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[Son of Godzilla]

=/

The later rounds of Firefight need more variety/difficulty.

FF as a whole needs to be gone through with a chainsaw. There's a lot that could be tightened up.

 

[Joel Was Right]

I agree that Firefight, whilst addictive, lacks variety. I don't see many people on ODST in a few months especially when Modern Warfare 2 arrives; it'll swallow this game.

 

[Papercuts]

No MM hurts a lot. When people jump ship to other games it'll start to get really hard to find games. Another issue, even if it DID have MM, is the stupid drop thing. Was it really intended to drop the entire game if one person leaves?

 

[Shake Appeal]

The problem with Firefight is that you shouldn't be able to play it on Normal. It just takes too long. As it is, I have yet to fail on Normal; we have always been forced to quit out at some point after the 90 minute mark because someone has to go live their life. Heroic with the wrong people, however, can last 20 minutes.

It's also easier to get high scores on Normal, which is ass-backwards, and just encourages people to squat in a game for two hours, or at least until they get their achievement for beating the par score. I also agree with Ghaleon that bonus rounds should be more frequent.

So: disable Easy and Normal. Or: make the Heroic and Legendary multipliers significantly more enticing for high scores. Either way: make it three waves to a round.

 

[user_nat]

Kinda seems that Bungie got a bit lazy in making ODST. There is obviously stuff that could have been done better.

And yet in the last Vidoc they said they wouldn't know what they would change if they had more time..

So obviously making online coop playable isn't important.

 

[Solideliquid]

Is there a SUPERINTENDENT widget for Mac OS? Would anyone want to make one? Just a simple one with his face randomly changing would be awesome.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Question re: Good Samaritan achievement.

I have finished the game completely on Legendary, have 30/30 audio logs, and every other achievement it is possible to get in campaign. How do I go about getting Good Samaritan? Do I have to start an entirely new game, losing my VISR COMM data, including the logs? Or is there a workaround?

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Kinda seems that Bungie got a bit lazy in making ODST. There is obviously stuff that could have been done better.

And yet in the last Vidoc they said they wouldn't know what they would change if they had more time..

So obviously making online coop playable isn't important.

The exact quote is they wouldn't know what to do with two more weeks. As in the task would be too daunting.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Daunting or not, if Reach is going to have online co-op, or Firefight, or both, then we either need better and less demanding netcode, giving a far smoother experience for most, with host migration and/or drop-in, drop-out capability, as seen in Gears of War and other titles... or, failing that, some detailed, hard and fast, hypertechnical explanation of why these things are apparently impossible in the much-vaunted Halo engines.

 

[Kevtones]

Kind of annoyed with the save mechanism. I assumed checkpoints equated to an autosave and thus lost most of my progress on a level. Kind of irksome.


Otherwise, great game.

 

[barcafc]

Ok im in desperate need of help. I cant find the gauss turrett, if i pick up the recon helmet, it takes me back to tayari plaza. Im past the boulevard level and trying to get to the one after it. help me, please!!!

GT: FC Barca FTW

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Daunting or not, if Reach is going to have online co-op, or Firefight, or both, then we either need better and less demanding netcode, giving a far smoother experience for most, with host migration and/or drop-in, drop-out capability, as seen in Gears of War and other titles... or, failing that, some detailed, hard and fast, hypertechnical explanation of why these things are apparently impossible in the much-vaunted Halo engines.

Correcto-mundo!

It'd also be nice if they could implement some ODST FF structural changes, but I doubt the facility is there for it. Lessons to be learned for Reach hopefully.

Ok im in desperate need of help. I cant find the gauss turrett, if i pick up the recon helmet, it takes me back to tayari plaza. Im past the boulevard level and trying to get to the one after it. help me, please!!!

You're looking for the ONI Alpha site, there should be a beacon on your HUD when you press back.

 

[alisdair]

All my lag problems with Firefight have been caused by the game selecting a bad host. If we could override host selection for campaign it would be fine.

