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Halo |OT 24| In Before the Locke

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Cool. I can make a new thread for it in the off-topic community board if other folks are interested. I'm going on a date in a minute tho (WISH ME LUCK) so I'll do it later.

Dune Book Club: 50th Anniversary Edition |OT| Hosted by HaloGaf

And good luck on your date!
 

Obscured

Member
I'm still not convinced that ARs promote map movement any more than any other weapon.

I get how it is supposed to, it feels to me a bit like no radar. It seems to restrict movement when you think about just yourself because you feel like you have no eyes, till you change your perspective and remember you have eyes and everyone feels that restriction and suddenly you are free.

AR starts are the same in that you have an opportunity to see enemies moving around without them pinging you, but it only works in the initial push if nobody picked up anything better (which would never ever happen)

Based on the H5 beta though I think that AR/magnum starts are going to be fine. (I also doubt it is going to be hard to find other preferable weapons on map)

BREAKING NEWS: Halo 5 to introduce "chartreuse hexagon"


replace the Mantis with a sandtrout suit pls 343

Edit : We should have a HaloGAF book club and read Dune. I'm 60% serious.

For all the classic sci-fi I've read somehow Dune has been passed by and I've always meant to read it, so I'm 60% interested in that idea.
 

singhr1

Member
Just finished Alien: Isolation after postponing it for so long. I found it kinda amusing that its ending is the same as Halo 4's.

It's a QTE leaving you stranded in space till you're rescued
 
no interest

Okay, well, I've got this weapon called the Phasebuster. Single-shot, uses ADS instead of a conventional scope, is one of four "smart power weapons." Out of scope (standard fire) it launches "grenades" that bounce around and explode much like the Grenade Launcher or Halo 2 Brute Shot. If you charge it unscoped, it'll eliminate bullet drop and allow it to ricochet up to three times before exploding. It also becomes more powerful on each rebound, encouraging players to charge a shot at the floor to bank it into an enemy's face if they're on level ground.

ADS (alt-fire) instead works sort of like the Pro Pipe: RT to fire a projectile as strong as the uncharged standard-fire, while charging fires a rocket-like explosive if it hits a "dumb" surface like a floor or wall, or fires a remote sticky mine similar to the Sticky Detonator if you hit a "smart" target like a biped or vehicle, which you detonate by pressing RT.

Now, what I was wondering was if it'd be too confusing for the alt-fire (scoped) projectiles to be hitscan. In other words, uncharged alt-fire fires an explosive round, while charged alt-fire could instantly plop a remote mine on a distant player (though it'd just blow up in-air if you tried hitting a target that was too far away). It'd mean you'd have to be a bit more careful aiming like with the Spartan Laser, but didn't know if the projectile / hitscan switch-up would be too complex.
 

Captain Friendo

Neo Member
While we are at it.
Turning the flood into a powder and having the humans and forerunners fight a war was worse than anything they did with Halsey.
In ODST/Reach Engineers had the same sacks growing on them as the ones growing on high charity in 3, only purple. I always had a theory before the novels that the flood came out of an unexpected mutation, and seeing as the forerunners created engineers, they'd accidentally created the flood as well.
 

Ramirez

Member
One minute you agree that AR starts turn to crap against decent players, the next you're saying the Pistol was your ToD until week 3. Which is it, unless I'm mistaken and you never complained about AR starts in the beta?

I don't think I complained about ARs in the beta, mostly because I really enjoyed using the pistol. I don't like ARs, but the H5 version wasn't completely useless I guess. I've always held the idea that once you reach a certain rank, the game should change its starting weapons, but I don't know if that's possible.
 
In ODST/Reach Engineers had the same sacks growing on them as the ones growing on high charity in 3, only purple. I always had a theory before the novels that the flood came out of an unexpected mutation, and seeing as the forerunners created engineers, they'd accidentally created the flood as well.

The original concept for the Flood were that they were a Forerunner superweapon gone wrong, hence so many research facilities dedicated to them and the 343GS facility being mistaken for a weapons cache.
 

