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[higherARC05]

I don't see many of you guys on the community side (lately), so I'm going to assume it's okay if I also post this here:

That's pretty scary. Probably more so then seeing the Elites.

It reminds me of the cyborgs thingys from the movie Virus and a little from the geth from Mass Effect which were kickass.

I hope that just encountering a single enemy is a life or death situation. So that whenever you explore the game, you are hoping you don't run into any trouble on the alien world.

So HYPED!!!!!

 

[Flipyap]

Hmm, Precursor?

Spoiler

In Cryptum, they're described as having a head like an arthropod. And that looks like the head is triangular.

Okay, this is complete guesswork, but here's my attempt at defining more of the creature's shape, based on what little we can see of it:

 

[The Xtortionist]

I am in love with the route they have taken the story it is very very interesting and just amazing.

It just sounds insane. It's basically Chief vs the creators of the universe vs a fucking Precursor, with some possible Flood and ex-Covenant (Elites please) mixed in. Mendicant Bias might have a role as well.

The lore 343 has to work with is simply mindblowing. The studio has ridiculous talent. Halo is back.

 

[wwm0nkey]

It just sounds insane. It's basically Chief vs the creators of the universe vs a fucking Precursor, with some possible Flood and ex-Covenant (Elites please) mixed in. Mendicant Bias might have a role as well.

The lore 343 has to work with is simply mindblowing. The studio has ridiculous talent. Halo is back.

Well Mendicant Bias seems to now serve the Precursor after having contact with Gravemind. Wonder if The Timeless one is still in The Palace of Pain on Mendicants Halo.

The story of Halo is just getting crazy, in a very good way.

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Okay, this is complete guesswork, but here's my attempt at defining more of the creature's shape, based on what little we can see of it:

Very cool. There's something distinctly Floodlike about that.

Crazy speculation:

Spoiler

If the Precursors are the source of the flood, that would explain why the humans chose to kill themselves when they found out about its origins. Finding out your Gods are responsible for something so horrifying would definitely be soul crushing.

 

[enzo_gt]

It just sounds insane. It's basically Chief vs the creators of the universe vs a fucking Precursor, with some possible Flood and ex-Covenant (Elites please) mixed in. Mendicant Bias might have a role as well.

The lore 343 has to work with is simply mindblowing. The studio has ridiculous talent. Halo is back.

It's both a good thing and a bad thing. Expand lore too fast and you could just suffocate the timeline a bit with too much building and less groundwork. I certainly hope they pace themselves keeping a decent amount of familiarity through this, as much as I'd like to see more *new* stuff put into the only medium for the lore I care for: the games.

I have faith in 343 though, it's a team I believe in, and would not have had anyone else handle Halo otherwise.

 

[Ramirez]

Don't skip to Glasslands if you haven't read Ghosts of Onyx - it's a direct sequel. You mentioned reading the original three, I took that to mean up to First Strike. Glasslands, Onyx, and Cryptum are all that are really necessary. The others that you haven't read are not really that great (with the exception of the short story collection, I guess).

Contact Harvest is the best one, you take that back!

 

[Hellish]

Any word on a Beta?

 

[Kibbles]

As m0nkey says, it doesn't mention anything about the story or gameplay, but something something hope.

Nothing new to come, no need to get hyped. They would say something on the cover about Halo 4.

 

[Flipyap]

Very cool. There's something distinctly Floodlike about that.

Crazy speculation:

Spoiler

If the Precursors are the source of the flood, that would explain why the humans chose to kill themselves when they found out about its origins. Finding out your Gods are responsible for something so horrifying would definitely be soul crushing.

This Forward Unto Dawn article speculates that the Flood Pure Forms, the Flood without a host, resembled parts of the Timeless One.
What if we're missing some key information and The Flood wasn't just meant to wipe out all life, (speculation)

Spoiler

but instead it's a way of restoring the Precursor race. A sort of cloning with the use of their enemies' corpses. There would be something grossly poetic about that.

 

[Havok]

Contact Harvest is the best one, you take that back!

*remembers awkward sex scene and Chopper origin story*

I concede defeat.

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

This Forward Unto Dawn article speculates that the Flood Pure Forms, the Flood without a host, resembled parts of the Timeless One.
What if we're missing some key information and The Flood wasn't just meant to wipe out all life, (speculation)

Spoiler

but instead it's a way of restoring the Precursor race. A sort of cloning with the use of their enemies' corpses. There would be something grossly poetic about that.

Spoiler

That would be just perfect. The true bearers to the Mantle are those horrid, parasitic monsters. If the Precursors look like that, I wouldn't blame the Forerunners for wiping them out, lol.

