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[REV 09]

The biggest problem with Reach for me was the maps.

Forge is to blame for that. At least give people color palettes or textures to keep the Forge maps visually interesting...they all look so drab.

 

[BootlegSnackz]

I guess xbox connect is still up, anyone want to start a thread about playing Halo CE multiplayer on there? I wish it was over live, but if we could start a community we could still just play it on there.

The number of people is the only problem...

 

[Prine]

I am thoroughly confused by this.

You can play old skool Halo mode. Or upgrade to new skool by pressing pause and selecting the option.

New skool implies a leap in graphical fidelity, without influencing the gameplay in anyway. Crazy football throw grenades, warthog physics remain as they should from Halo CE.

 

[op_ivy]

Question: since the MP maps are all Reach, will the warthog still handle like reach? Will it handle like reach in the campaign as well? I saw earlier you said the reach engine purely handled graphics, but i'm just asking to be 100% sure.

Thanks for dropping some answers out there for us. Can't wait to get back into Halo again.

halo ce (the campaign) IS the original game with a few new easter eggs (terminals). it still has the same physics behind everything (yes, warthog jumps)

 

[Stinkles]

This is fantastic. I was afraid that the Halo remake would have been created on a different engine. Although I enjoy them, none of the other Halo games "feel" like Halo 1, mostly due to that game's engine.

I was so, so disappointed when I found out that Halo 2 had switched to Havok physics. Felt like a completely different game.

So far, the main gameplay difference is in the different silhouettes when you shoot - think about the difference in the Elite models, add some grass shaders that didn't used to be on a last-gen hill - you get the idea.

And some stuff I talk about in the Sparkcast.

 

[Neuromancer]

Well, I should clarify I meant the multiplayer playlist. I used to gleefully launch Warthogs on Death Island, Blood Gulch and Danger Canyon.

Oh I see

Someone should remake this, if the physics are exactly the same for single player:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggKIKtlmbOE

 

[NullPointer]

You can play old skool Halo mode. Or upgrade to new skool by pressing pause and selecting the option.

New skool implies a leap in graphical fidelity, without influencing the gameplay in anyway. Crazy football throw grenades, warthog physics remain as they should from Halo CE.

OK, I guess I was still lost in believing that it was using the Reach engine. So how well is this thing going to run?

I don't mind an old school engine if the performance is top notch and looks good on my HDTV.

 

[blamite]

A monitor, most likely 343 Guilty Spark, can be seen in the middle of the logo, where the Marathon logo used to be.

Makes sense, didn't bungie recently trademark the logo? Which is the same reason it wasn't on Keyes's nametag in Reach. The monitor looks strange there though. A little too detailed. I would probably have preferred a blank space, honestly.

It's really the smallest of details, though. Nothing I'm concerned about.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Question: since the MP maps are all Reach, will the warthog still handle like reach? Will it handle like reach in the campaign as well? I saw earlier you said the reach engine purely handled graphics, but i'm just asking to be 100% sure.

Thanks for dropping some answers out there for us. Can't wait to get back into Halo again.

In MP, it'll be largely the same as Reach. There may be classic playlists but the changes there won't be as big e.g. vehicle physics in my opinion.

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Just hearing OuterWorldVoice clarify these points is enough to re-ignite my excitement.

 

[erpg]

Oh I see

Someone should remake this, if the physics are exactly the same for single player:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggKIKtlmbOE

Haha, I remember watching the shit out of that video years back. This remake makes me feel good.

 

[dmg04]

In MP, it'll be largely the same as Reach. There may be classic playlists but the changes there won't be as big e.g. vehicle physics in my opinion.

Damn. That's one of the things that bugs me about Reach. Ah well. I'll still give it a go.

 

[Sibylus]

HAS TO BE boarding action. jet packing across the gap in space =)

Oh man, oh god, OH MAN, OH GOD!

 

[Mr Vociferous]

Question: since the MP maps are all Reach, will the warthog still handle like reach? Will it handle like reach in the campaign as well? I saw earlier you said the reach engine purely handled graphics, but i'm just asking to be 100% sure.

