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Halo Anniversary |OT| It All Comes Full Circle

ElRenoRaven

Gold Member
PooBone said:
At the time Halo 3 came out, installing to HDD wasn't even an option. I remember when people started installing it and performance was worse. I remember being impressed with that. Bungie's got some badass engineers to spec their game to the console's capabilities.

I find it impressive that I've spent the last two days playing the everloving shit out of Halo CEA, having beaten it on Legendary, and yet here I am at work, and I can't wait to rush home and play some more. More than any other game in the series, Combat Evolved can put me in a zen state of focus during combat, especially the Flood levels. LOVE IT!

Just talking single player here. Halo without a doubt was the absolute best in the series. The others are great but they did lose that something that the first had. 2 has the very confined levels and I feel lost something with the removal of the AR and addition of duel wielding. The ending too we can all agree was BS. Even leaving off the last cutscene with Chief would have been better.

Halo 3 I think gets a lot of shit unfairly. It corrected a lot of Halo 2's mistakes. The only real things I can ding it on is the Flood pure forms and the invincible AI tag along buddies like Arbiter. The Flood forms are cool except for the long range one. There are spots in the game you come upon them and don't have any long range weapons. At the same time the invincible AI companions really took away from feeling powerful. Lets also not forget that usually they were just annoying and not helpful. Reach continued this with having noble team members with you almost every level.

That's why with Halo 4 I really pray to god that there are no invincible tag along AIs with you.
 
Zeouterlimits said:
Frame rate is fine and pop-in is minimal for me. Game is installed.
Are you playing online co-op? Because that's where the issue is. Let's not let our inner Halo Defense Force get in the way of realizing the framerate sucks.
 

feel

Member
Invincible AI partners is one of the worst things. Makes all the player's efforts seem worthless if he can just hang back and eventually have all the enemy AI wiped out by the friendly ones. So dumb. In Halo 4 I don't want any of that, just let me be alone doing the fighting with the occasional group of marines popping up being all like "Oh shit!! The CHIEF!!"
 
The Lamonster said:
Are you playing online co-op? Because that's where the issue is. Let's not let our inner Halo Defense Force get in the way of realizing the framerate sucks.
Ain't no defence force here bro, I've got plenty of beef with Anniversary.

No co-op at all yet, sorry, waiting to finish it on my own first.
 
have had a few fps drops but nothing jarring, installed..so far the art direction is a mixed bag

PoA - overall good recreation, but that Keyes model...ugh

Halo - by far my least favorite as far as the new art style goes. Lighting is very untrue to the original. When going to the underground to activate the light bridge is the perfect example for this complaint. The original was dark, and omniscient..very intimidating even with all enemies killed.

Truth and Reconciliation - the opposite of everything thats wrong with the Halo level. Everything feels true to the original and looks great in the new engine. Dat skybox!

Silent Cartographer - mostly good but some of the same complaints from Halo. Lighting is off, and forerunner structures are uninspired.

thats as far as i've made it, but generally I feel like the remake is good but not great. Almost seems like Saber missed the entire atmosphere the original forerunner structures had, and tried to recreate the Halo 3 feel of them by adding a shit ton of lighting. Also the Halo skybox is a little disappointing, I feel like the ring should be more distinctive and intimidating. Remastered soundtrack is amazing, and like the new gun sounds to this point.

Terminals are great, and have been fairly easy to find so far. The 2nd skull on Silent Cartographer was a bitch and a half. Missed the one on TnR :(
 
GodfatherX said:
have had a few fps drops but nothing jarring, installed..so far the art direction is a mixed bag

PoA - overall good recreation, but that Keyes model...ugh

Halo - by far my least favorite as far as the new art style goes. Lighting is very untrue to the original. When going to the underground to activate the light bridge is the perfect example for this complaint. The original was dark, and omniscient..very intimidating even with all enemies killed.

Truth and Reconciliation - the opposite of everything thats wrong with the Halo level. Everything feels true to the original and looks great in the new engine. Dat skybox!

