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Halo Anniversary |OT| It All Comes Full Circle

daedalius

Member
C'mon Ghal, you know you want to set up a stream today. A stream with commentary...

Can't wait for Tuesday/Monday-midnight.
 
FyreWulff said:
They can't stop me from making Invasion on it. But that's still disappointing.
Yup, they added the whole Forge World palette to Timberland but they couldn't add some shield doors to Headlong. Not cool.
 

S1kkZ

Member
Gabotron ES said:
Yup, they added the whole Forge World palette to Timberland but they couldn't add some shield doors to Headlong. Not cool.
just to make it clear: i never used forge before, i only checked the menu if there is something called shield door. maybe they are there, hidden in some sub menu.
 

feel

Member
I would have totally preferred a perfect 1080p 60fps 16:9 port of the original, with the skulls, terminals and etc on top. And original sound effects option, and full original mp over live. Remade graphics (where most of the budget went) do nothing for me, nostalgia is impossible to beat, and having the dual visual engine bring technical issues to the package is not worth it for me.
 

FyreWulff

Member
S1kkZ said:
just to make it clear: i never used forge before, i only checked the menu if there is something called shield door. maybe they are there, hidden in some sub menu.

It'd be under SCENERY in the menu. I think. That's where it usually is on the other maps.


Sometimes SCENERY then GADGETS.
 
S1kkZ said:
just to make it clear: i never used forge before, i only checked the menu if there is something called shield door. maybe they are there, hidden in some sub menu.
I think it's under Gadgets, so there may be hope for that at least.
 
Letters said:
I would have totally preferred a perfect 1080p 60fps 16:9 port of the original, with the skulls, terminals and etc on top. And original sound effects option, and full original mp over live. Remade graphics (where most of the budget went) do nothing for me, nostalgia is impossible to beat, and having the dual visual engine bring technical issues to the package is not worth it for me.
I'll say that I warmed up to the new look of Anniversary, but Halo CE still looks good to me. Having some of the benefits of the PC version (widescreen, 60fps), without the downsides of the PC version (desynced cutscenes, stretched HUD, nVidia camo bug, missing AR effects) would've been nice. And of course, having the original MP in it over Live would've been god damn amazing.

I got most of those frustrations out of my system months ago. So I'm gonna try to not linger on what I would've wanted.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Rickenslacker said:
I'll say that I warmed up to the new look of Anniversary, but Halo CE still looks good to me. Having some of the benefits of the PC version (widescreen, 60fps), without the downsides of the PC version (desynced cutscenes, stretched HUD, nVidia camo bug, missing AR effects) would've been nice. And of course, having the original MP in it over Live would've been god damn amazing.

I got most of those frustrations out of my system months ago. So I'm gonna try to not linger on what I would've wanted.

Yup same here. It would have been nice to see the total package redone and on live but we have to accept that this will never happen. For what we're getting I think it's a good deal. Just sucks that Tuesday is go damn far away.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
PsychoRaven said:
Yup same here. It would have been nice to see the total package redone and on live but we have to accept that this will never happen. For what we're getting I think it's a good deal. Just sucks that Tuesday is go damn far away.


Three sleeps!
 

feel

Member
OuterWorldVoice said:
Three sleeps!
about 12 sleeps for me

yay


but it'll get here in no time because I'm getting my new car from the dealership next week so my mind will be distracted away



edit-

so anyone playing cea already (assuming you have your tv/monitor to Just Scan), what's the veredict on the first person model of the shotgun :)
 
If I already own the original Halo Combat Evolved Soundtrack, is it worth it to pick up the remastered one?

Edit: Here's a comparison of the main title themes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6M_etLcA8

Listening to them back to back, there's a lot of (subtle) changes. Makes me twitch every time I hear one, though.

Amazon has the vinyl for $20 and it doesn't ship til 11/29. So I guess I can play the game, get a feel and then cancel my order.
 
Epyon MX said:
If I already own the original Halo Combat Evolved Soundtrack, is it worth it to pick up the remastered one?
The sample I heard at the end of Sparkast 07 is really awesome. So I think it is. Especially because of the Skywalker Ranch sound.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
daedalius said:
C'mon Ghal, you know you want to set up a stream today. A stream with commentary...

Can't wait for Tuesday/Monday-midnight.
I'm at work (on a vacation day, woo!) right now, but when I get home, I'll have Skyrim in tow. Plan it to spend the day Skyrimming (which sounds sorta kinky), and end the day with a couple of CEA missions.

I went through the first two levels yesterday. Found the first terminal thanks to knowing where it was. Didn't find any skulls or the terminal on the second mission, despite spending the better part of an hour doing nothing but canvas the level for them. The skulls I wasn't expecting to find, those things are tiny. I was suprised I didn't find the second terminal; I spent tons of time scouring all the places I could think of - all Forerunner structures - but came up with nada. It's probably somewhere obvious that I missed.

The new graphics/audio skin makes a bigger difference than I thought it would, it really revitalizes the experience in a way I didn't anticipate. Some areas I'll be playing and think, wow this so gorgeous. How'd it look before? Hit the back button and it's like, all flat surfaces with a total of seven textures. Things like mowing down a row of Grunts with the AR feels even better now with the beefier audio and visual effects. Sparks, smoke, etc. pour out of them, it just adds to the comedy of mowing down the little dudes.

