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[Rickenslacker]

So 343 is allowed no creative vision to make changes? To put their own stamp and signature on the series?

It's more that if you're in a position where joining up to make a Halo game at a studio formed to make Halo games is an undesirable career choice then what are you doing there in the first place? Get the Halo game right first.

There would definitely be more leeway here if Bungie's last game wasn't also a catastrophic departure, but shit man.

The Halo series needs big changes. The same old shit is getting stagnant.

Halo needs innovations, not just adding the modern shooter mainstays (Sprint, perks, Instant Spawn, Jip).

The vision needs to change.

Halo is starting to remind me of Mortal Kombat. We're past the MK1-3 glory days and now we're onto the spiral into madness that is MK4 and beyond. Fact is, the game's had a lot of big changes due to Halo Reach and now 4, but I think they flat out suck. No ifs ands or buts about it.

You know what the big change that needs to happen? Make it like a real Halo game again. Worked for MK9.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

*Grabs a beer for myself in the meantime*

12.30 noon on Friday here in Australia, 11th Jan pretending to work while procrastinating on GAF...resisting urge to crack a beer....resistance failing...could be beer fuelled antics on Halo tonight.

-EDIT
Still can't login to B.next beta. Tried Chrome, IE, Safari & Firefox....no dice. Urk you banned me for spotting your beers didn't you

 

[J10]

Its not hard, its impossible.

Already forgot about all that boasting about shipping the best selling Halo title to date while assembling a AAA studio.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

So 343 is allowed no creative vision to make changes? To put their own stamp and signature on the series? Something has to give.

"Hey, welcome to our art team. There's a picture of a jackal from Halo 3 right there and some tracing paper so you can get started. The game design team is in the other room reverse engineering Halo CE 24 hours a day. Beer's in the fridge. Enjoy."

"Here's how the Jackal, Grunts and Elites looked for reference, disregard them and do what you want. Go free with your creativity! Oh yeah, feel free to throw shit out, and make all the changes you want."

343's creative vision clearly shows in this game.

d343 Unchained

 

[MyAbsolution]

Best MP in the series thats why. (Only edges out CE for the inclusion of Live.)

Well, you didn't answer my question. What did you like about the MP?

Balance wise to me it made no sense.

1on1 perspective....

Spawning fresh as the game started if I didn't get the PP or Magnum and my opponent did, GAME OVER. There was no hope in hell.

The first 6 months of the game on live? unplayable due to exploits.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

12.30 noon on Friday here in Australia, 11th Jan pretending to work while procrastinating on GAF...resisting urge to crack a beer....resistance failing...could be beer fuelled antics on Halo tonight.

Its 1.37 am here in Ireland. Have a Company Law exam in 8 hours and have cracked a beer. Do it my dude.

 

[MyAbsolution]

Because we had the custom game options to make it the game we remember. I played almost exclusively with a BR start because my friends list was so viable then.

Otherwise I played the objective playlists which had their own focuses. Halo 2 was a fantastic experience cheaters aside. The game was so good we kept playing despite the standbys and superbouncers and modders.

But did CE not have these custom game options? I used to do custom game options all the time.

In terms of features, XBL, clans, game types... sure it had CE beat since you could play online. But gameplay wise, vanilla, it was a catastrophe. A completely unfair and unskilled one from my memory (ironically I played H2 the most out of all halos, and enjoyed it least)

 

[J10]

They kept most of Reach's problems, shoehorned shitty gameplay mechanics in from CoD, stripped Firefight of all it's options and added in shitty dialogue, made the main bad guy look like Voldemort, had the Elites speaking Japanese, and gave Cortana a boob job.

Creative vision.

 

[Rickenslacker]

To be fair I'm all for their creative vision of Cortana.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Its 1.37 am here in Ireland. Have a Company Law exam in 8 hours and have cracked a beer. Do it my dude.

Ouch, my arm it's twisting...Asahi or Heineken? Beer fridge has both at the moment. Shit at this rate I'm likely to plug Halo into one of my HDMI monitors and drink my beer while playing. Friday is both awesome and the suck simultaneously.

They kept most of Reach's problems, shoehorned shitty gameplay mechanics in from CoD, stripped Firefight of all it's options and added in shitty dialogue, made the main bad guy look like Voldemort, had the Elites speaking Japanese, and gave Cortana a boob job.