Thanks for dropping some answers out there for us. Can't wait to get back into Halo again.

Gameplay and mechanics in campaign play just like you remember Halo 1 playing. It's the same engine, but prettied up for folks who want to try something different or may not have played the original and want to play it with visuals that are more contemporary. I've been finding myself playing in both modes (new and orginal) equally and I'm firmly entrenched in the diehard section of the Halo 1 fan spectrum.

 

[dmg04]

Oh man, oh god, OH MAN, OH GOD!

I hope they don't try to pull any of that 0g space stuff if they do remake boarding action.

Lol, i seem to be a debbie downer on this page. my bad guys

 

[erpg]

I hope they don't try to pull any of that 0g space bullshit if they do remake boarding action

Actually, adding 0G gap between the ships so you can sprint jump across would be pretty sweet. Miss the jump and hit something (wall, ding the floor with your knees), you're screwed.

 

[kayos90]

Gameplay and mechanics in campaign play just like you remember Halo 1 playing. It's the same engine, but prettied up for folks who want to try something different or may not have played the original and want to play it with visuals that are more contemporary. I've been finding myself playing in both modes (new and orginal) equally and I'm firmly entrenched in the diehard section of the Halo 1 fan spectrum.

Grenade explosions in the beginning of 343 Guilty Spark here I come!!!

 

[dmg04]

Actually, adding 0G gap between the ships so you can sprint jump across would be pretty sweet. Miss the jump and hit something, you're screwed.

If they kept it to the gap, it'd be pretty cool. It would suck if they had it apply to the walkways on either side, though. It would make it awkward to jump at any time. lol

 

[Sibylus]

There's been some conflicting talk about it, but there'll be 2 player local coop, correct?

 

[tc farks]

So with the issues of providing Halo CE MP does that mean I should squash any hope I have of ever seeing Halo 2 MP on XBLA?

 

[The Antitype]

Wait, is this a joke? Are you saying it's only a remake of the CE campaign and it the multiplayer maps are for Halo Reach?

Halo 1 MP is still the best in the series.

I disagree completely, having sunk hundreds of hours into EVERY Halo.

 

[TKRunningRiot]

Ok, so the multiplayer component will be Reach-style in remade classic maps. Is this only going to be accessible through Halo:CE Anniversary? Will it be like ODST where they will include a disc for Reach multiplayer with the Halo:CEA content?

I think it would be odd to have to switch from Reach to Halo: CEA if I want to play those maps.

 

[Booshka]

Who are these players that 3 shot with the pistol all the time, it doesn't happen all too often in Halo CE. I guess if you are walking in a straight line on Blood Gulch, then you will get 3-shotted every so often, but on most of Halo CE's maps, a 3-shot is pretty rare.

Hell I can go watch MLG Pro's Halo CE gameplay and there will maybe be a few 3 shots every game, and they are challenging and rewarding to pull off. Usually it takes about 5-7 Pistol shots to kill someone, you're not hitting every shot. Good players don't get 3-shotted very often, their movement and skill prevents it from happening on a consistent basis.

I have certainly destroyed a lot of my friends with the Pistol in Halo CE at LANs, especially on big maps like Blood Gulch and Sidewinder. A lot of them bitched at me, but when I told them to use the Pistol, they were happier Halo players. Every Halo player can be competent with the Pistol, and only the great ones that put in a lot of time, will be the better than them, that's called a Skill Gap, and it is good for gaming.

I understand this netcode argument, how the Pistol, with proper shot registration would probably dominate even more than it does on LAN, but I would still love to play that game. As long as the other weapons can still do their jobs, Plasma Rifle stun and melt shields, shotgun one hit kill up close with good damage at medium range, AR for close range and melee/grenade combos. Along with the Power Weapons (Rockets, Sniper) still being power weapons. I see no problem with the Pistol being the primary and most used weapon, it is the most skill intensive and versatile weapon, it should be the most used.