The opening of T&R - the landing area - literally had me say "holy crap" out loud when I toggled back to the original graphics version.

One detail they didn't get, though: you know the effect on the second mission where you can look up at the sun with a tree in front of it, and the sunlight bleeds through the branches? Awesome effect, still one of my favorite little graphical touches in a game. It's gone in Anniversary mode; the sun gets partly blocked, or just disappears, no interaction/flaring effect when looking up at it. Lens flare seems removed too. The combination take a bit of the awe away from that opening landing.

But overall, I'm impressed with Saber/343's work.
 

darthbob

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I'm at work (on a vacation day, woo!) right now, but when I get home, I'll have Skyrim in tow. Plan it to spend the day Skyrimming (which sounds sorta kinky), and end the day with a couple of CEA missions.

I went through the first two levels yesterday. Found the first terminal thanks to knowing where it was. Didn't find any skulls or the terminal on the second mission, despite spending the better part of an hour doing nothing but canvas the level for them. The skulls I wasn't expecting to find, those things are tiny. I was suprised I didn't find the second terminal; I spent tons of time scouring all the places I could think of - all Forerunner structures - but came up with nada. It's probably somewhere obvious that I missed.

The new graphics/audio skin makes a bigger difference than I thought it would, it really revitalizes the experience in a way I didn't anticipate. Some areas I'll be playing and think, wow this so gorgeous. How'd it look before? Hit the back button and it's like, all flat surfaces with a total of seven textures. Things like mowing down a row of Grunts with the AR feels even better now with the beefier audio and visual effects. Sparks, smoke, etc. pour out of them, it just adds to the comedy of mowing down the little dudes.

The opening of T&R - the landing area - literally had me say "holy crap" out loud when I toggled back to the original graphics version.

One detail they didn't get, though: you know the effect on the second mission where you can look up at the sun with a tree in front of it, and the sunlight bleeds through the branches? Awesome effect, still one of my favorite little graphical touches in a game. It's gone in Anniversary mode; the sun gets partly blocked, or just disappears, no interaction/flaring effect when looking up at it. Lens flare seems removed too. The combination take a bit of the awe away from that opening landing.

But overall, I'm impressed with Saber/343's work.

Good writeup, as always.

Unfortunately, some of us already know the location of the Halo (mission) terminal, courtesy of IGN.

I'm surprised you missed it, but no spoilers. ;)
 

S1kkZ

Member
Hypertrooper said:
The sample I heard at the end of Sparkast 07 is really awesome. So I think it is. Especially because of the Skywalker Ranch sound.
the new soundtrack is fucking awesome.
 
FateBreaker said:
Wait, wait, what? Timberland can be forged?
Timberland has the whole ForgeWorld-Palette(Every object that FW has), If I understand that right. Nothing more. More specifically every map can be forged.
 
Hypertrooper said:
Timberland has the whole ForgeWorld-Palette(Every object that FW has), If I understand that right. Nothing more. More specifically every map can be forged.
Nice.

Good god, I love how Headlong looked, but Joel was incredibly annoying during the flythrough. I felt bad for Jack.
 
Hypertrooper said:
Timberland has the whole ForgeWorld-Palette(Every object that FW has), If I understand that right. Nothing more. More specifically every map can be forged.

Awesome, now we need some pro forge people to port the good Warlock/Lockout/The Pit variants for those without Reach.
 
Letters said:
I would have totally preferred a perfect 1080p 60fps 16:9 port of the original, with the skulls, terminals and etc on top. And original sound effects option, and full original mp over live. Remade graphics (where most of the budget went) do nothing for me, nostalgia is impossible to beat, and having the dual visual engine bring technical issues to the package is not worth it for me.

While I definitely think that would have been ideal, MS/343i weren't willing to sink that much money into a budget remake. From my understanding MP itself would have been basically built from the ground up if they wanted to recreate CE's MP in any other engine since it wasn't designed with networked play in mind.
 

Z_Y

Member
Captain Blood said:
Is everyone's newegg preorder still showing "On Hold" status or am I going to have to start cracking some skulls?


Yea...mine too.

"On Hold: Once we receive your pre-ordered item, we will process your order."

I think we will be ok.
 

LordAlu

Member
Looking forward to this!

Also, great OP. I much prefer good, practical OPs with minimal images rather than huge all encompassing image fests!
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
I'll get it used. Already own 3 copies of the original, not gonna pay for it again.

Great OT Ghaleon.

Awaiting 343's attempt at Halo 4. Hopefully minus armorlock.
 
Ad_oiuzCQAA41Qz.jpg


OOooh It looks like we're getting a slick cardboard slip for the game case. I loved the one that Red Dead came in.
 
Just found this thread (fascinated with iOS gaming lately). It reminded me to pre-order a couple of copies so my son and I can play through the game together, each on our own 360.

Fantastic OT! Another excellent homage to Halo by Ghaleon.
 
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