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Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?

CyReN

Member
iiMurPzcg2Th2.gif

never disappoints.

---
The Halogaf Chat

Simple, kinda cheesy and straight to the point.
 
Looks like a metal spider climbing around the front of the BR

edit: I see I've been beaten to that joke. That's what happens when you don't refresh the page
 

feel

Member
Obviously none of that's in, you can tell by how bright and solid the Spartan IVs look in the MP footage.
Hope so. Some Reach media was misleading in regards to picture quality though. (not bungie's fault)

I posted earlier about matching my BR to a screen and the FOV being ~90. It's probably not going to change much.
Cool.

Those fingers got a real overhaul.
So detailed. Very eye catching, should look really awesome during reloads and stuff, as opposed to boring black gloves

Halo 4 music BTS video. LOTS of new music samples.
Any other source for this by any chance? (iphone)
 

Arnie

Member
I haven't heard anything that's as powerful as Marty's stuff, as of yet. All this could change when the controller's in my hands and I'm combining the music with the images, but from a purely musical perspective this all sounds a bit standard, and without a clear personality or direction.

This could have to do with how little we know of the game and it's plot.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I haven't heard anything that's as powerful as Marty's stuff, as of yet. All this could change when the controller's in my hands and I'm combining the music with the images, but from a purely musical perspective this all sounds a bit standard, and without a clear personality or direction.

This could have to do with how little we know of the game and it's plot.

Well to a degree if you feel that way, I'm not sure that it'll be improved. The best soundtracks stand by themselves, in addition to aiding the visual and emotional impact in the game.

That said, even for Marty's brilliance you could say a lot of the action cues were repetitive when stripped out of the game. I'm guessing that it's along those lines. Without hearing all the complete music I'm reserving judgement.

It's clear from the videos that this guy understands music and understands how to experiment to find what he's looking for. That leaves me hopeful.

The OST won't be an instant buy like the previous scores, but I can only hope that it will eventually match the threshold of what came before.
 

Shadders

Member
I haven't heard anything that's as powerful as Marty's stuff, as of yet. All this could change when the controller's in my hands and I'm combining the music with the images, but from a purely musical perspective this all sounds a bit standard, and without a clear personality or direction.

This could have to do with how little we know of the game and it's plot.

Yeah, that 7 note riff from Halo 3 still makes my spine tingle whenever I hear it.

Do duddoo duh do .. DO DO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOCXxtDMqXE&t=2m3s

<3
 
The music is the only feature revealed I'm still kinda wary about. It's a hell of a thing to change from an iconic sound for 10 years, and everything they've shown so far sounds really flat and safe.
 

Arnie

Member
I don't doubt Neil understand his music, some of the things he's talking about in these videos and actually doing in his studio boggle my mind; and there's a clear demonstration of music theory, especially when he talks about how he writes his arrangements.

To me though, as someone who knows zilch about music I just compare what I'm hearing here to, for example, that video shadders posted and it's just not on that same level. I'm yet to hear that section that tingles my spine, that makes me say "wow", that thing that makes me overwhelmed with one specific emotion.

It's all musically competent but I wouldn't describe it as musically excellent. Hopefully, as I say, my opinion changes.

And just to point out, I think the musical tone is one thing that doesn't desperately need to change. Sure, new tones need to be added to represent the game's unique flavour, but to me the music is as much a part of "HALO" as the logo or the Master Chief.
 
The Josh Holmes video was nice, I continue to like the guy.

The music video was really interesting. The cuts made it a bizarre experience, but neat all the same. I'm not sure if I'm more or less worried.
It does make me more hyped as now I have to see how the game ends up coming together.

He mentions again in the interview that all he had was his memories of what he saw in Seattle when he visited for inspiration. While probably an exagguration, does it strike anyone else as odd how disconnected from the whole game he was?
Seems so different to Marty's process.
 

Karl2177

Member
The music is doing the opposite effect for me. Look at past Halo games' music. The choral parts were long and unpronounced to give a sense of wonder and unknown. The short pronounced bits are making it sound like I'm gonna go visit Tolfdir again. There's too much focus on the treble in the orchestration from what we've seen so far, and the only major synth piece that I've heard is the concept art trailer(which was near-perfect). It's sounding like generic sci-fi and not Halo. Give me the cellos at 2:50 in that last link, give me the percussion, give me the synth, and most importantly give me a theme to latch onto. Halo 1 had the monks, Halo 2 had the rock, Halo 3 had the E dorian piano, ODST had the sax, Reach had the general Halo sound.
 