Silent Cartographer - mostly good but some of the same complaints from Halo. Lighting is off, and forerunner structures are uninspired.

thats as far as i've made it, but generally I feel like the remake is good but not great. Almost seems like Saber missed the entire atmosphere the original forerunner structures had, and tried to recreate the Halo 3 feel of them by adding a shit ton of lighting. Also the Halo skybox is a little disappointing, I feel like the ring should be more distinctive and intimidating. Remastered soundtrack is amazing, and like the new gun sounds to this point.

Terminals are great, and have been fairly easy to find so far. The 2nd skull on Silent Cartographer was a bitch and a half. Missed the one on TnR :(

This.

I stood on the beach on The Silent Cartographer and switched between the graphics. The Halo ring is so much more pronounced in the original. Now the fog and stuff clouds it.

I think the terminal/ waypoint intergration is the coolest thing ever though, I love that kind of out of the box stuff. Anyone have any idea what the 'backgrounds' you unlock do?
 
So, I've now had two instances of the game crashing and I'm barely at Truth and Reconciliation. The first time, It occured when the 1st level cutscene was ending (in fact it coincided with the achievement popup).

I was willing to write this off as a one-off.

Then, just now, I chose to save and quit at the end of the level 'Halo' and it displayed the 'saving game do not turn off your console' message. This was going on a bit too long, so I pressed the 360 guide button and sure enough the game had crashed again. It's not a problem with my 360 - I've been playing Reach, Dark Souls and Portal 2 in the last month without incident.

Has this happened to anybody else?
 
Yeah I'm with you guys it does feel kind of like a beta. No audio sliders (voices too low FX too high), lag in co op, I even found a bug where I fell through the world map and died. I really hope they patch this stuff up though because outside of a couple of models (Keyes) I really like the updated graphics and tweaks.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
powersurge said:
Yeah I'm with you guys it does feel kind of like a beta. No audio sliders (voices too low FX too high), lag in co op, I even found a bug where I fell through the world map and died. I really hope they patch this stuff up though because outside of a couple of models (Keyes) I really like the updated graphics and tweaks.


Perhaps 343 was still drunk on Bacon booze when they made Anniversary?

First time I saw Keyes I thought he looked like Kurt Russel.
 
Really if there was an award for worst character model of the year, Keyes would win by a mile. He went from distinguished and somber looking, to something you'd likely see in a cheap early 90s porn. His face looks like a guy in his 20's, but the gray hair and voice are pure uncanny valley
 

ElRenoRaven

Gold Member
GodfatherX said:
Really if there was an award for worst character model of the year, Keyes would win by a mile. He went from distinguished and somber looking, to something you'd likely see in a cheap early 90s porn. His face looks like a guy in his 20's, but the gray hair and voice are pure uncanny valley

Yea. that's one thing I think everyone agrees on. They really should have just used the Reach model. It was perfect for an updated Keyes. This model reminds me of Biff Tannen from BTTF. I fully expect him to call people Buttheads. BTW speaking of keyes he sure became sir points a lot with the remake. Every damn cutscene he's in he points at someone or something. It's kind of funny if you ask me. lol
 

blamite

Member
I haven't really posted any impressions yet, but I'm loving the game so far (Just finished AoTCR). The new graphics are beautiful, especially on Halo. That's definitely my favorite level in terms of atmosphere and graphical updates. Some random points, no real order:

- It sucks that the audio mixing is even worse than before. Halo 1's diglog was already pretty quiet, so the fact that it's now even harder to hear is a bit surprising. I guess it just got overpowered by all the other new sounds.
-Speaking of new sounds, they're awesome. I didn't like stuff like the new plasma grenade effects at first, but the new sounds have really grown on me. The Sniper freaked me out at first because of how different it sounded, but now I love it. That thing just sounds like the end of the world.
-I'm okay with most changes to Forerunner lighting and architecture, with a few exceptions. The new doors on AoTCR are uuugly. I would've kept them much closer to the originals. Also the use of purple seems a bit out of place. It's like Forerunner lighting went from pure white light to everything suddenly being blue and purple.
-Speaking of purple, T&R looks fantastic. Like 'The Package' from Halo Legends brought to life. Love it.
-Like Dax mentioned a while back, I hate the idea that I now don't know what a Halo ring is supposed to look like. Is the new outer shell with the blue lights and fins and everything what every ring is supposed to look like now? Why change it when we already had a Great look at the outside of a ring in Halo 3? The fact that the Terminals don't even use the new ring makes this even more confusing.
-Speaking of the terminals: They're awesome. Really love the animation style, it fits really well with Guilty Spark's story. That said, I wouldn't mind at least a few classic text terminals in Halo 4. I understand wanting to make it so that everyone can see and understand the story they're telling, but part of what made Halo 3's terminals so cool and mysterious was the fact that they were just text. As long as there's no time limit to read them like in Halo 3, I'd love to see these come back.
-I've barely had any framerate problems so far, at all. A few very brief drops that evened out after a second or two, but nothing nearly as bad as what some others seem to be experiencing. The game's not installed either.
-Lis syncing seems super out of sync 90% of the time. Disappointing. Also, the new Cortana model doesn't really do a great job of emulating the original version. I don't kno how to describe it, it's like there just aren't as many interesting visual effects being used for her. Her first appearance in the control room was a it disappointing, honestly. I hope that improves later in the game.
 
Playing through The Library right now (died for some unknown, random reason, making me unable to get the achievement), and thankfully Guilty Spark's audio is clearly audible.
 

blamite

Member
Just noticed this while rewatching Halo3 cutscenes. First image is from a Terminal in Anniversary, second is from the beginning of Halo 3's last level.

6zuB1.png

o1Z3Y.png


Thought this was a pretty cool (and obscure) reference.
 
Does anybody know what the recording of "A Walk in the Woods" is on the Anniversary soundtrack? I can't seem to find it. I hope they didn't forget about it.

Soundtrack is amazing, by the way. Brothers in Arms is AWESOME!
 

PooBone

Member
blamite said:
Just noticed this while rewatching Halo3 cutscenes. First image is from a Terminal in Anniversary, second is from the beginning of Halo 3's last level.

6zuB1.png

o1Z3Y.png


Thought this was a pretty cool (and obscure) reference.
I don't see it.
 
blamite said:
Just noticed this while rewatching Halo3 cutscenes. First image is from a Terminal in Anniversary, second is from the beginning of Halo 3's last level.

http://i.imgur.com/6zuB1.png[/IMG
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/o1Z3Y.png[/IMG

Thought this was a pretty cool (and obscure) reference.[/QUOTE]
I see it now! That is really, really cool. Same layout. Nice find. Very hard to notice on the first time through.
 
blamite said:
Both images look like pretty much the same location. One just has trees and grass and water and mountains added. :p
The top one looks like it has a small river, the scale in the bottom one suggests to me a huge chasm.
 
blamite said:
Just noticed this while rewatching Halo3 cutscenes. First image is from a Terminal in Anniversary, second is from the beginning of Halo 3's last level.

http://i.imgur.com/6zuB1.png
http://i.imgur.com/o1Z3Y.png

Thought this was a pretty cool (and obscure) reference.
That is cool as shit. Damn, these terminals are awesome. I am ashamed to admit that, despite my AJ roots, I still have no idea what the hell the Halo 3 terminals were talking about. I need a Derek Zoolander Center for Bad Kids Who Can't Read Good or some sort of handy YouTube summary. Fuck it, maybe I'll go read the AJ version now.
 
Dax01 said:
Different Halos. Same themes, different specifics. See: control room on I04A and I04B.

I wanna see the boat too!

Can someone circle whatever it is I'm supposed to be seeing.

My inferior mind can't grasp the awesomeness.
 

njean777

Member
quick question do you get the full Reach MP along with the new maps if you get this game? Or do you only get the maps that come with this game. In other words do I need to buy halo reach and this or can I only buy this and get the full Reach MP experience also?
 

