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First Halo 4 GI information (Spartan OPs, multi, etc) [Update: Campaign/More Details]

Petrichor

Member
Spartan Laser is awesome. Fuck the haters.

It looks and sounds awesome but completely ruined vehicle combat in Halo 3.

The perfect solution would be lock-on rockets a la Halo 2 but with reduced homing, imo. At least in halo 2 you could avoid rockets in some circumstances. In halo 3 if you see the laser tracker you may as well just get out of the vehicle.

Or just don't have a dedicated anti-vehicle weapon (except for air vehicles) and just let people use tactics / grenades...
 

Bombadil

Banned
It looks and sounds awesome but completely ruined vehicle combat in Halo 3.

The perfect solution would be lock-on rockets a la Halo 2 but with reduced homing, imo.

Or just don't have a dedicated anti-vehicle weapon (except for air vehicles) and just let people use tactics / grenades...

It didn't ruin vehicle combat at all. It made the game so much more awesome and goal-oriented. Despite the fact that I only played in the Team Deathmatch for Halo 3, the inclusion of the Spartan Laser in maps like Valhalla and Standoff made the matches seem a bit like Capture the Flag games at the beginning. If two teammates wanted to board a warthog and cause some gatling gun massacres, it was up to me or another teammate to run to the center of the map and grab the Spartan laser first to make sure we could safely use vehicles.

It was a thing of beauty to have that level of division of responsibility. Everyone had a goal because power weapons like shotguns and lasers and swords meant that instead of running around the map without any group cohesion, we had plans. We had to get to the power weapon before the other team did, we had to take control of a certain location, we had to conserve ammunition for that power weapon, we had to make sure that whoever had the power weapon remained alive and was followed by a teammate to make sure the weapon didn't fall into enemy hands. We had someone keeping count of the respawn time for the power weapon to get the next one when it came along.

And if we had the power weapon, we controlled the vehicles. It forced the other team to remain on foot and behind cover. And of course, I've been on that side of the match before. It's fun and strategic, not mindless. And if the other team had the laser and was driving around the map in a hog shooting us up, it became even more fun when I got close enough to stick the hog (two stickies to kill unless you stick the opponent directly) and got to see the plasma grenade spinning so fast on the hubcaps.
 

Omega

Banned
It looks and sounds awesome but completely ruined vehicle combat in Halo 3.

The perfect solution would be lock-on rockets a la Halo 2 but with reduced homing, imo. At least in halo 2 you could avoid rockets in some circumstances. In halo 3 if you see the laser tracker you may as well just get out of the vehicle.

Or just don't have a dedicated anti-vehicle weapon (except for air vehicles) and just let people use tactics / grenades...

Yeah that's true. It's not as bad in Halo Reach though is it?
 

Petrichor

Member
It didn't ruin vehicle combat at all. It made the game so much more awesome and goal-oriented. Despite the fact that I only played in the Team Deathmatch for Halo 3, the inclusion of the Spartan Laser in maps like Valhalla and Standoff made the matches seem a bit like Capture the Flag games at the beginning. If two teammates wanted to board a warthog and cause some gatling gun massacres, it was up to me or another teammate to run to the center of the map and grab the Spartan laser first to make sure we could safely use vehicles.

It was a thing of beauty to have that level of division of responsibility. Everyone had a goal because power weapons like shotguns and lasers and swords meant that instead of running around the map without any group cohesion, we had plans. We had to get to the power weapon before the other team did, we had to take control of a certain location, we had to conserve ammunition for that power weapon, we had to make sure that whoever had the power weapon remained alive and was followed by a teammate to make sure the weapon didn't fall into enemy hands. We had someone keeping count of the respawn time for the power weapon to get the next one when it came along.

And if we had the power weapon, we controlled the vehicles. It forced the other team to remain on foot and behind cover. And of course, I've been on that side of the match before. It's fun and strategic, not mindless. And if the other team had the laser and was driving around the map in a hog shooting us up, it became even more fun when I got close enough to stick the hog (two stickies to kill unless you stick the opponent directly) and got to see the plasma grenade spinning so fast on the hubcaps.

This is all well and good; but it's the effectiveness of the laser I have a problem with, rather than a centralising power weapon existing at all . If the other team has the laser, its game over in Halo 3 in terms of vehicle combat. It's a real shame because the integration of vehicle combat is one of the most successful aspects of the halo sandbox in my opinion, and they were hardly worth using in Halo 3 with the spartan laser ruining the fun .

Worst of all, if the other team controls the laser AND is using vehicles, you're completely screwed because of the awful grenades in H3.


Yeah that's true. It's not as bad in Halo Reach though is it?

I didn't play reach multiplayer long enough to find out XD. If it wasn't as bad I certainly remember the plasma launcher being just as cheap.
 

Bombadil

Banned
This is all well and good; but it's the effectiveness of the laser I have a problem with, rather than a centralising power weapon existing at all . If the other team has the laser, its game over in Halo 3 in terms of vehicle combat. It's a real shame because the integration of vehicle combat is one of the most successful aspects of the halo sandbox in my opinion, and they were hardly worth using in Halo 3 with the spartan laser ruining the fun .

Worst of all, if the other team controls the laser AND is using vehicles, you're completely screwed because of the awful grenades in H3.




I didn't play reach multiplayer long enough to find out XD. If it wasn't as bad I certainly remember the plasma launcher being just as cheap.

I agree up to a point. Sometimes in the Standoff map the morale of my team would drop significantly if the other team got the laser and the vehicles. The other team would gain a 10 to 0 advantage in the scoreboard and we would give up, basically. But there were other times when we pushed through it. If we remained patient and waited inside the structures, we could gather up some plasma grenades, run out to the camo power-up and stick the vehicles to stop the run.