Every time I see a video of Frankie about Halo CE online, it is always the same message of "3-shot Pistol domination would break Halo online." When really, a Pistol 3-shot in Halo CE is one of the most challenging and skill based kills you can get in a Console FPS.

Wake me up when John Howard is Lead Design on another Console FPS.

 

[BootlegSnackz]

So with the issues of providing Halo CE MP does that mean I should squash any hope I have of ever seeing Halo 2 MP on XBLA?

Dude HALO 4 MAP PACK!! LOLOMGWTFBBQ

We wouldn't want to fragment the fanbase now would we.
Noob combo is a superweapon it wouldn't be the same as you remembered it....

We all know superweapons aren't available to every single player.

 

[GhaleonEB]

To clarify:

Campaign runs on and in the original Halo CE engine. Physics, gameplay, everything are all intact. The "second engine" running on top of it is a graphics layer. No gameplay, or even glitches, have been altered deliberately. You can, at any time, press the Back button (appropriately enough) and switch, in real time (with a tiny pause) to the original appearance, to check for yourself. It's a pure nostalgia play, but I find myself doing it a lot. For fun.

This is a very good solution, and one I think no one saw coming. It's quite brilliant, really. Kudos.

I think there are elements of Halo 1's campaign that have not aged well - mostly around encounter triggers used to hide the limited number of enemies on screen at one time. Halo 1 employed lots of smoke and mirrors that the later games dispensed with by setting up entire encounters all at once. While the graphics are identical, have the encounters and their triggers been also preserved identically?

I - and a lot of Halo die hards - have exact triggers memorized. Step on this line, and the doors behind me open with reinforcements. That sort of thing. I'm guessing, given how incredibly faithful this edition of the game is, encounters were not touched. But I'm hoping you can say.

(I'd like them touched, man handled in fact, but I'll be happy either way.)

 

[The Librarian]

This is a very good solution, and one I think no one saw coming. It's quite brilliant, really. Kudos.

I think there are elements of Halo 1's campaign that have not aged well - mostly around encounter triggers used to hide the limited number of enemies on screen at one time. Halo 1 employed lots of smoke and mirrors that the later games dispensed with by setting up entire encounters all at once. While the graphics are identical, have the encounters and their triggers been also preserved identically?

I - and a lot of Halo die hards - have exact triggers memorized. Step on this line, and the doors behind me open with reinforcements. That sort of thing. I'm guessing, given how incredibly faithful this edition of the game is, encounters were not touched. But I'm hoping you can say.

(I'd like them touched, man handled in fact, but I'll be happy either way.)

I wonder how many times you need to play the campaign before you memorize triggers. I've played it about a dozen times, and I can't even begin to remember any. Lol.

 

[Booshka]

I wonder how many times you need to play the campaign before you memorize triggers. I've played it about a dozen times, and I can't even begin to remember any. Lol.

It was easier to abuse, therefore memorize in co-op, so if you played mostly single player, you probably don't remember them as well. In co-op though, you could learn and abuse them frequently. Which led to quicker memorization.

 

[rar]

Who are these players that 3 shot with the pistol all the time, it doesn't happen all too often in Halo CE. I guess if you are walking in a straight line on Blood Gulch, then you will get 3-shotted every so often, but on most of Halo CE's maps, a 3-shot is pretty rare.

Hell I can go watch MLG Pro's Halo CE gameplay and there will maybe be a few 3 shots every game, and they are challenging and rewarding to pull off. Usually it takes about 5-7 Pistol shots to kill someone, you're not hitting every shot. Good players don't get 3-shotted very often, their movement and skill prevents it from happening on a consistent basis.

I have certainly destroyed a lot of my friends with the Pistol in Halo CE at LANs, especially on big maps like Blood Gulch and Sidewinder. A lot of them bitched at me, but when I told them to use the Pistol, they were happier Halo players. Every Halo player can be competent with the Pistol, and only the great ones that put in a lot of time, will be the better than them, that's called a Skill Gap, and it is good for gaming.