ElRenoRaven

Gold Member
The Lamonster said:
Am I correct in assuming that there's 1 skull and 1 terminal on every level?

There is 1 terminal per level but when it comes to skulls there is one level that has none while a couple have 2 skulls.
 
njean777 said:
quick question do you get the full Reach MP along with the new maps if you get this game? Or do you only get the maps that come with this game. In other words do I need to buy halo reach and this or can I only buy this and get the full Reach MP experience also?
If you want to play Reach's maps, you have to buy Reach and it's DLC. Depending on who you talk to, you'll only need to play the maps that came with CEA to have an enjoyable Halo multiplayer experience.

PsychoRaven said:
There is 1 terminal per level but when it comes to skulls there is one level that has none while a couple have 2 skulls.
What level is it? I don't have the time to waste looking for a skull if it's not there. Spoiler tag is fine. :)

edit: Thanks. Way to spoil it, Mojo. :-b
 

blamite

Member
You know that video that was posted the other day that showed how to get to that forerunner keyboard thing to watch the terminals on Waypoint? I was just messing around with the WP7 version and found that same keyboard hidden there too!

To get to it, slide up the panel on the bottom screen that shows friends and messages. While this menu is up, tough the black strip with two down arrows you woul normally tap to close the menu, and slide it towards the top of the screen. Hold it there for a second, and then tap the blue hexagon that appears.

You can now enter the codes you see at the end of each terminal, and unlock terminals for viewing on Waypoint, plus free credits in Reach!

Am I the first to find this? :D

I'm not tempted to look for a way to do this on the website, as well...
 

ElRenoRaven

Gold Member
Devin Olsen said:
listen man, it's hard to think of good places to put skulls. It's not a big deal.

/sharcasm

Yes it is. I really was sad. They really talked up that the skulls later on where going to be a lot harder to find yet the hardest ones to find were actually only 2 of them about early to mid game. The rest were practically handed to you.

squidhands said:
If you want to play Reach's maps, you have to buy Reach and it's DLC. Depending on who you talk to, you'll only need to play the maps that came with CEA to have an enjoyable Halo multiplayer experience.

What level is it? I don't have the time to waste looking for a skull if it's not there. Spoiler tag is fine. :)

Keyes is the level without a skull.
 

Kujo

Member
Longest credits ever

Keyes is the only level without a skull

As for impressions, well it looks a ton better mostly. Music is good, but not always seemless. A few bugs. Analog stick scrolls way too fast in menus. The game itself is still CE, so still worst in the series. Precision issues, no vehicle boarding, indoor levels are still samey and boring, the Flood are a shit enemy. I liked the Terminal moves though.
 

R3TRODYCE

Member
Probably been asked so sorry if it has, but my copy just came in and I was wondering if I have the disc do I need to redeem this map pack code to play MP?..I don't have Reach anymore.
 

Marco1

Member
Really enjoying this but it just makes me wish Halo4 is more like halo3, I loved the story and the multiplayer.
Why was reach not more like it?
 
Well, I got the 1000 for Anniversary so I think it's time to post some thoughts.

First of all, there are a couple of things about CE that I love that were never properly replicated in the later games. It's so refreshing having a crosshair in the middle of the screen oh man, every other Halo having a lowered crosshair throws me off so bad considering every other FPS game in existence ever of all time keeps it centered. I also miss how much of a spectacle it was shooting the AR, and even the pistol to a lesser extent. The particle effects from shots hitting walls, and the blood gushing out of Grunts while you shot them up is so nice, it was never really properly replicated since and it looks great seeing how it appears in the new graphical layer, and the sound, the AR has never been as fun to use as it was in CE.

The game is also snappy in its controls. The inclusion of Bumper Jumper was great because it brings the perfect Halo control scheme to the best game in the series. Playing through it again just reminds me how responsive everything is, mostly in the item interactions. You don't have to hold use to pick up health, you just... walk to it, how novel a concept is that. You go into a vehicle at the tap of a button, no half-second hold necessary. I like that the health has no regeneration of its own, and that health packs don't inexplicably make my shields charge instantly.

