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The Official Halo 3: ODST Thread

So I pre-ordered through Buy.com and they didn't send my pre-order code. I emailed their support, and they said they'd be sending the codes out, and to contact them if I didn't get it by the end of day yesterday. Of course, I never got anything so I called this morning. The customer support guy said he didn't see anything about a pre-order code and to contact Microsoft.

What the hell? It's not a huge deal but I want my code as a matter of principle. Has anyone else not gotten their pre-order code, specifically from Buy.com?
 
Dark FaZe said:
OH HELL NO WHAT THE UFCK IS THIS SHIT?!

I beat 3 or 4 of the memories on solo legendary for campaign last night and the option to resume my campaign is not there!!!

WHAT THE FUCK BUNGIE. WHAT THE FLIPPING FUCK MAN.
Click to expand...


Same thing happened to me last night, though I was playing on Heroic. I just started over. The save was definitely not there and I re-got achievements that I had gotten previously. Weird.
 
Mr. Durden said:
Yeah at first they said you'd get ODST armor when you finished the game 100%... doesn't appear to be true though
Click to expand...

I don't understand the point of Awards if they won't even support it with first party games.
 
I'm a little dissapointed the Superintendant isn't more prominant in the nightime city sections. I was hoping it would be more of a presence, telling you were enemies and items are more often. There's plenty of static filled screens scattered around the city it could have commandeered for this purpose. I liked that first trailer where it seemed to be travelling with you, telling you to be cautious due to bad guys, etc.
 
Falagard said:
I wonder if you can copy the Halo 3 multiplayer disk from ODST to your hard drive, and then insert the Halo 3 original disk and play the 3 new maps.
Click to expand...

I was curious about this as well. Not sure if anyone ever answered for sure.
 
BerserkerBarage said:
Hmmm...a friend of mine is sitting at 1.8M on Lost Platoon. So far, that's the highest I've seen.

Unless the guy got 1.4M solo. That would be insane!

~B.B.
Click to expand...

Yup, solo. You can sort the graph by difficulty, mission, and player count.
 
I just decided to play the latest memory I played on legendary and yep...

....the save is gone. It showed all the memories as unfinished aka completely having to redo everything.

Whatever. I'll play the game through co-op tonight.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
I was curious about this as well. Not sure if anyone ever answered for sure.
Click to expand...
Just tried it, and the answer is: No.

After installing the ODST MM disc, when you pop in regular old Halo 3, the option is still 'Install to Hard Drive' rather than 'Play from Hard Drive'. Booted it up for good measure to, and no, no new maps. :(
 
Fist impressions after a couple of hours playing last night:

The intro experience is MUCH better than Halo 2 and 3, from the moment you pop in the disk until you set foot on the streets of New Mobassa. For once, Bungie tosses new players a bone and gives a short intro to what the hell is going on and then just kind of drops you into things.

Combat is more intense, more focused, more dangerous, and more cover based. There are enough subtle changes to the program (less ammo, less shielding, slower movement, less scripted sequences) that even fighting the same enemies from Halo 3 feels new - at least so far. This fact alone makes this a worthy expansion to the series.

Bungie had a LOT of balls going in this direction with the game. A true side story, and a very unique one at that. The switchover from day to night and back again can be kindof jarring, but at least for me it works. The new weapons work very well and have their own style - they don't feel like reskinned versions of other weapons in the game - they stand alone. And the music? 95% of it is flawless and sets the mood perfectly.

Firefight is awesome, and THIS is the game that needed a horde mode more than any other. The Halo sandbox is just so rich, and the fights so emergent, that its a shame its taken until now to have the ability to just "play" in this sandbox. Love it, love it, love it, even if I've only been paying solo so far. I can manage just up to the second set on my own, which is still a decent amount of combat - about 40 minutes or so.

Negatives? Only one: Graphics and animations are still not up to par for this gen, and not even close to most other big releases. The visuals really break at the seams in this game, and while it doesn't effect gameplay, its just a letdown considering how much Halo gets hyped as a flagship title for the 360. More than ever my expectations for Reach are growing. Its not that they need to make the game more detailed or gritty - they just have to make it cohesive within its own style, and not look like its fighting the engine to produce the end results. The need for mocap in the future should go without saying - one step forward with this game, and one step back at the same time. Humans move like muppets, and faces, although improved from Halo 3, still look like weird blocky things.

I'm only about three missions into the game so far, so I expect to see some surprises when I play some more tonight.
 
Dax01 said:
They're only in the Rookie parts.
Click to expand...
This is true, but that's not to say that they're only in the hub, since one of them is hidden in a linear mission, (mission name spoiler)
Data Hive.
 
Started my second playthrough this morning, solo on Heroic again and I'm looking for all the logs, and really exploring the city. Having tons of fun doing it. Stealthing around the city, searching, finding cool little things like the
Engineers floating around those Stonehenge like rock things. Are those symbols and stuff around the city supposedly made by the Engineers? And is it to signify the killings of the Elites by the Brutes or what?
Awesome stuff.
 
If all FPS were as good as ODST then no I'd never get sick of FPS, after Halo though I"M really looking forward to a non FPS in uncharted 2.
 
