Is there a skull on the PoA level?
Yes, Starting Room.. Behind the Crates.
Is there a skull on the PoA level?
Based on the fact that I don't think the sandbox is going to be radically altered, we'll have a few new weapons and vehicles for sure like every Halo game, it means we're most likely to have typical "Halo" encounters against intelligent and reactive enemies. With the enemies using the same sandbox, they are most likely to be "Covenant" - well the jackals, grunts and elites we've come to love.
The main enemies can't be Forerunners or machines because of the open and familiar nature of the sandbox. Machines or Forerunners simply wouldn't be using crude Plasma Pistols, or Needlers, piloting Banshees or driving Ghosts or anything like that.
We have the Chief finding himself stranded on this Forerunner installation and we've been promised that the place will feel alive and active compared with past Forerunner ruins that have been rather dead or inert - even with sentinels. So there's definitely going to be a Forerunner or Forerunner AI/sentinel presence or whatever is making the place "active".
The events of Glasslands gives us an idea of the situation the former-Covenant species now finds themselves in. The Covenant war machines is utter broken. The factories are silent. The former Prophets have mysterious retreated from Galactic view. The Engineers have also vanished. The Brutes are in complete disarray, the Grunts are... well, they will probably begin to over-breed and ruin whatever limited food supply system they depend on without the Covenant. The Elites are busy trying to figure out how to plant crops.
Humanity has been pushed to the edge of extinction. Earth's location is no longer a secret. However Humanity is currently in the best position in terms of military and economic infrastructure thanks to the hurried adoption of Covenant and Forerunner technologies. Minor scribbles with lost colonies aside, Humanity is sitting on top of the Galactic foodchain.
Those "lost" colonies have turned their backs on the UNSC, having felt abandoned during their times of greatest need. On the back of the forgotten Insurrection against the UNSC prior to the Covenant war, there's a renewed sense of rebellion from the surviving colonies. Military technology is now an open commodity and a multi-species black market is flourishing trading in tools of planetary destruction thanks to opportunistic species from all sides.
Then we have the Haloes. We have six armed Halo installations any Human could foolishly activate just sitting out there across the galaxy. We have ONI Research Facility Trevelyan, a hyperstructure that dwarves the Earth in size (would make for an interesting place to settle!). Trevelyan would take thousands of years to fully explore.
The Flood is not defeated. We've destroyed the Gravemind at the Ark. The Elites cleaned up Installation 05, but that leaves at least five Halo installations that most likely still have the Flood. And the events of Halo Wars have shown that the Flood may still be present in other locations.
So Master Chief is drifting towards an active Forerunner installation. I think we're gonna fight some Elites again when they make a move to acquire Forerunner technology so as to not fall behind Humanity militarily - we'll see Grunts and Jackals again too along for the ride. The Chief might be alone when he lands and goes off exploring but it won't be too long before he encounters familiar enemies and new foes.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Neo-Covenant (dammit, I have to give them some collective term, so I'm choosing this even if it might be very wrong for obvious reasons) or the Prophets in a desperate power move or even a Neo-Insurrectionist movement end up freeing whatever ancient enemy that is locked away in the Forerunner installation.
We'll have our three way battles with the Neo-Covenant, Neo-Insurrectionists, Sentinels or maybe even the Flood. The UNSC will most likely end up finding the Chief at some point and enter the new struggle before the game concludes.
In the past we've fought alongside ODST and marines and I think we're going to be joined by the Spartan IV's on the battlefield but I doubt they'll ever be as effective as the Chief or former Spartan groups.
There's so many open possibilities and threats to the galaxy still left to resolve so I don't think we're going to be any new super Haloes or Mega-Arks.
I still think we're far too in the dark at this point to make any serious progress in pinpointing the exact journey in we'll be taking in Halo 4 or what exactly we'll be doing along the way. The possibilities are easily mapped out, even considering possible curve balls or surprising twists that 343 will inevitably throw our way.
I've been interested in politics. The history of the UNSC has been the most fascinating for me and also the most tortuous thanks to how little has been explained or explored. If I could pay 343 a million quid to produce a detailed historical textbook book documenting human history between now and the events prior to the Human-Covenant war I would.
I had a twinge of excitement with Reach when the Insurrection was mentioned, only to be left cold that it was an empty and ultimately brief reference.