Now, speaking to the new graphical layer. It is gorgeous, it's like a Craig Mullins piece in playable form. I remember my impression from the original trailer, and seeing the general art interpretation differences in the environments, the derpy Master Chief model, and the PTSD from seeing Reach's AR made me want to write off the new visuals all together, but using them for skull and terminal hunting made me never want to go back to the classic. I thought I'd hate the artistic licensing they'd use with redesigning the look of areas, but when directly comparing them to the old look, most of the old stuff is just very dark and sterile. Even in comparison to Reach, this game looks so refreshing, the colours, the vibrancy of the environment, this is what Halo is. Just looking at Installation 04 Firefight map with that part of the game in Anniversary, and Anniversary shames it. Shove that Reach crap under the carpet and forget about it forever.

Reach, even a year later it's still disappointing me. I'm talking about the multiplayer, and for a number of possible reasons that concluded it being necessary to use Reach as its base, just sucks and does a 10 year Anniversary to the experience that brought life to the Xbox a huge disservice. Try as hard as you might to try and bandage that game's settings into something salvageable I am just so sick and tired of everything surrounding Reach. I don't like hearing its title music, I don't like its grainy ugly look, I don't like the way it plays, I just want it gone and I'm done with it. As far as I'm concerned that part doesn't even exist in Anniversary.

As for the music and sound, I thought the new music was good. Very subtle for the most part and still retains the greatness of the original. All except for my favourite track On a Pale Horse where it ends up sounding worse. Maybe I'm just more picky with it because it holds a strong nostalgic memory for me, and the new version doesn't do it justice. Other than that, it's great. New sounds took some getting used to, but I like them overall. Though the lack of classic sounds also discourages me to play in classic mode at all.

Now some other brief nitpicks/thoughts:
-I always liked the Elite Minor look, so now that they changed up their appearances to match the rest of the games, I think it's a bit of a shame. The sword Elite cutscene in Silent Cartographer looks so weird now because he's so chunky, hah.
-Super nitpick but I think the crosshairs for the Warthog are kinda rough. Both for the turret and the navigational arrow. For that matter, the flashlight indicator is pretty janky too. Also as has been covered by others, huge sniper rifle crosshair.
-Some visual feedback is less effective in the new graphical layer. There's no flash for pistol shots registering, the shields on Elites are not very clear, and at times I have trouble catching where a plasma grenade goes or sticks.
-This one is SUUUPER nitpicky but I always liked this graphic in the original so screw it. The new bullet decal for metal surfaces looks bad. It looks like I'm punching a hole through paper. All the other ones are good though.
-The plasma turret shots are a bit blown out in Anniversary, they're big and distracting.
-Rockets look weird in motion, there's I can't see a rocket, just a moving flare.
-I love just about everything about the new look for the environments except for one niggling detail. The Forerunner doors. Specifically the sliding doors in AotCR for the bridges and the big ones before the control room. They look terrible, and to make it even worse they seem to exhibit the most problematic case of texture stream-in. They don't look good at their best, but they're usually blurry on top of that.
-The water is fantastic. So are the skyboxes.

Anyhoo, I think that's about everything I have to say about Anniversary from my experience with it. Playing through the campaign again with the new visual layer has been great, and trying out the skulls has made it new again. Grunt Funeral + Boom is ridiculous. A shame that Grunt Funeral is a first run exclusive, because I think it's the best one in terms of changing up how things play.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Rickenslacker said:
Well, I got the 1000 for Anniversary so I think it's time to post some thoughts.

First of all, there are a couple of things about CE that I love that were never properly replicated in the later games. It's so refreshing having a crosshair in the middle of the screen oh man, every other Halo having a lowered crosshair throws me off so bad considering every other FPS game in existence ever of all time keeps it centered. I also miss how much of a spectacle it was shooting the AR, and even the pistol to a lesser extent. The particle effects from shots hitting walls, and the blood gushing out of Grunts while you shot them up is so nice, it was never really properly replicated since and it looks great seeing how it appears in the new graphical layer, and the sound, the AR has never been as fun to use as it was in CE.