Creative vision.

To be fair those are nice boobs and curves to look at The facial detail and animation is pretty awesome on the characters though.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

To be fair I'm all for their creative vision of Cortana.

They held back.

 

[FyreWulff]

They kept most of Reach's problems, shoehorned shitty gameplay mechanics in from CoD, stripped Firefight of all it's options and added in shitty dialogue, made the main bad guy look like Voldemort, had the Elites speaking Japanese, and gave Cortana a boob job.

Creative vision.

I wouldn't say they gave Cortana a boob job. It just looks like they did a 3D scan of someone's body and then drew holo-stuff on top of it. Versus previous Halo games where they built everyone's bodies from the ground up in their modeling software of choice.

The character study/reference shots I did for Firestream:

http://imgur.com/a/bb1KO#0

She has a redonkulus amount of body detail compared to any previous version of her in Halo or even other humans in Halo 4.

If you look in the credits there's actually a Cortana Body credit and a Cortana Face credit.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

They kept most of Reach's problems, shoehorned shitty gameplay mechanics in from CoD, stripped Firefight of all it's options and added in shitty dialogue, made the main bad guy look like Voldemort, had the Elites speaking Japanese, and gave Cortana a boob job.

Creative vision.

You need a beer.

 

[Ramirez]

They held back.

LOL, is there really camel toe in game?

 

[GrizzNKev]

LOL, is there really camel toe in game?

Yes.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Well, you didn't answer my question. What did you like about the MP?

Balance wise to me it made no sense.

1on1 perspective....

Spawning fresh as the game started if I didn't get the PP or Magnum and my opponent did, GAME OVER. There was no hope in hell.

The first 6 months of the game on live? unplayable due to exploits.

Not trying to be condescending, but is it possible you just werent good?

That situation never happened to me. And wtf at the magnum? That gun was doo doo in Halo 2.

Halo 2 had more features than CE, which youve conceeded. The battle rifle was the perfect addition to the sandbox, even if it did kinda overshadow other guns. The maps, the gametypes, the movement etc everything just felt right. Plus near the end i lived in the Team Snipers playlist.

Put more hours into that game than Id care to know. Best multiplayer ive ever played.

Again, had CE used live wed be having a different conversation here.

First 6 months unplayable? Not really.

The modders and cheaters were a major pain in the ass no doubt, but overall all the bad cant take away from how good that game was.

 

[J10]

You need a beer.

I want a beer.

 

[User 73706]

Reasonable story excuse: the original Covenant kept Grunts (with food nipples, which is actually canon) and Jackals fed enough for them to be effective in combat, but malnourished enough to not be able to start uprisings. Heretic Covenant factions have been known to treat their squadmates more like equals even beyond species, with the obvious distinction of ranks. Before, the Covenant was under tense, suspicious religious dominance by the Prophets. This Covenant "Remnant" is now believing in the religion themselves. Needing all of the efficiency they can get, Jul 'Mdama allows proper dieting, and the Grunt and Jackal appearances change accordingly. Apply a subtle but reasonable retcon that Halo Trilogy-era ones were suffering from marasmus and kwashiokor (malnutrition resulting in grossly unhealthiness with symptoms such as frail bones and bloating).

Reasonable gameplay excuse: Grunts are now easier to headshot. Jackals, too.

343 story excuse: LOL

Reasonable gameplay excuse: Halo 4 is a visceral visual experience. BUILT FORD TOUGH

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Ouch, my arm it's twisting...Asahi or Heineken? Beer fridge has both at the moment. Shit at this rate I'm likely to plug Halo into one of my HDMI monitors and drink my beer while playing. Friday is both awesome and the suck simultaneously.

Asahi? Never heard of it? Im all about that miller life. And not that Miller light in America...

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

If you look in the credits there's actually a Cortana Body credit and a Cortana Face credit.

Now you're just ruining my dreams of Mackenzie Mason being that in game model (scan of the mocap/facial model)

Asahi? Never heard of it? Im all about that miller life. And not that Miller light in America...

Japanese beer, very clean and easy to drink a lot of but sort of lacks that "classic beer flavour" that a Heiny gives you. Heiny it is, we have a winner...maybe two shortly. Also used to live in New York and LA but Miller is not my flavour and why are US beers all so small and lacking alcohol?

