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Halo 4 |OT2| TURBO

BigShow36

Member
Why? It's not like those are Spartan-II's... Many soldiers play sports in their offtime even while deployed. Looks like they're doing some kind of training or some kind of war games exercises on a converted orbital landing ship or something.

I think it's actually pretty cool, imagine it fully realized too, sort of a mix of foundry and anchor 9.

I don't mind if it's just one map that features the "arena" feel, but the whole concept of segmenting MP into some war simulation just seemed odd. It makes it feel like some cheezed up Rollerball knockoff.

I think RvB did it best; who knows or cares why they are sitting in a symmetrical canyon fighting each other?

If they're going to stick with the Wargames theme, at least give us some more exotic locations.
 
Frank

What's happening here? Spartan Superbowl?
War Games simulation?
Why are the UNSC building huge multiplayer arena maps in orbit?

Is this one of those, "don't ask questions about multiplayer canon because it's not a thing" things?
e3-2014-halo-5-guardians-multiplayer-beta-teaser---environment-a4c7d42431664da19e35c1133ce34d3c.jpg

This is really cool map concept IMO.

After they made MP a simulation upon the Infinity I have always wanted to see a map changing and adapting. Or perhaps the concept of the war room being damaged so some parts look like outside, while others are just damaged Infinity corridors, etc. Something like that would be bizarre, but possibly really fun.
 

Woorloog

Banned
You know, i can't figure this out. Combat game, ok. Sports game, ok. Conceptually combat sport is very interesting. Combat sport game? Not ok. Yet a game about gladiators is ok (eg Battletech mechwarriors fighting in Solaris VII arena with frigging mechs).
Why the hell do i feel that way?

Ah, well, whatever. As long as the game is good enough, i can overlook stuff i dislike.
 

Vico

Member
One particular thing I like about all this, is that, from now on, and up to the release of Halo 5, we'll get some news every month. I'm excited.
 

Random17

Member
Frankie, any confirmation on swordflying in the Campaign 1.0 style? That's like half the fun in Halo 2 for me nowadays... after playing the Campaign for thousands of hours...

Also, the trailer is obviously different to the Return to Sender cutscene; is this intentional... is Locke seeing a morphed and manipulated version of events?
 

Vico

Member

Well, pretty much (not just talking about Halo 5 news, all Halo content)

Before december, they have to unveil the Ridley Scott project, the last maps remade for H2A, the first glimpses of Halo 5's multiplayer... And in 2015, since Halo 5 seems to be an even bigger game than 4, it'll have months of announcements (also, the Spielberg show).
 

Booshka

Member
Monday Night Combat does the whole Combat Sports entertainment concept really well for MP. Although they just went all in and essentially made it Idiocracy for eSports. I liked it though, and it's actually pretty damn funny a lot of the time.

I don't think Halo needs to do this, but whatever 343 needs to do to justify Arena FPS is fine with me. If you need to slap some lore behind it so it's more believable to more people then fine.
 

Woorloog

Banned
It is beyond me how Grifball became more than a joke... or did it?

It's been crap ever after Halo 3 (melee mechanic changes along with other things made it feel utterly different in Reach and Halo 4). Halo 3 Grifball combined with the ability to pass the bomb would be nice though, provided it doesn't break the mode.
Just no this Halo 4 Grifball "goal doesn't start a new round"-shit.

I don't think Halo needs to do this, but whatever 343 needs to do to justify Arena FPS is fine with me. If you need to slap some lore behind it so it's more believable to more people then fine.

Having to justify "arena-shooter" is incredibly sad. Lore or no lore.
 

jem0208

Member
Spartans being kind of sports players doesn't make any sense in my mind. War games or not.

I did not really like the idea of MP being hard canon. Map locations and functions being canon is okay (as always).

A true war game Spartans would play would be, in my mind, very different: long scenarios and campaigns truly simulating warfare the Spartans are expected to take part in, not capture the flag or the like. Instead, deep raid behind the enemy lines to capture some important information would be appropriate. Not that you can simulate this with Halo MP map likes maps, i think. You'd need a campaign mission-like missions and maps...
EDIT this is also the major reason i found Spartan Ops to be so very disappointing, i expected the missions to be more like campaign missions, if shorter, not missions filled with enemies in rather small areas.


Also, speaking of map sizes, Halos missions are deceptively small. They look big... but in reality they're not very big. Did the Tip of the Spear vacation glitch today with a friend, we walked some 12 kilometers from the Spire, much more than the actual mission area has length...
I quite like the idea that Spartans would use sports as training. Obviously they wouldn't be spectator style things but I think it makes perfect sense to create sports out of war games.