The game is also snappy in its controls. The inclusion of Bumper Jumper was great because it brings the perfect Halo control scheme to the best game in the series. Playing through it again just reminds me how responsive everything is, mostly in the item interactions. You don't have to hold use to pick up health, you just... walk to it, how novel a concept is that. You go into a vehicle at the tap of a button, no half-second hold necessary. I like that the health has no regeneration of its own, and that health packs don't inexplicably make my shields charge instantly.

Now, speaking to the new graphical layer. It is gorgeous, it's like a Craig Mullins piece in playable form. I remember my impression from the original trailer, and seeing the general art interpretation differences in the environments, the derpy Master Chief model, and the PTSD from seeing Reach's AR made me want to write off the new visuals all together, but using them for skull and terminal hunting made me never want to go back to the classic. I thought I'd hate the artistic licensing they'd use with redesigning the look of areas, but when directly comparing them to the old look, most of the old stuff is just very dark and sterile. Even in comparison to Reach, this game looks so refreshing, the colours, the vibrancy of the environment, this is what Halo is. Just looking at Installation 04 Firefight map with that part of the game in Anniversary, and Anniversary shames it. Shove that Reach crap under the carpet and forget about it forever.

Reach, even a year later it's still disappointing me. I'm talking about the multiplayer, and for a number of possible reasons that concluded it being necessary to use Reach as its base, just sucks and does a 10 year Anniversary to the experience that brought life to the Xbox a huge disservice. Try as hard as you might to try and bandage that game's settings into something salvageable I am just so sick and tired of everything surrounding Reach. I don't like hearing its title music, I don't like its grainy ugly look, I don't like the way it plays, I just want it gone and I'm done with it. As far as I'm concerned that part doesn't even exist in Anniversary.

As for the music and sound, I thought the new music was good. Very subtle for the most part and still retains the greatness of the original. All except for my favourite track On a Pale Horse where it ends up sounding worse. Maybe I'm just more picky with it because it holds a strong nostalgic memory for me, and the new version doesn't do it justice. Other than that, it's great. New sounds took some getting used to, but I like them overall. Though the lack of classic sounds also discourages me to play in classic mode at all.

Now some other brief nitpicks/thoughts:
-I always liked the Elite Minor look, so now that they changed up their appearances to match the rest of the games, I think it's a bit of a shame. The sword Elite cutscene in Silent Cartographer looks so weird now because he's so chunky, hah.
-Super nitpick but I think the crosshairs for the Warthog are kinda rough. Both for the turret and the navigational arrow. For that matter, the flashlight indicator is pretty janky too. Also as has been covered by others, huge sniper rifle crosshair.
-Some visual feedback is less effective in the new graphical layer. There's no flash for pistol shots registering, the shields on Elites are not very clear, and at times I have trouble catching where a plasma grenade goes or sticks.
-This one is SUUUPER nitpicky but I always liked this graphic in the original so screw it. The new bullet decal for metal surfaces looks bad. It looks like I'm punching a hole through paper. All the other ones are good though.
-The plasma turret shots are a bit blown out in Anniversary, they're big and distracting.
-Rockets look weird in motion, there's I can't see a rocket, just a moving flare.
-I love just about everything about the new look for the environments except for one niggling detail. The Forerunner doors. Specifically the sliding doors in AotCR for the bridges and the big ones before the control room. They look terrible, and to make it even worse they seem to exhibit the most problematic case of texture stream-in. They don't look good at their best, but they're usually blurry on top of that.
-The water is fantastic. So are the skyboxes.

Anyhoo, I think that's about everything I have to say about Anniversary from my experience with it. Playing through the campaign again with the new visual layer has been great, and trying out the skulls has made it new again. Grunt Funeral + Boom is ridiculous. A shame that Grunt Funeral is a first run exclusive, because I think it's the best one in terms of changing up how things play.