Virgin Media are the worst for it in the UK. The host detection algorithm detects a massive uplink (compared to ADSL), so the cable modem player pulls host. Then as soon as you start using it for more than a few seconds, Virgin start dropping packets in some sort of ghetto rate limiting scheme, and the game is a jerky mess with horrific input lag. Like playing Halo:CE with XBC all over again.

 

[Willeth]

Any words of an official statics app for the iPhone? It's would be awesome!!

God, I've wanted this for so long. The unofficial Killzone one is great - an app for Halo would be so kick ass, especially since the new stats detail requires Silverlight.

 

[Shake Appeal]

All my lag problems with Firefight have been caused by the game selecting a bad host. If we could override host selection for campaign it would be fine.

Virgin Media are the worst for it in the UK. The host detection algorithm detects a massive uplink (compared to ADSL), so the cable modem player pulls host. Then as soon as you start using it for more than a few seconds, Virgin start dropping packets in some sort of ghetto rate limiting scheme, and the game is a jerky mess with horrific input lag. Like playing Halo:CE with XBC all over again.

Yep, I think Brainboy (from this and other GAF Halo threads) is with Virgin, and he has complained about their unexpected throttling before.

 

[Willeth]

Yeah, I'm on Virgin. It's better than when I was with them in my old house, because not only would they throttle my connection as above, they'd cut download speeds by 90% after about 8pm.

Here, I had a bit of a time doing Endure yesterday, because of about half a second of input lag. It seemed to smooth out after the first round or so, but that might just have been because I was in a Chopper and I was compensating for the delay in turning anyway, and half a second is a lot easier to swallow in that circumstance.

Got the achievement, anyway. If I can get it with my lack of skill and lag all over the place, no-one's got an excuse. A Commander Grade 3 with Recon in Matchmaking draws a lot of comments, I tell you.

 

[Joel Was Right]

Quick question

I've finished the game but want to go back and find all the audio logs. I restarted the campaign and found that some areas are closed and can only be opened upon triggering a flashback and hence completing that mission. Is there any way in which I can just explore New Mombasa freely?

 

[Willeth]

Quick question

I've finished the game but want to go back and find all the audio logs. I restarted the campaign and found that some areas are closed and can only be opened upon triggering a flashback and hence completing that mission. Is there any way in which I can just explore New Mombasa freely?

Go to the Campaign lobby and choose Mombasa Streets as a mission. If you've got a credit for a complete solo run it should give yo the run of the city.

Also apparently the Johnson code doesn't have DRM on it, like a free piece of Marketplace content. I redownloaded it on a friend's console so I could be Johnson, and now that I've removed my memory card (and hence, profile) he can still use it - so if anyone's friends didn't get a Johnson code, you can do this.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Okay.

OKAY!

So I'm playing on Heroic, first time I've started out a Halo game at this difficulty. Yes it is taxing and hard and scary but wow, man, when I finished clearing out that first big cache of Grunts and Jackals in the first flashback?

YEAH BOYE!!

This shit is so hard though.

(But I love it.)

Seriously, loving this game. The atmosphere of the city is really doing it for me.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

YEAH BOYE!!

I can't imagine how boring the streets section would be on easier difficulties. The feeling of being abandoned in enemy territory is the entire damn point.

 

[The Librarian]

Perhaps. I distinctly remember a grunt throwing a plasma nade at me, hearing it exclaim something along the lines of "I've stuck one!", which was followed by my blowing up.

You can be stuck by grunts and plasma grenades in FF. It... happened to me.

 

[BakedPigeon]

Had a chance to finally pick ODST up and holy shit does it not disappoint. I only got to play through about half of the story but I am really enjoying the change of gameplay from previous halo games (even though they are very subtle changes).

Fire Fight is a fucking riot. I have not had this much fun from Halo in a long time. Hopefully FF can become a normal staple in Halo's multiplayer offerings for future titles.

 

[Mr YuYu]

If anyone is up for some firefight. add me

GT: Mr YuYu

 

[Revengeance]

Kind of annoyed with the save mechanism. I assumed checkpoints equated to an autosave and thus lost most of my progress on a level. Kind of irksome.


Otherwise, great game.

