot, but the mission narrative--your goals, goals change, how you can accomplish those. In particular, just putting your objectives in sight to give you a visual goal to work towards is a nice return to Halo CE--the relay, the launch facility, the corvettes, the Pillar of Autumn.

A lot of the encounters were just much more dynamic--chasing the Zealots through Winter Contingency, the "Glacier" combat for The Package, the random linked objectives for New Alexandria--the only Reach mission I would include among the pantheon of top Halo missions. As much as I'll always hold Reach a grudge for its story retcons, I still realize it did a lot of things right too.

I see what you mean about the mission goals, if only the mission goals actually felt interesting or important. Somehow, Reach does not convey that importance, unlike Halo CE. Not really anyway... i suppoe that stems from the fact Bungie's claims that Reach itself is a character (of sorts) in the game didn't work out. The game does not explain what Reach is, nor its importance, the game doesn't make me care in anyway for it. Halo CE had an unknown alien artifact and you were sent to explore and control it, its mysterious, and dangerous, nature made it compelling. Reach doesn't even feel like another planet, feels like Earth that does not feel like my homeplanet.

As for encounters... just no. The fucked up gameplay ruined everything. Vehicles have tinfoil armor. The AI is too accurate, too strong, too agile. The player is slow and weak. Weapons feel weak (or the AI has too much health), the fucking Spartan Laser cannot kill an officer Elite on a single hit on Heroic. Combat area desing feel weak most of time. Bad encounters are overlenght (the space combat especially).
There were a lot of good ideas, too bad they all suck, more or less. The random objectives on New Alexandria are a good idea, too bad the mission itself is really boring otherwise. With better gameplay, a lot of the encounters would have been wonderful, but as such, i cannot, i will not, think of them as good.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

See I liked Midship Bomb better. H2's bomb settings were really good you had to really have control to get a detonation.

and I think the standoffs are what makes the game really tense and exciting, I really like that stuff.

OO when MLG had Sanc Snipes. That was disgusting. Give every pro a Sniper, countless dirty things happening every game.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Here's the post!

Ah good, you didn't post the Crow's Nest scene. The characterization for Truth in Halo 3....lol

 

[Woorloog]

The characterization for Truth in Halo 3....lol

Yeah... though i loved his speech. Though somehow the short version in the E3 2007 trailer felt far better, the shortness, the music and the scenes on the trailer giving it more power.

 

[Bregmann Roche]

Mandatory installs? The worst os and game update system that has "graced" consumer electronics?
Of course I agree that the disk storage situation is a little pathetic in 2012.

This...also the little annoyances like if my controller is out of juice I have to plug in vs. swapping out the battery, ergonomics of the aforementioned controller, and even the online store bothers me. There are things about the PS3 that I love though: blu-ray, HD standard in every SKU, free online experience, quality of the product upon launch (vs. RRoD) etc. The best console would've been a combination of Sony's hardware knowledge and the Xbox team's UI and online chops.

These are all the Uncharted 2 cut-scenes to give you an idea of what i mean by great story telling, so spoilers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLsYkPhicU

When i compare that to the Halo one posted above, its not even in the same league for me.

Comparing Uncharted's story telling to any other game's story telling is just unfair. If Halo 4 gets to 75% of Uncharted in that department, that would be fantastic.

 

[Silly.Mikey]

This...also the little annoyances like if my controller is out of juice I have to plug in vs. swapping out the battery, ergonomics of the aforementioned controller, and even the online store bothers me. There are things about the PS3 that I love though: blu-ray, HD standard in every SKU, free online experience, quality of the product upon launch (vs. RRoD) etc. The best console would've been a combination of Sony's hardware knowledge and the Xbox team's UI and online chops.


Comparing Uncharted's story telling to any other game's story telling is just unfair. If Halo 4 gets to 75% of Uncharted in that department, that would be fantastic.

I compared to that because its one of the best out there IMO. If 343 wanna do something right, might as well aim for the top.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Yeah... though i loved his speech. Though somehow the short version in the E3 2007 trailer felt far better, the shortness, the music and the scenes on the trailer giving it more power.

Yeah, its a nice bit of evil religious leader dialog, but that cheesy bit of melodrama would never come out of Truth's mouth in Halo 2.