I ideally I'd like to see this explored and have it take centre stage, if not in the games then at least in the fiction, but politics and human squabbles isn't particularly Halo. We've never gunned down another human being (well we have within the framework of the game, with friendly fire =P) and I don't think that going to happen in Halo 4 or beyond.
The Spartan II project was created to halt a rebellion. Humanity was at war with itself, like we've always been. The Covenant War was a distraction. The Flood was a distraction. This new threat may be a distraction. But soon enough we'll get back to a point where we're going to argue and fight and kill each other again.I think Glasslands has shown this moment may have already come.
Me too. So good. Soooo goooood. I'm loving this game so far. Only two complaints:
1. For the first time in my dozens of playthroughs of CE on Legendary, I had problems with Keyes being a dumb ass on Truth and Reconciliation. Master military strategist my ass.
You mean Forerunners as enemies, right? I don't see it happening. They are dead.
The main enemies can't be Forerunners or machines because of the open and familiar nature of the sandbox. Machines or Forerunners simply wouldn't be using crude Plasma Pistols, or Needlers, piloting Banshees or driving Ghosts or anything like that.
While the talking is going on after you kill the Elites, fall back to the rear of the room. Keyes and the rest of the Marines should follow you, just make sure you stand in front of him after that and you should be all right. Having Grunt Funeral skull on really helps you out here.
apparently you haven't really been following the Halo universe.
I edited your post down to save space, but apparently you haven't really been following the Halo universe.
A) It's stated several times that the Covenant are adaptive, not innovative. And who's technology did they "adapt"? The Forerunners. So they're weapons, vehicles and everything is based on Forerunner tech. That said, I expect the enemies of Halo 4 to bring plenty of new tech to the table.
B) Everything post Halo 3 has been heading in the direction of the Forerunners and Precursors. The Cryptum trilogy is all about the Forerunners. Glasslands features a plot about familiar characters on a Forerunner shield world. The Terminals added to Halo Anniversary are about the Forerunners. There's obviously a reason for all this; To prepare players for Halo 4.
C) The Halo 4 art trailer flashed an image of what looks like to be a new enemy, which is definitely NOT Covenant.
343 is going through too many lengths to build up this arc as a Forerunner/Precursor tale for Halo 4 to be about just more conflict with the Covenant. The Covenant may indeed play a role in Halo 4. After all, those races are still around. But I highly doubt they will be the "main" enemy. We've fought the Covenant in 5 games over 10 years now. Halo 4 is the beginning of something new.
Wat?Arent the elite on the brink of a civilian war one team is against humans the others are working with humans i can see the the team against humans join the whatever enemy halo 4 will bring and be genetically enhanced.
Yep. Everything deals with the Forerunner. People who haven't read the books won't even think about the Covenant as enemies again, because of the Halo 3 ending.I edited your post down to save space, but apparently you haven't really been following the Halo universe.
A) It's stated several times that the Covenant are adaptive, not innovative. And who's technology did they "adapt"? The Forerunners. So they're weapons, vehicles and everything is based on Forerunner tech. That said, I expect the enemies of Halo 4 to bring plenty of new tech to the table.
B) Everything post Halo 3 has been heading in the direction of the Forerunners and Precursors. The Cryptum trilogy is all about the Forerunners. Glasslands features a plot about familiar characters on a Forerunner shield world. The Terminals added to Halo Anniversary are about the Forerunners. There's obviously a reason for all this; To prepare players for Halo 4.
C) The Halo 4 art trailer flashed an image of what looks like to be a new enemy, which is definitely NOT Covenant.
343 is going through too many lengths to build up this arc as a Forerunner/Precursor tale for Halo 4 to be about just more conflict with the Covenant. The Covenant may indeed play a role in Halo 4. After all, those races are still around. But I highly doubt they will be the "main" enemy. We've fought the Covenant in 5 games over 10 years now. Halo 4 is the beginning of something new.
If I hadn't known Slightly Live, I'd have posted the same. Everything deals with the Forerunner.ToyMachine to Slightly Live
I laughed
Arent the elite on the brink of a civilian war? one team is against humans, the others are working with humans. i can see the the team against humans join the whatever enemy. halo 4 will bring and be genetically enhanced.
Fixed for ya.Wat?
Wat?
I think the problem isn't content. Just that you forgot every punctuation mark.A buddy told me that havent read the new novel yet.
You remind me to play Anniversary Classic. I still need the weekly and want to get the Jackpot once.That sweet, sweet 15,000CR bonus.
