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HALO 2 - No bots, and no low-gravity maps in multiplayer: Confirmed

S

Sai

Member
LINK

:( to the folks without friends and LIVE. I never really thought there'd be bots in the game though.

About low-gravity multiplayer maps: We could get some through DLC. This could just mean that there won't be any included with the game when it ships.
 
H

human5892

Queen of Denmark
No bots?!

Wow, that's really weak. Perfect Dark had bots (a good variety of them, too) and that was a freaking N64 game.
 
S

Sai

Member
There were a large number of people hoping they'd be in. But Bungie honestly never directly stated that they were for sure working on putting bots in, more like... Working something out for the folks who don't have LIVE and few friends instead.

Also, the article mentions that there are multiple melee animations. This was kind of confirmed a while ago, but it's good to hear it again. I wonder if this will be kind of a "replacement" for melee combos...
 
D

Drey1082

Member
pilonv1 said:
Was anyone really thinking there were going to be bots in this game?
Click to expand...

I agree. They're thinking, you want to play multiplayer? Don't have friends? Spend $50 on live. Bots are not going to affect sales much, so it's not an issue for them. Would it have been nice to have bots, very much so.
 
E

evil ways

Member
Lando.gif

This deal is getting worse all the time.
 
S

Schmo Florez

Member
^^ HAHA!

Seroiusly folks, cause not having bots in the first one hurt sales so much. Oh wait I forgot, this is Critic-age afterall.
 
S

SyNapSe

Member
pilonv1 said:
Was anyone really thinking there were going to be bots in this game?
Click to expand...

Yes. No bots stinks! I'll get Live to play online, but still.. at least in the original Halo bots would have been great. We never did LAN, just 3-4 player games, and it would have been nice to fill out the teams a bit more.. some of the larger maps just aren't fun to play with that few people.
 
H

human5892

Queen of Denmark
Schmo Florez said:
^^ HAHA!

Seroiusly folks, cause not having bots in the first one hurt sales so much. Oh wait I forgot, this is Critic-age afterall.
Click to expand...
Who said anything about sales, besides people protecting the hive? Bots would make the game more enjoyable, for both people who usually play alone as well as a group of friends who'd like to team up and take on some other players.

Yeah, yeah, I know -- BUT JUST BUY XBOX LIVE! But if you a) don't want to pay for it, b) don't have broadband access, c) want to play with your buddies in the same room, etc., bots could be a cool alternative.
 
Brofist

Brofist

Member
Schmo Florez said:
Seroiusly folks, cause not having bots in the first one hurt sales so much. Oh wait I forgot, this is Critic-age afterall.
Click to expand...

Who gives a shit about sales, no one is debating whether Halo 2 will sell or not.
 
Brofist

Brofist

Member
human5892 said:
Yeah, yeah, I know -- BUT JUST BUY XBOX LIVE! But if you a) don't want to pay for it, b) don't have broadband access, c) want to play with your buddies in the same room, etc., bots could be a cool alternative.
Click to expand...

True...even with Live it's fun to boot up a quick bot death match when time is limited..
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
Lakitu said:
Will they still have Single Player?
Click to expand...

I'm curious too!

Not surprised by the missing bots. I wonder if this type of exclusion leads to even more anti-social assholes on Live.
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Cimarron said:
oh well. Damn shame to let all that lovely AI programming go to waste without utilizing it through BOTS.
Click to expand...
That's the strangest thing about this for me - with the best in class AI programming they have, you'd think bots would be a relatively simple addition.
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
kaching said:
That's the strangest thing about this for me - with the best in class AI programming they have, you'd think bots would be a relatively simple addition.
Click to expand...

I doubt it's the complexity of implementation that's keeping them out of the game. Halo 2 is the Xbox Live Killer App; no way Microsoft gives gamers an alternative to plunking down subscription fees.
 
J

Joe

Member
no low-gravity maps? i remember all the zanzibar e3 impressions saying how chief actually seems to jump a little higher in halo2.
 