The Timeless One's dialogue in Cryptum was also very reminiscent of Gravemind's, I thought.

 

[The Xtortionist]

This Forward Unto Dawn article speculates that the Flood Pure Forms, the Flood without a host, resembled parts of the Timeless One.
What if we're missing some key information and The Flood wasn't just meant to wipe out all life, (speculation)

Spoiler

but instead it's a way of restoring the Precursor race. A sort of cloning with the use of their enemies' corpses. There would be something grossly poetic about that.

So they're

Spoiler

Necromorphs

?

 

[TheOddOne]

As m0nkey says, it doesn't mention anything about the story or gameplay, but something something hope.

Keep our expectations low, OXM has had a history of bringing nothing 'exclusive' to the table. It's gonna be the Halo 4 art trailers stuff mixed with the announcement trailer pictures and 'info'.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Keep our expectations low, OXM has had a history of bringing nothing 'exclusive' to the table. It's gonna be the Halo 4 art trailers stuff mixed with the announcement trailer pictures and 'info'.

That cover doesn't if say that Halo 4 is featured in the magazine at all, just that it will be apart of Xbox's 2012.

 

[TheOddOne]

That cover doesn't if say that Halo 4 is featured in the magazine at all, just that it will be apart of Xbox's 2012.

Yeah, that too.

 

[monome]

Regarding ennemies in halo 4, it's gonna be pure and simple :

an ennemy with a great design.
With fan-service as sugar coating.

I dare not believe 343 will create new ennemies for story's sake, but they got an idea of weapons/movements/AI that'd be fuck fun to play against (or as in MP).

As said the lore is large enough to accomodate, ennemies with mutations, mechanical parts, rival factions, stuff from the Past, little or ginormous.

With what's been done with Greg Bear's books, I will eat my balls if we don't get to fight the Precursor and its minions (maybe forunner flood like forms, as an eternal punishment to the forunner's race). I would be surprised if we don't get three-way fighting, and here as well the books by Traviss give ample stuff to make it happen.

EDIT : if we by-pass our manly egos ad beg for Halo 4, mayble Fronkle will descend upon us with new Halo 4 stuff like a hairless Santa Claus?

Gonna be good, bros

Brought to you by Gui_PT

 

[KidA Seven]

It would be cool if Halo 4 had a similar slayer match as Shadowrun's (minus the money system obviously). Would be cool from a spectator's point of view as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShOCZ2svtf4

 

[kittens]

My heart skipped a beat when I saw this thread was bumped... But no new news. :-(

 

[GodfatherX]

Didn't Frankie used to be EIC of OXM

And didn't he wrote that great huge preview of Halo 2 mp?

 

[overcast]

That cover doesn't if say that Halo 4 is featured in the magazine at all, just that it will be apart of Xbox's 2012.

Wait.. what else does xbox have coming in 2012 aside from this? On the exclusive front obviously.

 

[bigtroyjon]

Wait.. what else does xbox have coming in 2012 aside from this? On the exclusive front obviously.

Exclusives don't really matter in the context of them saying the 360 will be having a great year but to answer your question it starts with a K and ends with a T.

 

[overcast]

Killer Instinct.

Spoiler

Kinect :[

 

[monome]

Wait.. what else does xbox have coming in 2012 aside from this? On the exclusive front obviously.

Alan Wake for now. Which looks to be a nice one but will hardly be good at fighting the surprise new Naughty Dog game (although, funkily, it seems this Alan Wake will be more action oriented than ND's game, probably a good thing since XBOX360 has a very much shooter oriented audience)
MS clearly intends to finish XBOX360 cycle of life towards hardcore gamers in 2013. Get your wallets ready.

 

[Acidote]

Exclusives don't really matter in the context of them saying the 360 will be having a great year but to answer your question it starts with a K and ends with a T.

Killer Instinct? Haha, just joking, kinect everywhere

 

[FreeMufasa]

It would be cool if Halo 4 had a similar slayer match as Shadowrun's (minus the money system obviously). Would be cool from a spectator's point of view as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShOCZ2svtf4

I miss this game.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Wait.. what else does xbox have coming in 2012 aside from this? On the exclusive front obviously.

So far there are Ryse, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Fable: The Journey, Onechanbara Z: Kagura, The Witcher 2 (console exclusive, probably temporary) and a whole bunch of downloadable stuff (Alan Wake, Project Draco, Haunt, Diabolical Pitch, FEZ, Minecraft, Spelunky etc.).

On the more casual front there are Kinect Star Wars, Kinect Rush, new Sesame Street... interactive thing, and plenty of lower profile releases.

 

[def sim]

They're making another Steel Battalion game? huh

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

They're making another Steel Battalion game? huh

Yes.