I understand this netcode argument, how the Pistol, with proper shot registration would probably dominate even more than it does on LAN, but I would still love to play that game. As long as the other weapons can still do their jobs, Plasma Rifle stun and melt shields, shotgun one hit kill up close with good damage at medium range, AR for close range and melee/grenade combos. Along with the Power Weapons (Rockets, Sniper) still being power weapons. I see no problem with the Pistol being the primary and most used weapon, it is the most skill intensive and versatile weapon, it should be the most used.

Every time I see a video of Frankie about Halo CE online, it is always the same message of "3-shot Pistol domination would break Halo online." When really, a Pistol 3-shot in Halo CE is one of the most challenging and skill based kills you can get in a Console FPS.

Wake me up when John Howard is Lead Design on another Console FPS.

it also does alot balance the game, since you aren't helpless to players with power weapons after spawning. also i still have no idea how clueless frankie and luke smith were ever hired by bungie

 

[GhaleonEB]

I wonder how many times you need to play the campaign before you memorize triggers. I've played it about a dozen times, and I can't even begin to remember any. Lol.

Over 40 times on Legendary, solo, over the span of 3 years or so.

Halo 3 in particular really shifted the way encounters play out in the series. Think about the ending of the first mission, approaching the dam, where you have this huge encounter all laid out in front of you and you can pick and choose your way through it. There's over 20 enemies out there to work through. Halo 1 sets that kind of thing up by triggering the enemies halfway across the area once you've reached that point. Encounter design took a HUGE step up from Halo 3 onward, via the generational leap.

That's why Halo 1 feels dated to me. Not graphics, or gameplay, but in how the encounters were kept small via many clever ways to hide their small size. And once you've played it often enough, you can spot them easily.

 

[thatbox]

Just because you had good reasons not to do proper CE MP doesn't mean that not doing proper CE MP was the right decision. People who want to play Reach MP are already playing Reach, and doing it this way just makes it seem like a cash grab for old maps that should have been in the recent games to start with.

It boggles my mind that you can't find a way to handle it ten years later, especially since the core demographic target for this game has already demonstrated themselves to be willing to put up with ridiculous XBC/XLink Kai shenanigans. At the very least you should be including CE MP LAN support.

 

[Booshka]

it also does alot balance the game, since you aren't helpless to players with power weapons after spawning. also i still have no idea how clueless frankie and luke smith were ever hired by bungie

please don't go that far, don't attack their careers dude.

At the very least you should be including CE MP LAN support.

BTW, I would probably buy this game if it had Halo CE MP on LAN. This would make it easier to arrange LANs with 360's and 360 controllers without the performance issues that the Original AND the Games on Demand version has. Please consider this at the very least. I think 360's have a Ping lockout on LAN anyway, I can't use XBC/Xlink Kai on 360 games if the ping is over 30.

 

[nephilimdj]

So with the issues of providing Halo CE MP does that mean I should squash any hope I have of ever seeing Halo 2 MP on XBLA?

Looks like there going to do a Mario Kart, purposely hold old maps back with each new game.

 

[Kibbles]

OWV comes in with epic win.

[edit] Although if there isn't any way to take out weapon bloom for the MP classic stuff that will suck. Good to hear it's still under development though, fix that Chief...


What happened to Sai-Kun?

 

[Dark Octave]

I expected a bigger jump in graphics for some reason. Not even trying to troll, but at 0:30 when he said "that was 10 years ago...this is now" I honestly had no idea they had switched from the old Halo, to the new Halo until they showed the Warthog driving in the grass at 0:40, which is the image shown in the OP.

 

[dmg04]

Random Realization: If this is the H1 engine, does this mean we can't jack vehicles, drive wraiths, or assassinate [3rd person] in campaign?

I remember in Assault on the Control Room, i'd always rush the pair of banshees on the snow bridge rather than taking the second elevator to the base of the control room. It would be awesome to miss the opportunity to kill the pilot, yet jump off the bridge and jack the banshee mid flight. lol.

 

[Trasher]

Random Realization: If this is the H1 engine, does this mean we can't jack vehicles, drive wraiths, or assassinate [3rd person] in campaign?