Captain Friendo

Neo Member
The original concept for the Flood were that they were a Forerunner superweapon gone wrong, hence so many research facilities dedicated to them and the 343GS facility being mistaken for a weapons cache.
Interesting stuff, I think that would have been a bit more poignant than what we've got, although maybe after we see more of the precursors that'll change.
 

Akai__

Member
Spartan Strike is currently 2.99$/€ on iOS.

Thought I'd let people know, because it's better than Spartan Assault and actually fun.
 
Info dump incoming... My apologies

In ODST/Reach Engineers had the same sacks growing on them as the ones growing on high charity in 3, only purple. I always had a theory before the novels that the flood came out of an unexpected mutation, and seeing as the forerunners created engineers, they'd accidentally created the flood as well.

The original concept for the Flood were that they were a Forerunner superweapon gone wrong, hence so many research facilities dedicated to them and the 343GS facility being mistaken for a weapons cache.

Interesting stuff, I think that would have been a bit more poignant than what we've got, although maybe after we see more of the precursors that'll change.

Citation needed. They've been referred to as being extragalactic in origin from the start.

The Flood weren't The Flood yet, when they were discovered by ancient humanity out on the fringes of the Galaxy.

The Forerunners and the Precursors had gone to war, essentially- the Forerunners rose up against their creators and came at them with such force and fervor that the Precursors didn't know what to do, as they were a race of creation and benevolence, not destruction and hate.

The war between them began because the Precursors had gifted ancient humans as the true heirs of the Mantle, and ultimately, the Domain, a prize that the Forerunner heirarchs had assumed/planned was to be theirs (they already had their own forked variant of the Domain). Upon finding out that humans were to be given this, the Forerunners rose up and slaughtered the Precursors in a full scale assault.

Most of the Precursors died. Some fled beyond the galaxy, but the Forerunners chased them there as well and slaughtered them there also. Some went into hiding and hibernation (and still are!). The rest, as the war began to unfold and then come to a close, used advanced sciences to reduce a number of themselves into a reversely-evolved form, essentially, a sort of spore/dust, that was to be revived later, but that ended up backfiring.

Halo: Silentium, pg173-175
The one the Didact questioned on Charum Hakkor arrived on the margins of our galaxy nine million years before. That one was discovered by humans decades before the end of the war.

We are the same.

You who are called Catalog... Amusing to see that we have this in common, that we can share our memories through a widespread network.

There is only one truth. That which was done will be done again. For we cannot cease from creating, but the end of all our creation will be to look into a reflection and see ourselves for the first time.

The pain we have brought on ourselves.
The pain you caused us.

For we are the same. All remember the defiance and destruction. We announced to your kind long ago that you were not the ones chosen to receive the Mantle, the blessing of rule and protection of life and change that thinks. Thst blessing was to be given to others- to those you now call human.

You could not accept our judgement, could not bear up under your inferiority, so you reached out and did what we never expected from those we gave design and life and the change that is thought.

You drove us from our galaxy, our field of labor. You chased us across the middle distance to another home, and destroyed that home, did all that you could to destroy every one of us.

A few were spared. Some adopted new strategies for survival; they went dormant. Others became dust that could regenerate our past forms; time rendered this dust defective. It brought only disease and misery; but that was good, we saw the misery and found it good.

Our urge to create is immutable; we must create. But the beings we create shall never again reach out in strength against us. All that is created will suffer. All will be born in suffering, endless grayness shall be their lot. All creation will tailor to failure and pain, that never again shall the offspring of the eternal Fount rise up against their creators.

Listen to the silence. Ten million years of deep silence. And now, whimpers and cries; not of birth. That is what we bring: a great crushing weight to press down youth and hope.

No more will.
No more freedom.

Nothing new but agonizing death and never good shall come of it.

We are the last of those who gave you breath and form, millions of years ago. We are the last of those your kind defied and ruthlessly destroyed.

We are the last Precursors.
And now we are
legion.

When ancient humans discovered the derelict vessels that contained these canisters of dust, they didnt know what they were or who left them. And so they did what humans are so great at doing... Experimentation. They began to test the dust on fauna native to their worlds, and it seemed to have favorable effects on a type of pet they had. The use of this dust on these animals became mainstream, and quite popular. However... Over time... Something happened. Mutation. Sickness. Degeneration and regeneration into something else. The pets began to grow odd tentacles and other parts. They became violent. They began to infect other life forms that they came into contact with. And just like any airborne epidemic, the Flood began to spread across many worlds at horrifying speeds.