 

[Yager]

So far there are Ryse, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Fable: The Journey, Onechanbara Z: Kagura, The Witcher 2 (console exclusive, probably temporary) and a whole bunch of downloadable stuff (Alan Wake, Project Draco, Haunt, Diabolical Pitch, FEZ, Minecraft, Spelunky etc.).

On the more casual front there are Kinect Star Wars, Kinect Rush, new Sesame Street... interactive thing, and plenty of lower profile releases.

I believe Ryse is now a "next Xbox" title, not 360.

 

[Palette Swap]

This is a bump that has gone from zero to hero, lol.

I have a hope The Timeless One will be a Nemesis type enemy that will keep attacking you throughout the game.

The Timeless One will be the invincible super fast giant pink scorpion used as a DRM in Serious Sam 3.

More seriously, from Cryptum I kind of expect

Spoiler

the Timeless One to turn out to be the original Gravemind.

This is all speculation from Cryptum but from what I gather, the Flood was initially bad but inert, without a hive mind, its deadly avatars were born later, after years of infection on that dog-like species before moving on to humans. My understanding is that humans are responsible for allowing the Flood to develop to unexpected levels.
As for the Gravemind aspect itself, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the Flood finally gets a leader when it infects the Timeless One. And considering how pissed the Timeless One seems to be, it would give it a deadly purpose, as opposed to just spreading and infecting whatever is handy.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

I believe Ryse is now a "next Xbox" title, not 360.

It's unclear at this point. There was a thread recently, but you need to read the whole thread to get the whole picture, not just the title.

 

[ZombieFred]

The Timeless One will be the invincible super fast giant pink scorpion used as a DRM in Serious Sam 3.

More seriously, from Cryptum I kind of expect

Spoiler

the Timeless One to turn out to be the original Gravemind.

This is all speculation from Cryptum but from what I gather, the Flood was initially bad but inert, without a hive mind, its deadly avatars were born later, after years of infection on that dog-like species before moving on to humans. My understanding is that humans are responsible for allowing the Flood to develop to unexpected levels.
As for the Gravemind aspect itself, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the Flood finally gets a leader when it infects the Timeless One. And considering how pissed the Timeless One seems to be, it would give it a deadly purpose, as opposed to just spreading and infecting whatever is handy.

Spoiler

I reckon the gravemind is in fact the timeless one, or the avatar of its control. It makes a lot of sense to me, especially when looking back on Gravemind's talk, for the timeleless to have complete control on the flood when a gravemind is created. I am hoping the precursors situation will go into more light in the next two acts of Greg's series

.

The future of Halo's story is nothing but epic.

 

[[Nintex]]

It's unclear at this point. There was a thread recently, but you need to read the whole thread to get the whole picture, not just the title.

It seems pretty clear to me. MS is going to cram that next-gen R1000 chip into a box and launch with a bunch of pretty CryEngine 3 games.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

It seems pretty clear to me. MS is going to cram that next-gen R1000 chip into a box and launch with a bunch of pretty CryEngine 3 games.

I know it all seems pretty clear to you, but let's wait until we have at least something concrete to go by. For now it's all just supposition based on several contradicting supposed leaks and the arbitrary notion that they should launch early because of their competition. Meanwhile, the complete lack of tech demos, confirmed specs or any sort of confirmation on Microsoft's part - which should all be here by now, if previous generations are to go by and Microsoft really plans on launching the true Xbox 360 successor in 2012 (not the glorified set-top box, which sounds far more plausible) - is explained by their supposed desire to keep things under wraps. The problem is that such an explanation clashes with the idea of Microsoft launching early to steal Nintendo's thunder; why hide those things if that's the case? The spotlight could already be on them.

But yeah, hopefully it will all become clearer after GDC and CES.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Very cool. There's something distinctly Floodlike about that.

Crazy speculation:

Spoiler

If the Precursors are the source of the flood, that would explain why the humans chose to kill themselves when they found out about its origins. Finding out your Gods are responsible for something so horrifying would definitely be soul crushing.

Either I forgot something about Cryptum, or I just missed it.

Spoiler

Where is it stated that humans looked to the Precursors as Gods? What was their relationship like, and what was it's basis?

 

[Gui_PT]

Please take them Shadowrunz out of my Haloes. It ruined Reach.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Please take them Shadowrunz out of my Haloes. It ruined Reach.

Pretty much.

ShadowRun = Amazing game

Halo = Amazing game

Halo+Shadowrun = Shit

 

[WJD]

So... When are we likely to get some form of proper information on Halo 4? I remember getting Halo 3 scans around this time in 2006 and if my memory is right we got Reach information around Christmas time too.