They held back.

That was really in game, oh wow, only played the demo of ME3 (looks like ME3 to me).

Holy hell at Bungie's new website. What a mess

Yep and I don't like it either. Why hide the main menu and drop down menus for fast navigation in favour of tags?

 

[Omni]

Holy hell at Bungie's new website. What a mess

 

[Striker]

But did CE not have these custom game options? I used to do custom game options all the time.

In terms of features, XBL, clans, game types... sure it had CE beat since you could play online. But gameplay wise, vanilla, it was a catastrophe. A completely unfair and unskilled one from my memory (ironically I played H2 the most out of all halos, and enjoyed it least)

CE is similar to H4 in its lack of gametypes (just 2flag, Oddball, KotH, and Slayer) but it had more options and allowed players to do their own thing, at least. Still wasn't much.

The first five or so months until the patch hit, sure, the game struggled be at its strongest. The BR spread was tightened and became the go-to favorite for everybody, melee was fixed, and grenades were also adjusted if I remember right. The actual player movement and gameplay was still responsive and had lots of variety for players in the maps and gametypes. Not too hard to see why people would enjoy that.

The networking for the game was ass, so cheaters were more difficult to detect compared to years later.

 

[MyAbsolution]

Not trying to be condescending, but is it possible you just werent good?

That situation never happened to me. And wtf at the magnum? That gun was doo doo in Halo 2.

Halo 2 had more features than CE, which youve conceeded. The battle rifle was the perfect addition to the sandbox, even if it did kinda overshadow other guns. The maps, the gametypes, the movement etc everything just felt right. Plus near the end i lived in the Team Snipers playlist.

Put more hours into that game than Id care to know. Best multiplayer ive ever played.

Again, had CE used live wed be having a different conversation here.

First 6 months unplayable? Not really.

The modders and cheaters were a major pain in the ass no doubt, but overall all the bad cant take away from how good that game was.

Did you ever play 1on1? Doesnt seem like it. You spawn with an SMG, vs a player with a PP/Magnum (after they got em in first minute).... you stand 0.01% chance of winning even if your skill level was better. CE everyone spawned with pistol which was really all you needed. My point makes perfect sense.

Magnum was do-do compared to CE. But close range 1on1 you could still take one shot and get someones head off after the PP took shields. PP was epic rape wtf op auto aim tho, that gun combo was unreal. And noob combo that evolved with BR was even worse. You didnt even need to aim, the PP auto aim was beyond bad. Thats not skill.

First six months, yes...

 

[Computron]

Hmmm, ok:

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

Cortana face model.

 

[User 73706]

Now you're just ruining my dreams of Mackenzie Mason being that in game model (scan of the mocap/facial model)

You mean Dylan Rider?

 

[J10]

Reasonable story excuse: the original Covenant kept Grunts (with food nipples, which is actually canon) and Jackals fed enough for them to be effective in combat, but malnourished enough to not be able to start uprisings. Heretic Covenant factions have been known to treat their squadmates more like equals even beyond species, with the obvious distinction of ranks. Before, the Covenant was under tense, suspicious religious dominance by the Prophets. This Covenant "Remnant" is now believing in the religion themselves. Needing all of the efficiency they can get, Jul 'Mdama allows proper dieting, and the Grunt and Jackal appearances change accordingly. Apply a subtle but reasonable retcon that Halo Trilogy-era ones were suffering from marasmus and kwashiokor (malnutrition resulting in grossly unhealthiness with symptoms such as frail bones and bloating).

Reasonable gameplay excuse: Grunts are now easier to headshot. Jackals, too.

343 story excuse: LOL

Reasonable gameplay excuse: Halo 4 is a visceral visual experience. BUILT FORD TOUGH

The prophets kept the grunts, jackals, and brutes in check by limiting their access to technology. I would see no distinction in being nourished just enough to participate in genocide but not start a rebellion.

 

[Omni]

-EDIT
Still can't login to B.next beta. Tried Chrome, IE, Safari & Firefox....no dice. Urk you banned me for spotting your beers didn't you

Yeah, me too. I want to log in and change my username before it gets taken... Lol.

 

[User 73706]

The prophets kept the grunts, jackals, and brutes in check by limiting their access to technology. I would see no distinction in being nourished just enough to participate in genocide but not start a rebellion.