Ancient Humanity then began to do the unthinkable: they began to glass these worlds containing the infection, in order to cut it off before it could spread further. But they were too late. The Flood was beyond their reach, and had already began to infect Forerunner worlds. The head of humanity's space military, the Lord of Admirals, ordered the glassing to continue, despite the death of millions of their own people and Forerunners as well.

This is what began the Human Forerunner War, but the Didact and Master Builder weren't aware of why humanity was on this campaign. They weren't aware of the Flood spore they were trying to destroy...and this discovery, by the Librarian, wouldn't be found until much later in the war. This discovery was what would eventually lead to the creation of the Halo rings.

The Halo rings would then be used to snuff out the Flood... And ultimately wiped out the Forerunners and all other life as well. The UrDidact was spared because he had been arrested into a Cryptum on Requiem, by the Librarian, so that he could not stop the firing of the Halos. The IsoDidact and a small handful of Forerunners survived by leaving the Milky Way entirely before the Halo were fired.

Now I'm getting off topic lol.

To summarize:

The Flood is a dark mirror of their former Precursor shell. They still create. They still unify. But it is a means to their own end... To snuff out all Sentient life and fold it into itself until there is nothing left but the Flood. The Forerunners failed at achieving the Mantle. The Flood is under the assumption that Humanity will fail as well. The Flood, ultimately, is an evolutionary endgame.

And they are not so easily destroyed...

A5Q2Kbp.jpg
 

Blueblur1

Member
FYI in the gif I posted is that the player's own shields and health are unaffected by damaging being done to the Ghost. Seems like vehicle health is separate from player health.
 

dwells

Member
Nah, I love Halo 3 but the Halo 3 Magnum was the worst. H2 Magnum gave a reason to duel wield if you didn't have a BR at least.
I still can't get over the fact that they nerfed an already underpowered gun with the 1.1 update. "Whoa, there's a dual wield combo or two that isn't completely and utterly useless?!? Better nerf it!"
 
Jumped on for some quick solo action MCC tonight and matchmaking was on point.

1. Slayer - all found 2mins, good connection H2 no quitters
2. Slayer - 6 found 1 min, all found 2mins - great connection H2, 2 quitters only because of last minute and they were getting thrashed
3. Slayer - all found 1 min H3, smooth as butter connection, no quitters

Between that and last week in a decent size couple of parties Aussie MCC has take huge strides to being a solid experience. Last week was ranked playlists as well, all quick in finding games.
 
Re: the flood


343 really dropped the ball with the origin of the flood. If you really wanted to keep with the Biblical imagery of the trilogy and introduce a big bad forerunner guy in Halo 4 they could've done something different. They could've had the forerunners have a civil war and have a bad forerunner create the flood. Perhaps this forerunner could have been obsessed with his ability to create and had a disagreement with existing leadership over how to govern. While not theologically accurate it would've somewhat been a parallel to the idea of satan falling from heaven. They could've looked to the Inferno and Paradise Lost to characterize this figure. Could have given a name Such as the Didactic or something. If you want to make him come back that would be cool too. Maybe he is on some prison world called Requim. Perhaps the destruction of the ark activates some fail safe and forerunner prisons open. Meanwhile maybe the Arbiter is attempting to restore political order with the elites and maybe the covenant is still in a state of civil war. Who knows. Maybe there are some guardians or something that could help chief defeat this didact. Maybe the didact has a bunch of cool species imprisoned with him that fight for him. I don't know...

Bungie was never afraid to draw inspiration from religious and classical texts and I think that is what made their stories all the more compelling.
 

Trey

Member
The Flood being the vengeful creation of the Precursors is pretty faithful to Halo's biblical inspirations.

Forerunners sinned and therefore were nigh destroyed by their wrathful Gods, but at the same time had a few among them inherit the duty of the mantle and work toward preserving biodiversity.
 