Spartans definitely would have sparred for practicing close quarters combat, why not have a similar thing for weaponised combat? It would also help build teamwork among the fireteams etc.

However I do agree that what you described would have been a much better fit for Spartan ops.

I always thought it was foolish to try to have online multiplayer have a story.

I agree that adding story is foolish however I really like the idea of contextualizing it.
 

Ampoc

Neo Member
Here's the Gamespot demo

Nothing too out of the old but they do show an extended version of the H2A multiplayer demo. After the player destroys the banshee (it normally cuts at this point) the player then snipes another player (the Elite) and hops safely off the tower as some sort of special effect happens in the center-satellite part of the map.

Extended demo starts at 7:40 to 7:49
 

Woorloog

Banned
I quite like the idea that Spartans would use sports as training. Obviously they wouldn't be spectator style things but I think it makes perfect sense to create sports out of war games.

Spartans definitely would have sparred for practicing close quarters combat, why not have a similar thing for weaponised combat? It would also help build teamwork among the fireteams etc.

However I do agree that what you described would have been a much better fit for Spartan ops.

I can understand that sports is an excellent training tool. But... well, they're super soldiers, they do already know most of this stuff, right? (Not that training ever ends).
It is too... i don't know, it is not grim and dark enough like the Halos previously have been. It makes the game too lighthearted. It is like they're making sport of Halo! (Terribly obvious pun absolutely intended)

Aesthetically, ever since Halo Reach reveal trailer (which was far better than the final intro cutscene is), i've wanted grimmer and darker Halo (preferably with added gore). Reach not being that was a big frigging disappointment. And this extends to the multiplayer, making the game more lighthearted, which the sports theme does very well, is the opposite of what i think Halo should be.

...

Err, if i seem to be repeating myself... i almost didn't get any sleep yesterday. Damn timezones and press conferences...
 

BigShow36

Member
I can understand that sports is an excellent training tool. But... well, they're super soldiers, they do already know most of this stuff, right? (Not that training ever ends).
It is too... i don't know, it is not grim and dark enough like the Halos previously have been. It makes the game too lighthearted. It is like they're making sport of Halo! (Terribly obvious pun absolutely intended)

Aesthetically, ever since Halo Reach reveal trailer (which was far better than the final intro cutscene is), i've wanted grimmer and darker Halo (preferably with added gore). Reach not being that was a big frigging disappointment. And this extends to the multiplayer, making the game more lighthearted, which the sports theme does very well, is the opposite of what i think Halo should be.

...

Err, if i seem to be repeating myself... i almost didn't get any sleep yesterday. Damn timezones and press conferences...

I'm the same way; one thing I loved about Halo CE in both campaign and MP was the sense of isolation and loneliness. It was you vs the world and you felt the gravity. Now, it's more like some cheesy summer bromance blockbuster.

Solemnity has turned into haughtiness. Simplicity becomes tortuous.
 

Dub117

Member
I think it is going to be fun playing all of them side by side, and I'm curious if it changes anyone's opinion, or which one they THINK they like the best, but then all things being equal and during the same time period, they realize they like another one more. Or something like that.
 

jem0208

Member
I can understand that sports is an excellent training tool. But... well, they're super soldiers, they do already know most of this stuff, right? (Not that training ever ends).
It is too... i don't know, it is not grim and dark enough like the Halos previously have been. It makes the game too lighthearted. It is like they're making sport of Halo! (Terribly obvious pun absolutely intended)

Aesthetically, ever since Halo Reach reveal trailer (which was far better than the final intro cutscene is), i've wanted grimmer and darker Halo (preferably with added gore). Reach not being that was a big frigging disappointment. And this extends to the multiplayer, making the game more lighthearted, which the sports theme does very well, is the opposite of what i think Halo should be.

...

Err, if i seem to be repeating myself... i almost didn't get any sleep yesterday. Damn timezones and press conferences...

I ddon't think the Halos have ever been really grim or dark. Halo CE had some pretty dark moments in the campaign but other than that its always been an atmospheric and deep game and not especially dark. I wouldn't say it was every lighthearted although it had its moments, the grunt for example.

Anyways, I don't think 343 will be putting much emphasis on story in multiplayer beyond giving it context like they did in 4. So it's probably pretty safe to completely ignore it if you want to. I think that arena style map looks very cool though and it seems like a great setting for a map. As long as they aren't all like that...