The Grunt Rebellion happened because billions of Grunts almost single-handedly overtook them, and it happened way before they had access to that kind of technology. The Prophets probably did it at a point where technology wasn't all they had to worry about it and it sort of just stuck.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Cortana face model.

You mean Dylan Rider?

Wasn't one used for the CGI in FUD and another being Mackenzie for in game. She had the mocap points on her face and everything. I think they used both? Rosso's avatar is the FUD cgi. I honestly don't know who was used where.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Did you ever play 1on1? Doesnt seem like it. You spawn with an SMG, vs a player with a PP/Magnum (after they got em in first minute).... you stand 0.01% chance of winning even if your skill level was better. CE everyone spawned with pistol which was really all you needed. My point makes perfect sense.

Magnum was do-do compared to CE. But close range 1on1 you could still take one shot and get someones head off after the PP took shields. PP was epic rape wtf op auto aim tho, that gun combo was unreal. And noob combo that evolved with BR was even worse. You didnt even need to aim, the PP auto aim was beyond bad. Thats not skill.

First six months, yes...

Why would you ever play 1v1 with SMG spawns? 1v1 in Halo 2 consisted of Midship or Lockout with BR only starts (rifles on map) - to 15 with a 12 minute timer, that was THE ONLY way to play - everyone knows that.

It sounds like you're bad. I just looked at your stats, and you are bad.

 

[MyAbsolution]

CE is similar to H4 in its lack of gametypes (just 2flag, Oddball, KotH, and Slayer) but it had more options and allowed players to do their own thing, at least. Still wasn't much.

The first five or so months until the patch hit, sure, the game struggled be at its strongest. The BR spread was tightened and became the go-to favorite for everybody, melee was fixed, and grenades were also adjusted if I remember right. The actual player movement and gameplay was still responsive and had lots of variety for players in the maps and gametypes. Not too hard to see why people would enjoy that.

The networking for the game was ass, so cheaters were more difficult to detect compared to years later.

I totally get that, but gameplay wise I dunno I just don't see it.

In its time, the game was trashed by the hardcore.

Only on GAF, almost a decade later, do we see people love it

I don't know peoples background though, were they young when H2 launched... did they play CE, if so, how much? etc. These things can have an impact.

Why would you ever play 1v1 with SMG spawns? 1v1 in Halo 2 consisted of Midship or Lockout with BR only starts (rifles on map) - to 15 with a 12 minute timer, that was THE ONLY way to play - everyone knows that.

It sounds like you're bad. I just looked at your stats, and you are bad.

Thats how it was at launch.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

Wasn't she the one for the CGI in FUD and Mackenzie was for in game. She had the mocap points on her face and everything. I think they used both? Rosso's avatar is the FUD cgi. I honestly don't know who was used where.

That Mackenzie chick was used for performance capture, not 3d modeling.

Dylan Rider wasn't involved in Halo, her focus is riding the dee.

 

[NullPointer]

It sounds like you're bad. I just looked at your stats, and you are bad.

lol

 

[J10]

The Grunt Rebellion happened because billions of Grunts almost single-handedly overtook them, and it happened way before they had access to that kind of technology. The Prophets probably did it at a point where technology wasn't all they had to worry about it and it sort of just stuck.

Yeah, the bestiarium said they were a space faring race when the Covenant found them. But avoiding future rebellion had less to do with feeding them and more to do with keeping their reproductive habits in check. Contact Harvest touches on that a little bit.

 

[FyreWulff]

Now you're just ruining my dreams of Mackenzie Mason being that in game model (scan of the mocap/facial model)

Here's the credits I was looking for:

So Cortana was voice acted by Jen Taylor, mocap acted by Mackenzie Mason, then her actual body was assembled out of scans of Frances Ingraham and Katrina Le and then they used the face of Paisha Toogoodforlastnames

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Why would you ever play 1v1 with SMG spawns? 1v1 in Halo 2 consisted of Midship or Lockout with BR only starts (rifles on map) - to 15 with a 12 minute timer, that was THE ONLY way to play - everyone knows that.

It sounds like you're bad. I just looked at your stats, and you are bad.

Ether, That shit that makes your soul burn slow...