Dude, I played 4 missions and came back the next day to find my save back in Tayari Plaza. Sucked so much. Then I picked the last mission I did from the 'replay mission' list, only to find that that basically started a new game. I'm sure there are warnings about this all over this thread and the internet, but still, it really sucks.

What's so bad about autosaving?

 

[Zeouterlimits]

You can be stuck by grunts and plasma grenades in FF. It... happened to me.

:lol
Classic moment. We were so goddamn close.

 

[Joel Was Right]

Ok I'm stuck on the Audio Files. I have 28 out of 30 (I know the 30th is on Data Hive). I have every audio file till Circle 9, Arc 4. I don't know whether each 'Arc' is location specific or if it just defines the any new one you find (regardless of order or location) as the following arc. But if not, if these Arcs are location specific can anyone help me find Circle 9, Arc 5 and so on?

Thanks

I was using this map

 

[big ander]

I really didn't keep up with ODST news so it wasn't until a few days ago that I learned that it was $60. Total fucking rip off. A glorified expansion pack for $60? Yeah right. Fortunately, I found someone who was willing to sell me just the multiplayer disc. I just wanted to finish all of the Halo 3 achievements. Never thought I'd have to buy ANOTHER game to finish an original game's achievements.

That's so fucked up that Bungie/Microsoft/Whoever wanted gamers to spend $60 for 3 new maps.

Hey, you must have missed that convention for people who bitch about the price, they left a while ago, you might want to try and catch up. They went that way. ---->

As for Firefight improvements, there's definitely things that can be changed. But I see this as a test run for something that should get way more awesome in Reach.

 

[Psychotext]

Ok I'm stuck on the Audio Files. I have 28 out of 30 (I know the 30th is on Data Hive). I have every audio file till Circle 9, Arc 4. I don't know whether each 'Arc' is location specific or if it just defines the any new one you find (regardless of order or location) as the following arc. But if not, if these Arcs are location specific can anyone help me find Circle 9, Arc 5 and so on?

It's just the new one you find, the circle / arc doesn't match the location.

 

[Louis Wu]

Question re: Good Samaritan achievement.

I have finished the game completely on Legendary, have 30/30 audio logs, and every other achievement it is possible to get in campaign. How do I go about getting Good Samaritan? Do I have to start an entirely new game, losing my VISR COMM data, including the logs? Or is there a workaround?

You have to start a new game - but you don't lose your logs.

 

[Oozer3993]

Kinda seems that Bungie got a bit lazy in making ODST. There is obviously stuff that could have been done better.

And yet in the last Vidoc they said they wouldn't know what they would change if they had more time..

So obviously making online coop playable isn't important.

Making co-op and Firefight work better online would take an exorbitant amount of time, relatively, considering it's a quasi-expansion and was worked on by a small team. This isn't a simple fix, it basically constitutes re-writing the netcode.

Question re: Good Samaritan achievement.

I have finished the game completely on Legendary, have 30/30 audio logs, and every other achievement it is possible to get in campaign. How do I go about getting Good Samaritan? Do I have to start an entirely new game, losing my VISR COMM data, including the logs? Or is there a workaround?

Starting a new game WILL NOT DELETE YOUR VISR DATA, INCLUDING YOUR LOG PROGRESS!

Sorry, just getting annoyed that this is being asked on almost every page, despite being answered multiple times in the thread, and in the official FAQ on Bungie.net.

P.S. I'll be on later today for some Deja Vu and Endure hunting.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Can you turn on scoring in the middle of a campaign or can you only play with scoring outside of a regular campaign run a la Halo 3?

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Making co-op and Firefight work better online would take an exorbitant amount of time, relatively, considering it's a quasi-expansion and was worked on by a small team. This isn't a simple fix, it basically constitutes re-writing the netcode.

P.S. I'll be on later today for some Deja Vu and Endure hunting.

pass me an invite for deja vu or any level i dont have the firefight achievement on for endure. (lost platoon?) if you want. anyone else too!

driving around the streets with the ghost is awesome! except I went to open a door and turned around and it became a ghost.