Yeah, I have not finished Glasslands yet but thats seems plausible.A buddy told me that havent read the new novel yet.
Aren't every Covenant weapon based on Forerunner technology?Why shouldn't we fight against them? Because we saved the galaxy with their tech? Because we thought that they are well-disposed to us? Humanity is misusing the Forerunner tech to subjugate or to annihilate the other races. Don't you think about a possibility that a old Promethean, the highest rank for a Warrior in the Forerunner society, seeing their sacrifice in such a misuse can't be angry about our race?
And if they are using the Covenant as enemies again, then I think 343i miss a big opportunity. Halo 4 is the perfect time to introduce a bunch of new enemy types. Normal players don't know in which condition humanity or the Covenant is.
That's what I am thinking;we still don't know what happens with the Didact in the upcoming two novels, and seeing as it changes perspective to a human, they could be building him to have more darker intentions (depending on perspective I'd imagine). He is not going to be happy with humanity's current position in the universe if it comes to the timeline of where Halo 3 ends, seeing what has come of their installations and how they've been wrecked by the reclaimers.
To a fair sense, we would seem very aggressive to them if he looks at our history and then puts that in retrospective to the time before the first human/forerunner war. But this is only one big suggestion of what the enemy is in Halo 4, the other one could be the pre-cursors and have the Prometheans and the Didact as potential allies to the chief on the forerunner world, perhaps?
One way to support that is that unknown ship being of similar technology of the Halo installation, but 343 GS couldn't identify it, so that can suggest it can be precursor (how they created the forerunners and humanity after all so their technology would be based on theirs?) related. Either way, we know the Didact is very likely to be in Halo 4. [/spoiler]
are the main combat enemies for Halo 4 then I... am done with Halo. It would (superficially at least, if not completely) be the laziest and most boring thing 343I could do. It's such a bad decision I'm going to believe they're not only much smarter than that but much more passionate/creatively powered.Unless it's depressed Engineers piloting bad-ass mecha, if any of the Covenant
They absolutely can not do that, can they?
I agree about Innsurrectionists and fighting the rebellion, perhaps as ODSTs, could make for a great game. As for the larger fiction, there are more groups with their own interest at heart that there are opportunities to do cool things with the innies, but because there is so much to do, especially with whatever the enemies of the new trilogy turn out to be having to be the focus of the fiction.
I edited your post down to save space, but apparently you haven't really been following the Halo universe.
A) It's stated several times that the Covenant are adaptive, not innovative. And who's technology did they "adapt"? The Forerunners. So they're weapons, vehicles and everything is based on Forerunner tech. That said, I expect the enemies of Halo 4 to bring plenty of new tech to the table.
B) Everything post Halo 3 has been heading in the direction of the Forerunners and Precursors. The Cryptum trilogy is all about the Forerunners. Glasslands features a plot about familiar characters on a Forerunner shield world. The Terminals added to Halo Anniversary are about the Forerunners. There's obviously a reason for all this; To prepare players for Halo 4.
C) The Halo 4 art trailer flashed an image of what looks like to be a new enemy, which is definitely NOT Covenant.
343 is going through too many lengths to build up this arc as a Forerunner/Precursor tale for Halo 4 to be about just more conflict with the Covenant. The Covenant may indeed play a role in Halo 4. After all, those races are still around. But I highly doubt they will be the "main" enemy. We've fought the Covenant in 5 games over 10 years now. Halo 4 is the beginning of something new.
What? The Forerunner technology destroyed between the events of Halo and Halo 3 are all weapons of mass destruction or facilities designed to operated in combative situation. The Flood returned and some things got destroyed. It happens. The Haloes and the Ark weren't some creative artistic expressions of passion, they were tools designed to blow shit up and kill.
Promotheans would outclass Master Chief. He'd look lame in comparison and be comparably feeble to the Didact or any Forerunner warrior. I can't see the Master Chief playing second class to any new characters.
The Didact may not be in Halo 4 at all. All we have are very thin theories and possible red herrings. Not to say the Didact won't have a role in setting the stage. I think at this point it's natural for us to assume so.
Having trouble getting the "All According to Plan..." achievement. I've cleared out the first area successfully four times now and the achievement refuses to pop up for me.
Having trouble getting the "All According to Plan..." achievement. I've cleared out the first area successfully four times now and the achievement refuses to pop up for me.