<3
 

wwm0nkey

Member
R dott B said:
Probably been asked so sorry if it has, but my copy just came in and I was wondering if I have the disc do I need to redeem this map pack code to play MP?..I don't have Reach anymore.
Nope, you can just give the code to someone else
 
Rickenslacker said:
Now some other brief nitpicks/thoughts:
-I always liked the Elite Minor look, so now that they changed up their appearances to match the rest of the games, I think it's a bit of a shame. The sword Elite cutscene in Silent Cartographer looks so weird now because he's so chunky, hah.
-Super nitpick but I think the crosshairs for the Warthog are kinda rough. Both for the turret and the navigational arrow. For that matter, the flashlight indicator is pretty janky too. Also as has been covered by others, huge sniper rifle crosshair.
-Some visual feedback is less effective in the new graphical layer. There's no flash for pistol shots registering, the shields on Elites are not very clear, and at times I have trouble catching where a plasma grenade goes or sticks.
-This one is SUUUPER nitpicky but I always liked this graphic in the original so screw it. The new bullet decal for metal surfaces looks bad. It looks like I'm punching a hole through paper. All the other ones are good though.
-The plasma turret shots are a bit blown out in Anniversary, they're big and distracting.
-Rockets look weird in motion, there's I can't see a rocket, just a moving flare.
-I love just about everything about the new look for the environments except for one niggling detail. The Forerunner doors. Specifically the sliding doors in AotCR for the bridges and the big ones before the control room. They look terrible, and to make it even worse they seem to exhibit the most problematic case of texture stream-in. They don't look good at their best, but they're usually blurry on top of that.
-The water is fantastic. So are the skyboxes.
This perfectly sums up my feelings. The doors are the only place where Sabre seems to have really missed the Forerunner boat completely - they look nothing like Forerunner architecture in the rest of the series (or in the rest of Anniversary, for that matter). I miss the old decals for blood and bullets for their simple effectiveness in adding atmosphere, and I'm not a fan of the new Elite models being copy-pasted (with weird shaders) from Reach. I can get over those. The one key gameplay concept Sabre just didn't seem to understand is player feedback. In Halo 1, it's readily apparent when you've stuck an enemy, it's readily apparent when your pistol shots are hitting, everything is super transparent to the player so that they can adjust to battlefield situations quickly and without frustration. By contrast, Anniversary boils down to a guessing game in these areas too frequently - it's as good of a demonstration as I can think of for how important it is for graphics to be part of the feedback loop and not just a shiny, separate layer.
 

BrokenBox

Member
Anyone else see the trollface on "Pillar of Autumn?" It's on a bulletin board right before you meet up with Keyes. It's on a sign that says "DARK PLANETOID RISING."
 
Domino Theory said:
What was
the ship that crashed
in the AotCR terminal? Or do we find out in later terminals?

I was wondering this also.
From what I recall it almost looked forerunner, but dont quote me on that.
 

S1kkZ

Member
Domino Theory said:
What was
the ship that crashed
in the AotCR terminal? Or do we find out in later terminals?
it looked like
one of the ships from the halo 4 concept art trailer. guilty spark himself didnt even know, so its not a forerunner or human ship.
 

Domino Theory

Crystal Dynamics
Thanks, also, does anyone else think that
the AI talking to GS
in the TR terminal is
the Gravemind?
It sort of matches the (HUGE Cyrptum spoiler)
the mysterious Precursor who shows up at the end of the book who's rumored to be the Gravemind.

Or at the least
intelligent part of the Gravemind.
 

S1kkZ

Member
Domino Theory said:
Thanks, also, does anyone else think that
the AI talking to GS
in the TR terminal is
the Gravemind?
It sort of matches the (HUGE Cyrptum spoiler)
the mysterious Precursor who shows up at the end of the book who's rumored to be the Gravemind.
i think thats just the limited ai of a covenant ship
 
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