 

[Louis Wu]

Ok I'm stuck on the Audio Files. I have 28 out of 30 (I know the 30th is on Data Hive). I have every audio file till Circle 9, Arc 4. I don't know whether each 'Arc' is location specific or if it just defines the any new one you find (regardless of order or location) as the following arc. But if not, if these Arcs are location specific can anyone help me find Circle 9, Arc 5 and so on?

Thanks

I was using this map

You might want to try this map, instead. The X's are clickable - they pop up a movie showing the actual location. If you're methodical about the map, you can find the one you're missing. (I was stuck at 27 for a LONG time - I used this map to find the last two. X19 is apparently missed by a lot of people, and I'd also missed X9, because it's the only one that requires jumping on some crates to find.

Can you turn on scoring in the middle of a campaign or can you only play with scoring outside of a regular campaign run a la Halo 3?

I turned on scoring in the middle of the campaign (after the first two flashbacks), and it re-added those two flashbacks to the list of stuff I hadn't finished.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I turned on scoring in the middle of the campaign (after the first two flashbacks), and it re-added those two flashbacks to the list of stuff I hadn't finished.

Yikes! That's a big negatory then.

 

[ShinAmano]

So I am slowly moving through the campaign on legendary (first run) and it is incredible...just finished the second flashback...so awesome.*

*One thing I was pissed about was the

Spoiler

Wraith Killer Achievement...so I had to save and pick it up later and it reset the achievement so despite the fact that I killed all the wraiths I did not get it...

 

[-PXG-]

I beat campaign again on Legendary, solo. Everything was fine until

Spoiler

Coastal Highway, especially the part where you're in the regular Warthog (before you get the Gauss or the Scorpion). The Ghosts just tear you apart and Buck doesn't know how to shoot.

I still need to get all the audio logs. Shouldn't be too hard now. Only got 9 left.

Anyway, I should be online all day. I'm down for Firefight

Spoiler

with good connections and minimal lag

 

[squidhands]

Ugh, Classic is impossible. You can't get past those two fucking Wraiths, with those fucking turrets and fucking choppers.

Go left in a warthog around the first wraith and hope it doesn't pin you to a wall and kill you. Then drift around the left side of the other wraith, grab the Ghost, and go.

I tried doing it in just the 'hog, as was mentioned previously. I didn't get it, so I must have inadvertently pulled a trigger somewhere. Can it really be done in just a Warthog? I did rack up a nice little score without ever firing a shot or using a grenade, though...

Kikowani Station...

WOW. At first I thought I was going

Spoiler

going to be inside the Phantom and was disappointed when I realized I wasn't. Still a damn fun mission, though, and I DESTROYED that Scarab.

Spoiler

How did you end up defeating it? I had to disable it several times and ended up blowing it up MC-style; boarding it and destroying the core with the plasma cannon.

Kinda seems that Bungie got a bit lazy in making ODST. There is obviously stuff that could have been done better.

And yet in the last Vidoc they said they wouldn't know what they would change if they had more time..

So obviously making online coop playable isn't important.

I would hardly call making a stellar campaign in less than a year lazy. Firefight may have problems, but to call them lazy for not fully understanding or catching what those problems are in the same amount of time is a bit over the top.


Anyway, I started looking for the rest of the logs and I decided to add some skulls to the Heroic mission (Famine, Tilt, and IWHBYD). Holy crap, what a huge difference it makes in the way that I ended up encountering the patrols compared to just the regular Heroic setting. The Hunters were soo much harder to kill. After 4 flame grenades, 3 plasmas, and several emptied weapons, I was finally able to bring one of those big bitches down by emptying a full Beam Rifle into it while he was charging me. Exhilarating stuff. Took a quick shot from the start of that run; I thought that the charged plasma pistol on my hip looked pretty cool.

 

[dark10x]

While I playing I "found the final clue" and left the main city. Is there any way to return to the city to finish searching for logs while still getting the achievements for doing so? I know I can return to the city via the mission selector, but will that prevent the achievements from triggering?

There was no warning that I was about to leave the city and I would have stayed longer had I known. :\

 

[-PXG-]

While I playing I "found the final clue" and left the main city. Is there any way to return to the city to finish searching for logs while still getting the achievements for doing so?