Another quick question: For the audio logs, does it always give you the story in order, no matter where you find the logs? Cause it seems a little convienient that all the ones I've found have been in order.
 
Scarecrow said:
Another quick question: For the audio logs, does it always give you the story in order, no matter where you find the logs? Cause it seems a little convienient that all the ones I've found have been in order.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they'll always be in order no matter where you find them.
 
Amazon sent me a Sgt. Johnson code I don't really need anymore. Who still needs one?

edit - Gone already. Sorry shintoki, AHappyPanda PMed before your post.
 
Letters said:
Amazon sent me a Sgt. Johnson code I don't really need anymore. Who still needs one?
Click to expand...
I'll take it if you don't want it...Even though I don't have the game yet. The thought of playing with Johnson will keep me happy at night

Yea...I just want to say that
 
Some tips to lessen lag/ improve game performance:

1) Try to play with people in your region. Americans play with Americans, so on and so forth

2) Try to get an Open NAT on your router.

3) If you're trying to join a game, or send invites, and keep on getting NAT errors, make sure you, or your guests JOIN ONE AT A TIME. I noticed inviting people en masse, will generate the NAT errors, while having people join one by one will allow people to get in.

Hopefully these help a little.
 
Anyone have firefight just completely crap out on them mid-game? We were in Set 3 and then we all got disconnected. I had 132 headshots and I'm pretty sure 131 of them were automag. Firefight (when it works) is amazing.

7125_1227729899970_1430757214_636125_2790718_n.jpg
 
Jeff-DSA said:
Do you get enough seats for all four players? Because we did that once and what happened was two people sped off while the other two just hoofed it the rest of the way. This also happened in a mission where it dropped a single Warthog and one of us was left walking.

I don't see how the hub world is defensible at all. It's obviously there to stretch the game to justify the full release. Nothing happens in the hubs except for the boring audio logs which are way too long and only ONE person can hear them during co-op. The hub level is just a mess and should have been scrapped for co-op at least.
Click to expand...

I disagree with pretty much everything you've posted. I've spent far more time in the hub than I have in the missions, you have everything there to include mobs to battle, audio files to find, rich atmosphere, multiple tracks off the soundtrack to enhance the travel experience or boost adrenaline for encounters, etc. Anyone that has complained about it being dark, if you're using the VISR and still think so, you either have horrible vision or the settings on your television need to be adjusted. The back drop is amazing, just glancing at the sky between the lush colors, cascading clouds as rain trickles down with towering sky scrapers completing the contrast. Don't know what hub world you're playing in. The mongoose helps you get around faster but even if it didn't exist, it doesn't take long at all to go straight to another flashback if you're using the guide system. I don't know how 'nothing' has happened to you in the hub world, I've even fought Hunters there. As for the warthog situation, I've yet to not see a ghost nearby so you simply have the 4th person speed along in a ghost. Also, EVERYONE can hear the audio log, I've been playing coop and specifically asked my buddies after the first completed as I wasn't sure if I was the only one hearing it being the one to activate the audio file. They all heard it fine so again, what game are you playing?
 
I'm one of those uncounted players, as I have not connected to Live since getting it :)

Impressions:
* Really liking the game so far. I half bought the game for just the map packs because I was a cheapskate and never bought them, but ODST is worth it, itself. Playing through on Heroic first, of course :)
* Can't WAIT to play firefight. The set piece battles that take place in those spots during campaign are awesome so I imagine this is even better.
* VERY different feel from Halo 3. Promotes a very different way of playing while still being 'Halo'. Reminded me of Halo 1 with the design aesthetic and sense of being basically alone that Halo 2 had in large part. Also has the dumb instakill snipers all over the place that Halo 2 had, but I can overlook that :)
* Has Bungie ever seen a real city? The city blocks of New Mombassa do not look anything like a real urban area - it's a collection of lights and blocks without any apparant rhyme or reason.
* Ugh. What is it with Bungie and human faces? My friend thought the main characters were burn victims. The fact they are religious about not using mocap just means everyone moves around like marionnettes too. Sorry guys, but this sort of thing sticks out like a sore thumb in HD.
* Music is AWESOME. There are some quirks with the dynamic music system where it will kick into 'action' tracks at the wrong time, but flawless otherwise. Sounds different from normal Halo music, which aids in the different feel.
* Running around in the lego city collecting flashback items is boring, boring, BORING. The stories from the audio logs turned out to be pretty cool, but forcing people to explore your ugly hub city isn't doing anyone any favors.
* LOVE most of the skyboxes. There are some seriously sexy settings (looking at you, first post-slipspace flashback).
 
NullPointer said:
Fist impressions after a couple of hours playing last night:

The intro experience is MUCH better than Halo 2 and 3, from the moment you pop in the disk until you set foot on the streets of New Mobassa. For once, Bungie tosses new players a bone and gives a short intro to what the hell is going on and then just kind of drops you into things.

Combat is more intense, more focused, more dangerous, and more cover based. There are enough subtle changes to the program (less ammo, less shielding, slower movement, less scripted sequences) that even fighting the same enemies from Halo 3 feels new - at least so far. This fact alone makes this a worthy expansion to the series.

