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[JumPeRJumPzZ]

Did you not like AR/Magnum stars at all? This was easily the first game where it was actually fun, especially because I felt more need to move around the map to pick up new weapons.

AR starts is the worst, right behind it is SMG starts (i look at you H2)

This "moving more around the map" is a myth. A good team that secures every BR and DMR + Power Weapons will destroy the other team that cant even touch a BR or DMR.

 

[rokkerkory]

Is it e3 yet

 

[Poodlestrike]

AR starts is the worst, right behind it is SMG starts (i look at you H2)

This "moving more around the map" is a myth. A good team that secures every BR and DMR + Power Weapons will destroy the other team that cant even touch a BR or DMR.

Not that I disagree that AR/BR is the superior starting loadout, but isn't that partially a question of map design? Like, it would take a categorical failure to play (or even just pay attention) for one team to lock the other out of all the precision weapons on Truth.

 

[El_Chino]

Is it e3 yet

E3 2015

47 days
1150 hours
69058 minutes
4143525 seconds

 

[Future PhaZe]

It's not a rivalry; Locke is hunting the Chief, who appears to have gone AWOL along with the rest of Blue Team.

is this blue team thing confirmed or are people just assuming it based off this cover art

 

[kosmologi]

is this blue team thing confirmed or are people just assuming it based off this cover art

Not directly confirmed, but in Escalation (the comic) Blue Team wears exactly the same armor as the Spartans next to Chief in the cover art.

Plus Linda and Fred appeared in Halo 2 Anniversary terminals:

 

[Foolishfellow]

Halo CE is a plot heavy game. The argument about "narrative being subservient to gameplay" only really holds ground because the gameplay outweighs the story narrative in quantity which can be said for almost any game. There is no great design philosophy that mirrors anything nintendo have ever done here. The 2 driving forces behind Halo being successful are the "3 pillars of fun" and nailing fps controls on a console (partly down to the controller)



Halo 2 was announced in 2002 and shown in 2003. The iraq war began in 2003. You can draw as many heavy handed comparisons as you want but that doesn't make them true. Work on Halo 2 very likely started at the beginning of 2002. And all accounts say it started with Jason Jones going to Joe Staten with a plot outline (early 2002)

Halo 2's campaign was regarded badly because of it's ending which is more on microsofts head that bungies.

Bungie avoided any links to any political problems by calling the Dervish Arbiter instead.


Half of Halo CE is a corridor shooter in dark and ugly enviroments.
Mechs exists because not everyone is a spartan.

You're just plain wrong about Halo CE being a plot heavy game. I'm not saying that Halo CE doesn't have a plot, but I'm just saying as far as narrative structure goes it's a very simplistic outline of the Hero's Journey. The narrative structure of that game reminds me Nintendo game like Mario, Metroid, Zelda in that there is very little in the way of subplots or anything outside of what Master Chief is directly involved in within the levels. I'm not saying that the simplistic story telling in that game should necessarily be celebrated, but I think there's something to be gained from reducing the hero's quest down to it's most basic elements. There's certainly something to be gained from keeping all of the narrative within the world of the gameplay instead of requiring multiple external sources to understand the world.

Regarding my comments on the "messy" narrative in Halo 2 that perhaps contains a certain cultural zeitgeist relating to the War in Iraq. I fully admit that my thesis is not fully fleshed out. I mainly wanted to bring up Halo 2 because it is an example of some poorly conceived narrative notions that were corrected in Halo 3. Halo 3 without a doubt brought back a much more simple story than the one that was told in Halo 2, and while you're right that people were mainly upset about the ending of Halo 2 I don't think it was "just" the ending that people were unhappy with. That being said, I much prefer the messy political/religious gobbledygook to whatever the hell happened in Halo 4.

Your timeline regarding Halo 2 is wrong BTW. Yes it was announced in 2002 and yes the notorious campaign demo was shown in 2003, but it's misleading to suggest that the game that was announced in 2002 had anything to do with the final version that was developed following e3 2003. Bungie has admitted that following the e3 demo they had to scrap the entire graphics engine and start from scratch. It's obvious that that the plot had to be significantly altered as well. Again, I'm not saying that my thesis about the Iraq War having anything to do with Halo 2 carries any water, but it's ridiculous to suggest that this game was developed in a cultural vacuum. The tonal shift that occurred between Halo CE and 2 is significant enough that I think it's useful to consider the cultural era that the game was developed in.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

You're just plain wrong about Halo CE being a plot heavy game. I'm not saying that Halo CE doesn't have a plot, but I'm just saying as far as narrative structure goes it's a very simplistic outline of the Hero's Journey. The narrative structure of that game reminds me Nintendo game like Mario, Metroid, Zelda in that there is very little in the way of subplots or anything outside of what Master Chief is directly involved in within the levels. I'm not saying that the simplistic story telling in that game should necessarily be celebrated, but I think there's something to be gained from reducing the hero's quest down to it's most basic elements. There's certainly something to be gained from keeping all of the narrative within the world of the gameplay instead of requiring multiple external sources to understand the world.

I dunno man, Take a poll in this thread. Halo is pretty plot heavy, From moment zero the game is throwing plot points at you. Cortana is constantly giving details on the world as you explore and learn new things. Then 343GS pops up and starts going on about reclaimers and stuff. It's all very alluding and never giving definitive answers but it's constantly making the plot the focus because cortana is in your ear saying more and more about the world. The game has about 40 mins of cutscenes and is pretty much driven exclusively by the plot. Halo CE is laying lots of big groundwork and dishing out lots of plot to the players.

Sure there is something to be said for keeping a games story self contained but Halo is a unique position where it doesn't have to. They can produce fairly good efforts outside of games to extend the universe because it's microsofts golden child.

I'm fine with one game breaching into other genres, Plenty of other games are staying self contained. Some people clearly dig the expanded lore.

Your timeline regarding Halo 2 is wrong BTW. Yes it was announced in 2002 and yes the notorious campaign demo was shown in 2003, but it's misleading to suggest that the game that was announced in 2002 had anything to do with the final version that was developed following e3 2003. Bungie has admitted that following the e3 demo they had to scrap the entire graphics engine and start from scratch. It's obvious that that the plot had to be significantly altered as well. Again, I'm not saying that my thesis about the Iraq War having anything to do with Halo 2 carries any water, but it's ridiculous to suggest that this game was developed in a cultural vacuum. The tonal shift that occurred between Halo CE and 2 is significant enough that I think it's useful to consider the cultural era that the game was developed in.

The only real differences we are certain of is that Arbiter had his name changed, content was streamlined and the ending was cut eliminating a big chunk of the 3rd act which had chief return to earth, I doubt many story changes actually took place from 2002's Halo 2 concept. In fact the making of halo 2 backs this up by showing some of that cut content which was just extended cutscenes that did little more than exposition.

The whole concept of the Arbiter and the covenant civil war was very much an original draft thing. It's pretty obvious that the Arbiter was always planned for Halo 2 and so the Civil war was necessary so you didn't play the villain.

 

[Poodlestrike]

is this blue team thing confirmed or are people just assuming it based off this cover art

They're confirmed to be Blue Team by a 343 guy over at Waypoint, and they're confirmed to be in the game by the description.