Re: the flood


343 really dropped the ball with the origin of the flood. If you really wanted to keep with the Biblical imagery of the trilogy and introduce a big bad forerunner guy in Halo 4 they could've done something different. They could've had the forerunners have a civil war and have a bad forerunner create the flood. Perhaps this forerunner could have been obsessed with his ability to create and had a disagreement with existing leadership over how to govern. While not theologically accurate it would've somewhat been a parallel to the idea of satan falling from heaven. They could've looked to the Inferno and Paradise Lost to characterize this figure. Could have given a name Such as the Didactic or something. If you want to make him come back that would be cool too. Maybe he is on some prison world called Requim. Perhaps the destruction of the ark activates some fail safe and forerunner prisons open. Meanwhile maybe the Arbiter is attempting to restore political order with the elites and maybe the covenant is still in a state of civil war. Who knows. Maybe there are some guardians or something that could help chief defeat this didact. Maybe the didact has a bunch of cool species imprisoned with him that fight for him. I don't know...

Bungie was never afraid to draw inspiration from religious and classical texts and I think that is what made their stories all the more compelling.

They still are drawing from classical writings.

John 117.
Jameson Locke.

John Locke.

John Locke is known for his philosophy on the epistemological questions of the foundations of knowledge. A lot of what makes the core of Halo lore is built off this principal of knowledge and the foundations of it.

From Wikipedia:

Tabula rasa: an epistemological idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Proponents of tabula rasa generally disagree with the doctrine of Innatism which holds that the mind is born already* in possession of certain knowledge.​

*a possible inspiration for the Geas and the purposes of the Composers.

And there's still a lot of Biblical references, but the Bungie games weren't narrowed to that and only that. Not sure what you're getting, there.
 

jem0208

Member
Re: the flood


343 really dropped the ball with the origin of the flood. If you really wanted to keep with the Biblical imagery of the trilogy and introduce a big bad forerunner guy in Halo 4 they could've done something different. They could've had the forerunners have a civil war and have a bad forerunner create the flood. Perhaps this forerunner could have been obsessed with his ability to create and had a disagreement with existing leadership over how to govern. While not theologically accurate it would've somewhat been a parallel to the idea of satan falling from heaven. They could've looked to the Inferno and Paradise Lost to characterize this figure. Could have given a name Such as the Didactic or something. If you want to make him come back that would be cool too. Maybe he is on some prison world called Requim. Perhaps the destruction of the ark activates some fail safe and forerunner prisons open. Meanwhile maybe the Arbiter is attempting to restore political order with the elites and maybe the covenant is still in a state of civil war. Who knows. Maybe there are some guardians or something that could help chief defeat this didact. Maybe the didact has a bunch of cool species imprisoned with him that fight for him. I don't know...

Bungie was never afraid to draw inspiration from religious and classical texts and I think that is what made their stories all the more compelling.


I think the actual origins and purpose of the flood are far more interesting. That just sounds like a rather typical "big bad guy creates weapon to kill everything".

Why the need for biblical parallels? They're fairly cliche.
 
I think the actual origins and purpose of the flood are far more interesting. That just sounds like a rather typical "big bad guy creates weapon to kill everything".

Why the need for biblical parallels? They're fairly cliche.

The Flood being the vengeful creation of the Precursors is pretty faithful to Halo's biblical inspirations.

Forerunners sinned and therefore were nigh destroyed by their wrathful Gods, but at the same time had a few among them inherit the duty of the mantle and work toward preserving biodiversity.

It's still walking both lines, with what 343 has done. There's still Biblical references in that the wages of win are death, and other key themes of a Christianity, etc... But Halo was never limited or centered around those themes, either. They just happened to be more obvious than other themes and inspirations.

If anything, The Flood is far more horrifying than ever before, as they are the culmination of the most destructive and maniacal force to exist in the Galaxy. They aren't the opposite of life- they are the perversion of life.

Good info dump.

I haven't read Silentium yet, but I think one of your lines may have had a word auto-corrected...
Looks like it's meant to be "grayness"

Oh crap... Hahaha. Fixing that now. Also adding spoiler tags to the text.
 
No need for it to strictly parallel anything. And I wasn't limiting it solely to the Bible. Bungie took inspiration from a number of sources and as a result told a richer story.