There was no warning that I was about to leave the city and I would have stayed longer had I known. :\

Select Mombasa Streets in the level select screen. You can go back and collect all the audio logs from there. However

Spoiler

the last one is in Data Hive. But you can only get that one, once you have all the others

 

[OMG Aero]

I tried doing it in just the 'hog, as was mentioned previously. I didn't get it, so I must have inadvertently pulled a trigger somewhere. Can it really be done in just a Warthog? I did rack up a nice little score without ever firing a shot or using a grenade, though...

If you didn't fire a shot or use a grenade, how did you get Spartan laser kills and several kill streaks?

 

[Louis Wu]

Spoiler

How did you end up defeating it? I had to disable it several times and ended up blowing it up MC-style; boarding it and destroying the core with the plasma cannon.

Spoiler

I'm finding the easiest way is to disable it, then swing around the back, blow off the protective cover, and plasma-bomb the hell out of the core. Same as in Halo 3.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

I beat campaign again on Legendary, solo. Everything was fine until

Spoiler

Coastal Highway, especially the part where you're in the regular Warthog (before you get the Gauss or the Scorpion). The Ghosts just tear you apart and Buck doesn't know how to shoot.

Yup, weakest part of that entire section.

Spoiler

Got so frustrated with Buck and his terrible efforts.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Quick silly question: I picked the game up a couple of nights ago and quickly started playing through the campaign on Heroic. With the first Halo, I would always beat a level on Heroic and then start over and beat it on Legendary before advancing to the next level. That made the game last longer.

Can I do this with ODST? I am pretty sure I can but a friend on my softball team was thinking I can't.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Okay.

OKAY!

So I'm playing on Heroic, first time I've started out a Halo game at this difficulty. Yes it is taxing and hard and scary but wow, man, when I finished clearing out that first big cache of Grunts and Jackals in the first flashback?

YEAH BOYE!!

This shit is so hard though.

(But I love it.)

Seriously, loving this game. The atmosphere of the city is really doing it for me.

Do you want to co-op this with me some this weekend?

 

[Odious Tea]

I'm up for Annual or Deja Vu from 11am-4pm, the rest of my day may be a little spotty. Feel free to send me invites/messaged. GT: Arivall

 

[Louis Wu]

Quick silly question: I picked the game up a couple of nights ago and quickly started playing through the campaign on Heroic. With the first Halo, I would always beat a level on Heroic and then start over and beat it on Legendary before advancing to the next level. That made the game last longer.

Can I do this with ODST? I am pretty sure I can but a friend on my softball team was thinking I can't.

You can do this - but you might not get all the completion achievements. (You'll get the 'Finished the game on X difficulty' - but you won't get stuff like 'Super Sleuth'.)

 

[Odious Tea]

You can do this - but you might not get all the completion achievements. (You'll get the 'Finished the game on X difficulty' - but you won't get stuff like 'Super Sleuth'.)

Wait, what? You can't get Super Sleuth if you start a new game from the first mission and don't skip any?

Edit: nevermind, I got Super Sleuth confused with Audiophile. But, my question still stands, if someone can answer it.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Do you want to co-op this with me some this weekend?

Hell yeah! Probably just Firefight if that's cool. it sounds like Campaign stuff gets janky if you start different threads halfway through.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Campaign question: Can Phantoms spot you on their patrol and react accordingly while you're prowling the streets as The Rookie?

 

[squidhands]

If you didn't fire a shot or use a grenade, how did you get Spartan laser kills and several kill streaks?

Had a gunner and gave my splazer to my passenger, in hopes that it didn't count against me. I guess it did even though I didn't pull either trigger. Or maybe I accidentally pulled one without realizing it.

Spoiler

I'm finding the easiest way is to disable it, then swing around the back, blow off the protective cover, and plasma-bomb the hell out of the core. Same as in Halo 3.

Spoiler

I tried that a couple of times, but it would always end up with it's butt pointed at the gate, and I couldn't get a good angle in the Banshee. It was pretty scary to hop on that thing as an ODST, lol.