I remember in Assault on the Control Room, i'd always rush the pair of banshees on the snow bridge rather than taking the second elevator to the base of the control room. It would be awesome to miss the opportunity to kill the pilot, yet jump off the bridge and jack the banshee mid flight. lol.

lol nm

I guess it just uses some Reach assets?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Random Realization: If this is the H1 engine, does this mean we can't jack vehicles, drive wraiths, or assassinate [3rd person] in campaign?

It sounds like the gameplay is identical, which is understandable, but also kind of bums me. I'm hoping there's a classic and remake mode for that as well. Vehicle boarding, suicide Grunts, punturing methane tanks in Reach, etc. all add so much to the game.

 

[JohnOfMars]

I really want there to be a Theatre mode. Really, really, really badly want it. Halo 1 campaign is so epic.

First up, if we get Theatre mode, is duplicating this shot:

(click for high(er) res)

 

[Randolph Freelander]

If they're leaving the meat of the game alone...


AWESOME.


Keep the "evolution" of the series out of the best game in it.

Halo: CE, long live the king.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

Funky helmet potentially fixed before launch? You've got my $40.

Now bring on Halo 2 so I can get rid of my original discs.

 

[The Librarian]

I expected a bigger jump in graphics for some reason. Not even trying to troll, but at 0:30 when he said "that was 10 years ago...this is now" I honestly had no idea they had switched from the old Halo, to the new Halo until they showed the Warthog driving in the grass at 0:40, which is the image shown in the OP.

"Impossible. Check your source."

 

[Kibbles]

Does the original Halo: CE mode now render in 720p, or is it still being upscaled?
[edit] Actually, iirc it was still 4:3 when upscaled playing the original XBox version. This isn't.

 

[feel]

To clarify:

Campaign runs on and in the original Halo CE engine. Physics, gameplay, everything are all intact. The "second engine" running on top of it is a graphics layer. No gameplay, or even glitches, have been altered deliberately. You can, at any time, press the Back button (appropriately enough) and switch, in real time (with a tiny pause) to the original appearance, to check for yourself. It's a pure nostalgia play, but I find myself doing it a lot. For fun.

Ok, officially very excited for this now. The feel not being there was one of my worries. Should be fun to play my favorite game ever with a different, more current look. (but please fix Master Chief, WHAT THE HELL!! Do you need some screengrabs of Halo CE cutscenes for reference on his look? I have a few on my pc I can send you )

And huge congrats on the reveals, it must feel so good for you finally being able to talk about all this, I'm so happy for you and the rest of the 343gaf crew.

 

[Stinkles]

it also does alot balance the game, since you aren't helpless to players with power weapons after spawning. also i still have no idea how clueless frankie and luke smith were ever hired by bungie

Rude!

 

[GavinGT]

.

 

[bengraven]

Yes it does, but in the Reach engine. 7 maps, one of them Firefight.

Thank you for this.

When they said "MP will be seperate and be in Reach" I was so damn confused. I thought they were saying there would just be a Reach mappack for the levels.

 

[GavinGT]

The new Competitive MP maps will appear in a range of matchmaking options, but we also intend to do "classic" stuff with the matchmaking to approximate the original feel of the maps.

Are we talking a separate classic playlist or just a gametype that can be voted on?

 

[Stinkles]

Are we talking a separate classic playlist or just a gametype that can be voted on?

You shouldn't have edited because many of your issues are being taken care of. There will be more to say about classic MP tweaks later and you will be a bit happier.

 

[Trasher]

You shouldn't have edited because many of your issues are being taken care of. There will be more to say about classic MP tweaks later and you will be a bit happie.

Dammit, Frank. You are making me think you are gonna fix Reach mp!

 

[Havok]

You shouldn't have edited because many of your issues are being taken care of. There will be more to say about classic MP tweaks later and you will be a bit happier.

Will there be more to say about regular MP tweaks as well? I'd love to see some of the deeper issues addressed, although I'm not sure how much can be done at this point.