Not to mention, Crow's Nest has: "Where to ma'am?" "To war"

uuuuuuuuuuuuugh

 

[Tunavi]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

 

[heckfu]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

YOU took the avatar?

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Perfect

 

[Woorloog]

Yeah, its a nice bit of evil religious leader dialog, but that cheesy bit of melodrama would never come out of Truth's mouth in Halo 2.

Not to mention, Crow's Nest has: "Where to ma'am?" "To war"

uuuuuuuuuuuuugh

Yeah, the speech wasn't right for true Truth but otherwise, it felt good.
And please do not remind me of the worst piece of dialogue i know of (in video games). I already wrote that on the previous page and i felt bad about it.

EDIT god damn Tunavi, you're creeping me out. And Frankie as well, probably, i think. And others.

 

[Havok]

Here's the post!

I tend to agree. The cutscenes in that game are beautiful, even if the content isn't necessarily what we'd want it to be. What they were able to do with the lighting and postprocessing effects (the Miranda/Johnson cutscene's depth of field comes to mind) really made everything pop.

 

[Bregmann Roche]

I must be weird then because I enjoy Halo matches (providing the teams are well balanced and the map/gametype is sound) without the need for an artificial reward. The reward is in the gameplay itself

Yeah, I'm weird too. I'd be willing to bet that most HaloGAF folks fall into the same category that we do. I don't know the psych. reason for this, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we have such a deeply ingrained understanding of the rewards of traditional Halo (Halo without a "rewards system"), things like winning, crazy plays, good +/-, etc. Maybe we've just constructed strict user-defined rewards systems through years of playing that an additional rewards system layered on top of that user system just gets ignored.

I compared to that because its one of the best out there IMO. If 343 wanna do something right, might as well aim for the top.

Agreed, but not only was the storytelling in Uncharted extremely well executed, it also filled a gap in popular entertainment: an old-fashioned, fun, action adventure story. There aren't a lot of movies and TV shows like Uncharted out there. Halo, throughout its existence, has had to compete against a bevy of sci-fi properties on the story front.

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

MEGAT...unavi!!!!

 

[kylej]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

I shit myself a little bit.

 

[The Librarian]

-Arbiter is wasted as a NPC sidekick, but all of his dialog is fantastic. "Were it so easy..." "Spartan, the Brutes have taken your soldiers, as prisoners or as meat for their bellies, I do not know. In case some yet live, let us be careful when we shoot."

Dude, I forgot about this one: "I will have my revenge...on a Prophet, not a plague!"

I tend to agree. The cutscenes in that game are beautiful, even if the content isn't necessarily what we'd want it to be. What they were able to do with the lighting and postprocessing effects (the Miranda/Johnson cutscene's depth of field comes to mind) really made everything pop.

Yeah the lighting's really great in many instances.

 

[Tashi]

Hahahaha nice job Tunavi

 

[Poker Face]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

can't believe i fell for that...

 

[Spawnling]

Just wait hilarity ensured.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

Brilliant!

 

[Karl2177]

I really want to post on Waypoint saying that Frankie confirms on NeoGAF that Halo 4 will be 60 fps just to see the shit go down.

 

[kylej]

Waypoint thread about 60fps confirmed incoming in t-minus 3, 2....

 

[Risen]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

That's just not right...

 

[Spawnling]

Waypoint thread about 60fps confirmed incoming in t-minus 3, 2....

It's already there lol

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

I fell for this for about 5 seconds...

you BASTARD!

 

[Plywood]

Halo 4 will be 60 FPS

10/10

 

[The Librarian]

It's already there lol

I'm dying over here.

 

[Overdoziz]

Even if Frankie himself said it I wouldn't have believed it.

 

[Karl2177]

It's already there lol

herewego.gif

 

[Overdoziz]

It's already there lol

Oh dear.

 

[thezerofire]

that was masterful

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

It's already there lol

Kotaku article in 5...4...

 

[Risen]

CoD I go in alone and win half lose half, and I don't think that even uses any skill matching at all.

Seems like that's skill matching to me... if that's not a description of a bad kid playing against bad kids, I don't know what is.

 

[kylej]

It's already there lol

 

[Trey]

As soon as someone suggested the idea of donning Frankie's old avatar, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[EdibleExplosives]

It's already there lol

Lmfao.

 

[Tashi]

HaloCouncil article in 5...4...

Fixed

Fuck 60fps, it's overrated