Some of the most fun times I've had playing Halo 3 was when my team was down by a lot and we came back to win. You sound like you're arguing against power weapons because they give too much of an advantage, and while you're right, you should probably get new teammates if everyone gives up so easily.

Plus, there's only three maps (non-big team) that I remember as having both lasers and vehicles. They were Standoff, High Ground, and Valhalla. And with High Ground, vehicle use was discouraged by other obstacles aside from the laser. How could your experience of the entire game be ruined when other maps like The Pit, Boundless, and Guardian lacked the laser advantage. I think Boundless only had the laser in some of the modes.
 

Havok

Member
I didn't play reach multiplayer long enough to find out XD. If it wasn't as bad I certainly remember the plasma launcher being just as cheap.
Not even close. Laser is sandbox-breaking. Plasma Launcher is the most balanced antivehicle weapon in the series.
 
Why are we getting so many tidbits from toys first?

It was bound to happen, I imagine anything super secretive wont leak out this way though.

New enemies not what I had in my mind...I was thinking less organic.

To be honest, I think the one is a
sentinel, albiet a new form
and the other is
indigenous life, or 'attack dogs'
of the new enemy race. Notice the back packaging also mentions a super secret enemy? Thats the new enemy, whatever it is. I bet these will be shown at e3.

These toys were always due out before the game released, so nothing that isn't meant to be seen before the game comes out is being shown atm.. just earlier than planned.
 
Halo makers hate us and will never give us the opportunity :(

I just want a few fuckoff huge maps where I can load like five team mates into a Pelican and drop them off. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK? No side guns. No turret at the back ala HALO 3. Just a big ol' flying transport vehicle.

When am I going to be able to alert people that we're in for some chop?
 

Striker

Member
Practically everything you mention can be customized by the user in 3 and Reach cant it? And Ive played Headlong quite a bit in Reach and its just as amazing as it was then. Even more for me cause i prefer Reach`s gameplay.
No. 3 Plots could not be created at all in 3, and it's in Reach, but the maps lack for it. You couldn't re-create the Assault from 2 into 3 or Reach either because both lack sticky arming, and in 2 after you arm it in the direct circle, you plant it by walking to the object in the middle of it.

Also neither had any flag/bomb contesting, which was pretty significant in being aware of returns.

i don't think thats confirmed. louis wu stated he saw it in his preview of the game but latter wasnt sure if it was that, or the new rail gun. he only saw the outline in the HUD for the ordinance drop.
I'd hope not, but I honestly wouldn't surprised. It had no purpose in Reach, either, since it was unused in campaign outside a few minor instances.
 
I'm definitely getting that Halo 4 Master Chief toy.

Yup, it is very nice:

t6F3Q.jpg


I wish I knew Chinese, I would contact the seller to see if they had more info or could share better pics of the back of the packaging.
 

Petrichor

Member

That blue thing looks super creepy, so does the "crawler" actually. Can't wait to see it in-engine.

They both seem like peripheral enemy types rather than the main "foot soldier" we'll be fighting... but they don't look particularly forerunnery to me though; maybe we really are fighting something completely new, or maybe some kind of flood-esque (but not the flood) corruption of the forerunner
 

Conor 419

Banned
Uhh, why do the enemies which compose a incomprehensibly sophisticated, powerful and technologically advanced race look like gimps?

But honestly, mite b cool. I look forward to seeing them in action.
 

Petrichor

Member
Uhh, why do the enemies which compose a incomprehensibly sophisticated, powerful and technologically advanced race look like gimps?

But honestly, mite b cool. I look forward to seeing them in action.

The fact that they have names like
crawler
and
watcher
makes me think that it isn't the MAIN enemy type in the faction; think carrier forms for the flood or jackals in the covenant.

the watcher seems like it'll float above the battlefield; so I doubt it'll be the main enemy type of whatever faction we're fighting in Halo 4

I mean these clearly aren't the enemy that was teased at the end of the concept art trailer last year.
 

Izick

Member
So is everyone still freaking out over random weapon drops? I really don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, as it does eliminate weapon camping, I will have to at least play the game before I say it's for sure good or bad for the multiplayer overall.
 

Bombadil

Banned
So is everyone still freaking out over random weapon drops? I really don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, as it does eliminate weapon camping, I will have to at least play the game before I say it's for sure good or bad for the multiplayer overall.

I believe I read somewhere that weapon drops will have a pattern that the players can follow. Perhaps a shotgun or rocket launcher will spawn in 3 or 4 places throughout the map in a random order but after playing on the same map a few times players will be able to predict where to go to get the next spawn. It's not a big deal, if that's the case. It just makes it more complicated and requires more movement around the map.
 

TheOddOne

Member
So is everyone still freaking out over random weapon drops? I really don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, as it does eliminate weapon camping, I will have to at least play the game before I say it's for sure good or bad for the multiplayer overall.
I believe I read somewhere that weapon drops will have a pattern that the players can follow. Perhaps a shotgun or rocket launcher will spawn in 3 or 4 places throughout the map in a random order but after playing on the same map a few times players will be able to predict where to go to get the next spawn. It's not a big deal, if that's the case. It just makes it more complicated and requires more movement around the map.
More was clarified about weapon drops during the Sparkast.
 
God damn thats good. I hope the game can conjure even close to that level of scale.

Given the history of the series I have no reason to doubt it.
 
Am I the only one who loved the melee system in halo 2? It seems like that never comes up when people talk about it. Not just that your damage depending on if you were standing, running, or jumping, but the fact that you could actually avoid the melees of your opponent. It just made cqc so satisfying.

Nope. Why they even bothered to fuck with the melee system instead of leaving it like H2 is beyond me.
 
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