I do agree a darker halo would be cool though. I feel like ODST should have been a bit darker in tone.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I'm the same way; one thing I loved about Halo CE in both campaign and MP was the sense of isolation and loneliness. It was you vs the world and you felt the gravity. Now, it's more like some cheesy summer bromance blockbuster.

Solemnity has turned into haughtiness. Simplicity becomes tortuous.

I'm not talking about isolation and loneliness, those are not things i miss (but i would not oppose returning them either).
It is just that when you portray war, fictional or not, i'd prefer it to be disgusting in many ways. Black and black morality, you know?
Show the Covies to be truly genocidal, yet at the same time, make it clear the humans are seriously considering returning the favor. Make the Covies terrifying enemies, yet humanize them some (that Elite you just shot "dead"? What if he were clearly pleading and would be terrified of you?) (I mean, seriously, don't say the Elites don't feel fear. All sapient beings probably feel fear as it is damn effective survival mechanism)
All with much more gore than Halos have had (strong visual impact, i think. In theory. Me, i'm not one bit disturbed by gore in games (or TV or film) ever, and that disturbs me...). There is no clean death with powerful weapons.

And this should extend to the multiplayer as i said, though some things don't work there nearly as well, by the very nature of it.

EDIT though showing you're very much alone in the war might be good, i think.
EDIT2 for the record, i don't think the Halo games portray war very well. Unfortunately. For military science fiction....
EDIT3 though it occurs to me that many military SF works don't actually portray war that well... ARGH, this is one of those things i should not think or it starts bothering me a lot.
So from the start?

Fucking English language. After Halo 3...
 
Here's the Gamespot demo

Nothing too out of the old but they do show an extended version of the H2A multiplayer demo. After the player destroys the banshee (it normally cuts at this point) the player then snipes another player (the Elite) and hops safely off the tower as some sort of special effect happens in the center-satellite part of the map.

Extended demo starts at 7:40 to 7:49

A couple of tidbits of info from this interview:

1. Collection has full support for custom games
2. Collection works with all X1 parties/friends/notifications
3. Collection ranking system TBA but confirmed as in
4. Halo 5 arena confirmed by Frankie as equal starts
5. Halo 5 arena is only a small slice of overall multiplayer
6. Six H2A map remakes by Certain Affinity
7. H2A CGI cutscnes by Blur (company that did Halo Wars CGI)
8. First episode of Ridley Scott's Nightfall can be watched day one of Collection release, Nightfall is episodic content and a spiritual successor to Forward Unto Dawn
9. The agent in the reveal is called Agent Locke, at this time, I guess he changed his GT :)
 
By the way Desolation and Tombstone are now IN:

Previously, we’d told you Tombstone and Desolation were not included, but the good news is that those are going to be in the game along with their counterparts, Hang ‘Em High and Derelict. Basically, every single multiplayer map from Halo 1-4 is included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Source: Waypoint News
 

II SHABUTIE II

Neo Member
Frankie said something about Infinity(something about Halo PC) maps not being in? Can anyone confirm that I will or will not be playing on Gephy, Infinity, Ice Fields, Timberland, Danger Canyon and Death Island? I also seen Frank post about Gephy and something else being in? I'm confuse......
 
Frankie said something about Infinity(something about Halo PC) maps not being in? Can anyone confirm that I will or will not be playing on Gephy, Infinity, Ice Fields, Timberland, Danger Canyon and Death Island? I also seen Frank post about Gephy and something else being in? I'm confuse......
Pretty sure they weren't going to be in. After popular demand from the fans, they changed there minds. Same with those two halo 2 maps tombstone and desolation
 

Dub117

Member
Oh could you guys add ODST and Reach too, thanks.
Then they would have to add Wars and change the name. I'm thinking more Halo 2 map remasters and maybe Reach maps for DLC pack. Would buy.

Edit: I should have read this in context. I'll figure out when GAF is talking shit one day.
 
Ghaleon is probably super busy, but what's his opinions about the huge reveals? =)

Also, the H2A SMG's looks and sounds like assets from Halo 3, or close to it.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Ghaleon is probably super busy, but what's his opinions about the huge reveals? =)

Also, the H2A SMG's looks and sounds like assets from Halo 3, or close to it.

The BR and SMG both look a lot like their Halo 3 iterations but they're clearly new models, with much, much higher polycounts.
 

Booshka

Member
The Last Guardian Radio

It's appropriate for H5, and you'll get random clicks from people thinking it's that cancelled Japanese game.
 
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