Just the idea of ancient humans fighting forerunners and the forerunners being upset about the mantle just seemed silly. The whole introduction of the didact, all of the halo 4 build up just fell flat with me. All I was saying is that if they were going to limit themselves to the basic plot of halo 4 they could've told the story in a more compelling way.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Forgot to post this but I found it amazing Wesley thought cryptum was good and primordium was great



I enjoyed Cryptum despite it being kinda dense and ruining the forerunner mystique....

But Primordium was the most boring shit I've ever read. Kinda turned me off to Halo books
 

CRIMSONxSERAPH

Neo Member
No need for it to strictly parallel anything. And I wasn't limiting it solely to the Bible. Bungie took inspiration from a number of sources and as a result told a richer story.

Just the idea of ancient humans fighting forerunners and the forerunners being upset about the mantle just seemed silly. The whole introduction of the didact, all of the halo 4 build up just fell flat with me. All I was saying is that if they were going to limit themselves to the basic plot of halo 4 they could've told the story in a more compelling way.

I'm not saying they handled Didact's introduction in 4 the best (nor am I saying I have a problem with it), but the fact that we fans of lore had been questioning the identity and importance of the Didact (and Librarian) since the Halo 3 Terminals created a sense of "Woah, the Didact!". Especially after reading the (at the time) two Forerunner books, we already had a sense of how this guy behaved prior to the Halo Array's activation. It was really interesting to see how much he had changed in those ~100,000 years after the activation. Being severed from the Domain took whatever "humanity" (tehe) he had left and threw it out the window. His hatred for humanity was most obviously increased since his time with Bornstellar, Riser, and Chakas.
 

Madness

Member
The description of Halo 4 and then the actual game was so lackluster. Here's this ancient evil that will be armed with deadly technology and the universe will never be the same. And yet Requiem was thrown into the sun, Didact gets thrown off in a QTE and humanity moves forward.
 

jem0208

Member
The description of Halo 4 and then the actual game was so lackluster. Here's this ancient evil that will be armed with deadly technology and the universe will never be the same. And yet Requiem was thrown into the sun, Didact gets thrown off in a QTE and humanity moves forward.

Ehh, I have a feeling we're going to be finding out how the Universe will never be the same in H5. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Guardians are all waking up just a few months after the Didact woke up.
 
I'm not saying they handled Didact's introduction in 4 the best (nor am I saying I have a problem with it), but the fact that we fans of lore had been questioning the identity and importance of the Didact (and Librarian) since the Halo 3 Terminals created a sense of "Woah, the Didact!". Especially after reading the (at the time) two Forerunner books, we already had a sense of how this guy behaved prior to the Halo Array's activation. It was really interesting to see how much he had changed in those ~100,000 years after the activation. Being severed from the Domain took whatever "humanity" (tehe) he had left and threw it out the window. His hatred for humanity was most obviously increased since his time with Bornstellar, Riser, and Chakas.

Halo 4 was fantastic... If you were privy to the Halo 3 terminals and the Forerunner trilogy. If not, it was a confusing affair of "wait who is this and why should I care?"

As a long time lore obsessed crazy person, it was a monumental moment to see the Didact for the first time, and in a main timeline game at that.
 
The description of Halo 4 and then the actual game was so lackluster. Here's this ancient evil that will be armed with deadly technology and the universe will never be the same. And yet Requiem was thrown into the sun, Didact gets thrown off in a QTE and humanity moves forward.

Nice avatar! :D

Yeah, I feel there was a lot of wasted potential in Halo 4, I'd rather actual Forerunners make a return than the robots Prometheans. Maybe they are going that route.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Halo 4 was fantastic... If you were privy to the Halo 3 terminals and the Forerunner trilogy. If not, it was a confusing affair of "wait who is this and why should I care?"

As a long time lore obsessed crazy person, it was a monumental moment to see the Didact for the first time, and in a main timeline game at that.

Was big on the Halo 3 terminals. Halo 4 seemed to throw much of that out for their terminals. Which, being honest, very little people tried to hunt down in the initial playthrough. And that's where all the fuckin story context was.

The goddamn forerunner trilogy wasn't even finished by the time Halo 4 came out. There were still debates on WHICH Didact the didact in the game was.
 
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