 

[HollovVpo1nt]

Spoiler

Just the fact it's mentioned and that the humans are already forging Covenant and Forrunner technology for their own use already is making me wet. I must read these books now.

Remember Frankie said EVERYTHING in these books and every other media is being tied to each other in some way. So the fact that they mentioned these

Spoiler

Spartan IVs

is something to pay attention to.

Possibly a possible alliance for the Chief in HALO 5 or 6. OMG I am so EXCITED for this new trilogy.

Please don't spoil us Microsoft/343 Industries. Keep everything a secret till game releases.

Yeah I hope they keep most of the shit secret too. The idustry has grown a lot since 2001 so I expect them to spoil everything there is to spoil about the game, like most devs do. Man I remember the first time I encountered the Flood in Halo: CE. I'll never forget that eerie music combined with dozens of red dots on my radar.

 

[Blueblur1]

Please take them Shadowrunz out of my Haloes. It ruined Reach.

Agreed.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Please take them Shadowrunz out of my Haloes. It ruined Reach.

Also no muting the colours and adding ugly film grain this time please.

 

[KidA Seven]

Please take them Shadowrunz out of my Haloes. It ruined Reach.

Ehh Reach Bloom was not the same bloom found in Shadowrun. Not to mention the armor abilities were nothing like the magic and equipment in Shadowrun. A Shadowrun slayer gametype is not the same thing as inputing those half assed mechanics that Reach possesses.

So Reach does not = Halo + Shadowrun

 

[Feindflug]

So far there are Ryse, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Fable: The Journey, Onechanbara Z: Kagura, The Witcher 2 (console exclusive, probably temporary) and a whole bunch of downloadable stuff (Alan Wake, Project Draco, Haunt, Diabolical Pitch, FEZ, Minecraft, Spelunky etc.).

On the more casual front there are Kinect Star Wars, Kinect Rush, new Sesame Street... interactive thing, and plenty of lower profile releases.

Except Halo 4, Witcher 2 & Onechanbara Z: Kagura all the other exclusive retail games are Kinect only/hybrids...hopefully all these games will bomb hard and MS will start to realize that the core gamers don't care about Kinect and stop shoehorning Kinect support/features wherever they can just to force people to buy this still overpriced piece of hardware.

Thank god there's also the awesome XBLA line-up for 2012...at this point I wish that we'll see a new system from them next year, their lack of focus on the core gamers (as also pointed out by the new dashboard) is making me think that the 360 right now for them is simply targeting the casual Wii audience that wants to upgrade, which is good for MS I guess but not for me.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Except Halo 4, Witcher 2 & Onechanbara Z: Kagura all the other exclusive retail games are Kinect only/hybrids...hopefully all these games will bomb hard and MS will start to realize that the core gamers don't care about Kinect and stop shoehorning Kinect support/features wherever they can just to force people to buy this still overpriced piece of hardware.

I respect your opinion, but I don't agree with it at all.

 

[Striker]

Pretty much.

ShadowRun = Amazing game

Halo = Amazing game

Halo+Shadowrun = Shit

Or just poorly implemented, like many other things in the series (equipment).

 

[Feindflug]

I respect your opinion, but I don't agree with it at all.

Well I'm glad that you see my point and how I feel about the whole Kinect thing right now...spending 150e for a hardware that I'll play 4-5 games max with it and most probably will be useless when the new system comes out is not my thing.

Really curious to see how games like Steel Battalion, Ryse and Project Draco for example will do sales wise....not being able to play those sucks but it will be really interesting to see how the Kinect audience and the core gamers that still don't have a Kinect (in other words will it sell Kinect to the core?) will react to these core games for Kinect.

 

[JaggedSac]

Wow, sounds like the Halo lore took a pretty awesome turn with the new books. I need to get off my ass and read those things. Sounds like the new trilogy has some amazing stuff to work with.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Well I'm glad that you see my point and how I feel about the whole Kinect thing right now...spending 150e for a hardware that I'll play 4-5 games max with it and most probably will be useless when the new system comes out is not my thing.

Sure, at this point it's certainly not for everyone, but as the tech progresses (together with Kinect game design principles), I'm confident that it will have plenty to offer to core gamers as well.

The majority of announced Kinect-required core games probably won't have huge sales, but considering that they're not really big budget projects (with the possible exception of Ryse and Fable), that's perfectly fine.

But back to Halo 4...

 

[PooBone]

Wow, sounds like the Halo lore took a pretty awesome turn with the new books. I need to get off my ass and read those things. Sounds like the new trilogy has some amazing stuff to work with.

Indeed. I like the direction it's going more than I have since the end of Halo 1.