Bungie had a LOT of balls going in this direction with the game. A true side story, and a very unique one at that. The switchover from day to night and back again can be kindof jarring, but at least for me it works. The new weapons work very well and have their own style - they don't feel like reskinned versions of other weapons in the game - they stand alone. And the music? 95% of it is flawless and sets the mood perfectly.

Firefight is awesome, and THIS is the game that needed a horde mode more than any other. The Halo sandbox is just so rich, and the fights so emergent, that its a shame its taken until now to have the ability to just "play" in this sandbox. Love it, love it, love it, even if I've only been paying solo so far. I can manage just up to the second set on my own, which is still a decent amount of combat - about 40 minutes or so.

Negatives? Only one: Graphics and animations are still not up to par for this gen, and not even close to most other big releases. The visuals really break at the seams in this game, and while it doesn't effect gameplay, its just a letdown considering how much Halo gets hyped as a flagship title for the 360. More than ever my expectations for Reach are growing. Its not that they need to make the game more detailed or gritty - they just have to make it cohesive within its own style, and not look like its fighting the engine to produce the end results. The need for mocap in the future should go without saying - one step forward with this game, and one step back at the same time. Humans move like muppets, and faces, although improved from Halo 3, still look like weird blocky things.

I'm only about three missions into the game so far, so I expect to see some surprises when I play some more tonight.
Click to expand...

I am on the fence about the graphics. Are they up to todays AAA standard? No, simply because there is no AA and the animations are limited. However, the models are fantastic, the art direction is some of the best I have ever seen, and the lighting is mind blowing.

I honestly can not wait to see what Bungie can do with a new engine. They have some of the best if not the best art direction in the FPS genre. Even with a dated engine there were parts of ODST that made me say "Whoa". The skybox's were a big part of that.
 
Well, I just finished the game (Edit: for the first time), on Legendary. For those who are counting, this "expansion pack" took up about eight hours of my life (you can check my stats on bungie.net). I'll be playing through it again many times, for achievements, audio logs (I only got 17/30), and, y'know, fun. I have already played five hours or so of Firefight, and anticipate playing more, at least on the occasions when the damn thing doesn't grind to a screeching halt. Probably more value in this package for me than any other title this year that isn't called Left 4 Dead 2. And in most other years.

This is probably my favourite Halo game. In the flashbacks, it plays a bit like a "greatest hits" of Halo, or a covers record, at least. The on-foot combat in this game was, well, fucken awesome. Particular highlights were
the ONI Headquarters and the NMPD
missions, which were among the very best this series has offered. The lowpoints for me were the vehicle-dominated missions:
Scorpion, Banshee, and to a lesser extent Warthog
. I appreciate that these are old standards, but they also felt the most like, well, old standards, and I have always preferred the more intimate, on-foot combat in any case.

The one dazzling exception to the above was
Coastal Highway
, which was probably the most fun I have had in a Halo mission solo. Ever. Just phenomenal, start to finish, and was a visual standout too. Playing this on Legendary was one of the highlights of my gaming year, and I can't wait to try it co-op (and try the batshit vidmaster achievement for it).

Outside of the flashbacks, the Rookie's nighttime adventure was an eerily beautiful twist on the established world and sandbox we know, and really displayed the depth and breadth of Bungie's talent, and of the Halo universe, when untethered (pun intended) from the Master Chief. The music, the design, the free-roaming, the flourishes of detail, were all excellent. At times the city felt a little "dead" and uninteractive (and a little same-y in some respects, although the flashbacks helped to contradict this), but that's a very minor complaint, and feeds into the atmosphere in any case.

Very glad I played on Legendary too, it felt like just the right level of difficulty, with very few spikes that I can remember, if any. The combat satisfied and challenged me in a way almost no other games do, even if Legendary sort of limits your armament (unless you have a particular power weapon to hand, you are always carrying either plasma pistol and automag, or plasma pistol and carbine). Incidentally, the automag is perfect, and would instantly pop (bip-bap) into my top ten videogame weapons of all time, albeit somewhere below Halo 2/3's Battle Rifle. Still, I didn't miss the BR. You know what else I didn't miss? Elites. What else? The Flood. No complaints about the absence of any of the above.

Question for those who have finished the game on Heroic or Normal: did you get the
Epilogue after the credits, with Johnson and the squad (set in the Halo 3 MP map Orbital, it seems)?
And if so, did you also get
the further video showing our favourite Prophet descending into the Forerunner structre exposed beneath the Data Hive?
I'm just curious of this game has a Legendary-exclusive ending like the other Halo titles.

9/10

For me.

At least.

Edit: I'd write more, but this seems like a lengthy post as is, and no one really cares what ol' Shake Appeal thinks about anything anyhow.
 
CrazedArabMan said:
It was good, but I really didn't get it, it leaves too many questions and I wasn't sure what exactly was going on.
Click to expand...

Please tell me what happened in it. Spoiler tagged of course.
 
Played my first 4P Firefight, very very fun! Black eye is hard.

Are there vehicles in firefight? So far I haven't seen any.
 
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