 

[MyAbsolution]

OR Im chatting with people who were 10 years old when H2 launched and never played CE?

 

[789shadow]

It sounds like you're bad. I just looked at your stats, and you are bad.

Fuck this shit.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Or your bad. Didnt the 1v1 playlist get removed from all the cheating?

Anyway like Juices said SMG 1v1s were a joke.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

OR Im chatting with people who were 10 years old when H2 launched and never played CE?

I think people dont really count CE because it didnt have Live. Yes it was great, competitive players agree it took more skill, but you couldnt freely compete as easily on it.

If Bungie made a 1v1 playlist that was SMG starts, well I dont know what to say about that. I probably wouldnt have realized at the time that those were bad settings but I didnt play Halo 2 til like halfway into its lifetime.

Fuck this shit.

What?

 

[Orochinagis]

LOL, is there really camel toe in game?

Use her Naked, commando style

Here's the credits I was looking for:

So Cortana was voice acted by Jen Taylor, mocap acted by Mackenzie Mason, then her actual body was assembled out of scans of Frances Ingraham and Katrina Le and then they used the face of Paisha Toogoodforlastnames

Like Darth vader huh?. gotta google that models...for study!

 

[Garrett 2U]

OR Im chatting with people who were 10 years old when H2 launched and never played CE?

Or we played MLG/Team Hardcore settings...

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

So Cortana was voice acted by Jen Taylor, mocap acted by Mackenzie Mason, then her actual body was assembled out of scans of Frances Ingraham and Katrina Le and then they used the face of Paisha Toogoodforlastnames

Seriously that is insane, I wonder why the cutscenes and FUD cgi of cortana are different? I would have thought they'd re-purpose the assets to save coin. I sure as shit hope they do that for future Halo cutscenes and games. It should help them out immensely and benefit all the studio work over the last 4 years. I kind of see that as them preparing for the next 10 years of Halo as they say.

@kylej you're now Waypoint famous, I think you have a following over there now

The cutscenes are using the in game engine. FUD was CGI, which has to be rebuild. I guess the CGI Cortana was the one 343 was aiming for, but couldn't accomplish with the 360's hardware, because the Cortana CGI is the most impressive version I've seen.

She definitely has a different body shape and overall design. I suppose it's in line with the timeline, younger Chief and younger Cortana.

 

[EagleBurnn]

Seriously that is insane, I wonder why the cutscenes and FUD cgi of cortana are different. I would have thought they'd re-purpose the assets to save coin. I sure as shit hope they do that for future Halo cutscenes and games. It should help them out immensely and benefit all the studio work over the last 4 years. I kind of see that as them preparing for the next 10 years of Halo as they say.

The cutscenes are using the in game engine. FUD was CGI, which has to be rebuild. I guess the CGI Cortana was the one 343 was aiming for, but couldn't accomplish with the 360's hardware, because the Cortana CGI is the most impressive version I've seen.

 

[User 73706]

Wasn't one used for the CGI in FUD and another being Mackenzie for in game. She had the mocap points on her face and everything. I think they used both? Rosso's avatar is the FUD cgi. I honestly don't know who was used where.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Lol at that waypoint thread

I don't think we should be nominating this kylej as our spokesperson. He has some good points, but comes off as a self-entitled angry teenager that should take some of his own advice to heart.

Here's the difference though, I FEEL those things Kylej typed in his post, I really do. Many of those things went through my head as well when I read the bulletin last night...

But I didn't react as if I was bipolar over a video game. I didn't go off as if I've been personally insulted by Frank's letter.

Kylej did.

Hes calling you Bipolar Kyle.

You got beef son.

 

[Sai-kun]

Jonathan Aube doesn't look very much like Lasky...unless it's a different dude.

 

[EagleBurnn]

Lol at that waypoint thread



Hes calling you Bipolar Kyle.

You got beef son.

I love Waypoint, it's the only place where I feel mature

 

[J10]

So Cortana was voice acted by Jen Taylor, mocap acted by Mackenzie Mason, then her actual body was assembled out of scans of Frances Ingraham and Katrina Le and then they used the face of Paisha Toogoodforlastnames

I can't help but be annoyed knowing all that effort went into modeling and voicing a single character (in two mediums) they just killed off, while Firefight, Theater, and Forge were left to rot.