Give me the cellos at 2:50 in that last link, give me the percussion, give me the synth, and most importantly give me a theme to latch onto. Halo 1 had the monks, Halo 2 had the rock, Halo 3 had the E dorian piano, ODST had the sax, Reach had the general Halo sound.
*bro-fist*

Although when I think of Reach I think of Winter Contingency. The first three minutes are incredible and it literally pulled me into the game from the moment the game booted up.

I won't miss it one bit if they ditch the hair rock though.
 
*bro-fist*

Although when I think of Reach I think of Winter Contingency. The first three minutes are incredible and it literally pulled me into the game from the moment the game booted up.

I won't miss it one bit if they ditch the hair rock though.
Winter Contingency is the only music in Reach that I can actually remember. I don't really have any strong musically tied moments in that campaign like I do the rest of the series. So the only thing I think of when I think Reach music is tribal drums.
 
The Golden Tripodcast
Like it.
Active Roster?
Like it.
Lol this is so annoying. I wish we had the perfect name already
Why not "Perfection: The HaloGAF Podcast", brought to you by Plywood.

I have a name for the podcast:

Terrible Host.
Like it and/or any variations of it.

I've heard about these "all new engine"-level tweaks before...
An entire wing of 343 is dedicated to completely re-tooling the Mecha Decoration subroutine.
 
Winter Contingency is the only music in Reach that I can actually remember. I don't really have any strong musically tied moments in that campaign like I do the rest of the series. So the only thing I think of when I think Reach music is tribal drums.
I'm similar, Reach's soundtrack never stuck for me, it's the one I listen to least.

I've heard about these "all new engine"-level tweaks before...
Eh, it's a bit of a fallacy. No one would throw away code that has basically been production tested for 2-10 years.
Older but legendary article on the subject of code "re-writes".
 

nomis

Member
Winter Contingency is the only music in Reach that I can actually remember. I don't really have any strong musically tied moments in that campaign like I do the rest of the series. So the only thing I think of when I think Reach music is tribal drums.
Two other tracks have managed to stick with me and define Reach:
Pillar of Autumn | Epilogue

Both for how the themes play out and how well they set the mood in the game. I have a soft spot for anthems and moody, spacious soundscapes - which is also what drew me to Massive Attack.

Its definitely too early for me to judge Halo 4's OST from these fragments, but my initial impressions are very hit and miss, with most missing the mark. But again its all out of context and scattered so I'm not fretting.
 
Playing ODST, before the first flashback mission I fought off a small pack of Covenant, left one of the Jackal snipers alive, didn't want to waste Carbine ammo. Came back a hour and a half later, run into him walking on the street, melee him in the face.
 

Karl2177

Member
Where can I listen to the whole soundtrack?

Look at the links I posted. All of those showed the general theme of the music while the game was announced. For Halo 4 we've got some major conflicting themes and we're only 3 major pieces in. Are we to latch onto discovery synth with ominous undertones? How about the flute and orchestra piece without any context? Those 2 don't match up and the Halo 4 reveal trailer piece of ominous monks(which gives me chills everytime I watch the trailer) all argue with each other.
 

Arnie

Member
wl0ZB.png


I touched that doorknob.

Okay. So maybe it was more "What if the phones...rang?" But still.

Oh god. I remember that story, with your dad waiting in the car. Man those were fun days, even if you were the butt of a few too many jokes. It was all in good spirits.

Then EazyB fell(deservedly).

Then Reach came out.
 
Look at the links I posted. All of those showed the general theme of the music while the game was announced. For Halo 4 we've got some major conflicting themes and we're only 3 major pieces in. Are we to latch onto discovery synth with ominous undertones? How about the flute and orchestra piece without any context? Those 2 don't match up and the Halo 4 reveal trailer piece of ominous monks(which gives me chills everytime I watch the trailer) all argue with each other.
They said a lot that they are going to manipulate the recording stuff (make it slower etc). How should you get an real impression of it when you have not heard the final version?
 
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