Was trying it on easy, then switch to Heroic. Still didn't get it.I had some problems too yesterday. Are you playing on easy? I was doing it on easy the whole time and I didn't get it but when I switched to normal, I got it after one try. And you have to be certain you kill verything, I always missed some sleeping grunts.
Always check there. Sometimes he doesn't spawn. :/Tip, do it in classic mode.
Have you killed the sleeping grunts at the bottom of the cliff side at the far end?
1) Completely agree that at least in his current state (and likely a few armour changes would not be enough in a rise of power) that the Chief is far less than the Didact, and probably less that the Precursors (given that we know jack about them). That's a very good point that should be raised.Promotheans would outclass Master Chief. He'd look lame in comparison and be comparably feeble to the Didact or any Forerunner warrior. I can't see the Master Chief playing second class to any new characters.
The Didact may not be in Halo 4 at all. All we have are very thin theories and possible red herrings. Not to say the Didact won't have a role in setting the stage. I think at this point it's natural for us to assume so.
We've fought the aliens of the Covenant for five/six games now. Each time with subtle twists and additions and subtractions to the formula but the overal idea of the typical Halo encounter has stayed relatively consistant through out the franchise.
I think it would be easy to throw out the Covenant aliens and start from scratch because then you wouldn't have the pressure of getting something wrong when making the change.
Just look at how the enemies have evolved with the sandbox over the franchise. Elites, Brutes, Skirmishers, weapons, vehicles. Every game changes things up enough for it to be fresh yet familar.
I think there's a strong chance that that we may see a higher ratio of new versus returning elements in terms of enemies this time around because it's the start of a new trilogy but I don't think they will throw the baby out with the bath water.
How far are you staying back? You know you don't need to go onto the ledge pretty much at all. Just stay back around the side and you have l.o.s. for most of the enemies, they'll wander across and back over 10 minutes.Was trying it on easy, then switch to Heroic. Still didn't get it.
Always check there. Sometimes he doesn't spawn. :/
We got Halo 1'd last night.
I nab the banshee off the bridge, escape to the Madrigal egg ledge, and let my buddy spawn. Give him banshee so his achievement pops. I take it back and proceed to fly back down to take care of the wraiths/etc on the bottom of the canyon. He's standing on the Madrigal ledge still.
The wraith somehow gets an awesome shot on me and I explode and immediately respawn on the ledge.
*Checkpoint*
fuuuuuuuuuuuu
Was trying it on easy, then switch to Heroic. Still didn't get it.
Always check there. Sometimes he doesn't spawn. :/
fully halo 1'd there, lol
Worst checkpoint I have had in this release so far is a checkpoint while being gangbanged by a shit load of flood, was alright.
2) Your post earlier implied a variant of Covies would be the main obstacle of 4 =P, so that seems like a bit of a backtrack.
I certainly think we'll fight covies eventually, as a distraction/break at certain points in the trilogy, it would arguably be a waste otherwise.
Wouldn't consider our discussion a derail, but w/e.I'm still saying that we'll be fighting covies as the main enemy type in Halo 4. No backtracking at all, that still where I stand right now.
I'm still saying that we'll be fighting covies as the main enemy type in Halo 4. No backtracking at all, that still where I stand right now.
Couldn't scroll past that fast enough*skull location*
you still don't have this? I'm so sorry.Please use spoiler tags guys, still waiting on my copy..
It didn't? Gonna have to check that in classic mode.So finally finished on Legendary just now and the Long Sword actually appears on the pad before you get up to it for the cutscene. It didn't before.
You don't have Halo honor anymore.Yes! Got the achievement. Did it on normal.
you still don't have this? I'm so sorry.
Why not flying to Seattle for the Halo 4 Launch?Eh, impressions and reviews were shit. Passing until it hits $20.
No but really, videogames with guns are illegal here (venezuela), so it takes like 10-15 days for my US bought games to get here through a courier service that won't make a fuss about it. I usually have a friend or another crazy enough to fly to the US just to pick up a new Halo game on release day and smuggle it in, but not this time because it's a minor release.
edit- Frankie, just in case, I will be needing my halo 4 copy shipped 2 weeks in advance so I can play at the same time as the others, thanks
Why not flying to Seattle for the Halo 4 Launch?
My game is at the local USPS office (as in literally about a fourth of a mile down the road) but I'm not estimated to receive it until the 22nd. I'm thinking a daring, drunken raid on their warehouse may be in order...
Anyone find that the disc still spins for 5 minutes after loading even if you've installed the game?