I

Insertia

Member
Sucks.

With all of the development time Bungie has invested in multi-player, bots were kind of expected (from me at least). Hell, Perfect Dark had them.
I don't have Live, so no multi-play for me.

Single player better be pretty damn good.
 
P

Prine

Banned
Halo doesnt really need bots. from my 3 years of play, never once have i thought "If only there were bots"

Most of my time pondering was about "if only this was on Live"

Now Bungie have delivered, could well be the perfect game for me. Looking foward to LAN games too!
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
The no bots thing is not unexpected but it's still dissapointing.

Given all the praise Bungie has gotten for the Halo legendary AI,
it would be nice to see some of that legendary AI appear in multiplayer.
It's not a replacement for XBL but something that could've complimented it.
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Goreomedy said:
I doubt it's the complexity of implementation that's keeping them out of the game. Halo 2 is the Xbox Live Killer App; no way Microsoft gives gamers an alternative to plunking down subscription fees.
Click to expand...
Heh...so is that why you're wondering if there's even a single player mode?

I don't know. I can't see the presence of bots in the game keeping new people from subscribing to XBL in any significant way. Generally speaking, I think most people prefer actual human competition to CPU AI, but bots are a good backup for times when no one else is around, when you just want to practice, brush up, or just get in a quick game, when your network connection is down or isn't performing well, etc.
 
M

Mr. Lemming

Member
Sai said:
Working something out for the folks who don't have LIVE and few friends instead.
Click to expand...

I don't have time to pull out the exact quote that is from at the moment (on lunch at work) but I almost certainly sure it was in reference to a gametype or gametypes.
 
The Faceless Master

The Faceless Master

Member
Goreomedy said:
I doubt it's the complexity of implementation that's keeping them out of the game. Halo 2 is the Xbox Live Killer App; no way Microsoft gives gamers an alternative to plunking down subscription fees.
Click to expand...
yet the game has system link, and even had voice in system link... anyone who wants to can play it on xlink kai, xbconnect or gamespy... so nope, that's not it...
 
The Faceless Master

The Faceless Master

Member
Joe said:
no low-gravity maps? i remember all the zanzibar e3 impressions saying how chief actually seems to jump a little higher in halo2.
Click to expand...
yah, he does jump higher... they probably just made it an all around higher jump...
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
No bots in any FPS these days should be seen as a glaring omission. It's become the standard and is generally seen as a given (as it should be).
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
kaching said:
I don't know. I can't see the presence of bots in the game keeping new people from subscribing to XBL in any significant way. Generally speaking, I think most people prefer actual human competition to CPU AI, but bots are a good backup for times when no one else is around, when you just want to practice, brush up, or just get in a quick game, when your network connection is down or isn't performing well, etc.
Click to expand...

I didn't say the numbers would be significant. But there will be gains with bots removed, however slight.

I'd argue plenty out there who only own Halo for their Xbox (I can count 4 friends in my circle), plan to play Halo 2 Multiplayer with just their buds in a living room.

But here's a scenario for you. Say one of those types hosts a party, and only a few friends can make it. If they have no bots to fill up the remaining spaces, and a free two month Live trial is staring them in the face, they'll be more inclined to jump onto Live.

Greedy but wise.
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
The Faceless Master said:
yet the game has system link, and even had voice in system link... anyone who wants to can play it on xlink kai, xbconnect or gamespy... so nope, that's not it...
Click to expand...

Uh, yeah. My friends who have the attention span of hummingbirds will take the time to set that up in their cramped computer rooms.
 
J

Joe

Member
no bots will have such a tiny effect on halo2 sales and new xbox live subscriptions that its not even worth discussing.
 
S

Sho Nuff

Banned
I'm not buying this game anymore. I'm buying Killzone instead, because it has bots.

I'm also going to go stick my face in a fan while I'm at it.
 
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