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Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?
- Thread starter GhaleonEB
- Start date
As time goes on, I'm starting to settle on the view that it's sort of the inverse of the Halo 2 campaign strengths and weaknesses. Here the combat is really satisfying, and the moment to moment engagement and feedback is as good as it's ever been. But it's just not set in a very interesting series of locations, and it's wrapped in a story and overall arc that's just not compelling (likewise the music).
With Halo 2, I think the gameplay was the weakest in the series, but I love that campaign for the mission settings, music and the story.
That's a huge over-simplification (Reach's gameplay has a ton of problems and Halo 2 some great sequences), but it gets at the direction my opinion is settling in in terms of the relative strengths.
Halo 3 campaign is still king as far as gameplay, balance and encounter design go.
Steelyuhas
Member
Map "Editor". Nah, it's cool we'll pretend it's a map creator and put a ton of shitty variants in matchmaking.
I really hope that community forge maps don't litter matchmaking in Halo 4, no matter how good forge is. I paid my money to play on the developers maps.
Hmm, that's an interesting way of putting it. I enjoy Reach's campaign, as I enjoy all the Halo campaigns. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Cause I like The Library. Favorite Flood level in the entire Halo series. The only one I like, really.
And not tonight. Got an IRL friend to hang out with. Soon!
Franklinator
Member
Dude, you no longer get to criticize Fracas for his opinions. Dude.
Nope, everyone gets to criticize fracas for his opinions.
all of this :lol
For real though, I gotta agree. Halo 3 is still my favorite after all these years. The campaign is just fucking awesome, and even though Cortana sucks, going from The Ark to The Covenant, to Cortana, and then Halo is just a great series of levels. I love love love love love it. Reach's locations are just super uninteresting, though they might be slightly memorable.
Rand0m TAG
Member
first thing that came to my mind is smashed
MrGreencastle
Member
Absolutely nailed it. Halo 2's locations and score were fantastic. I'd LOVE to see a current-gen take on Delta Halo's architecture, with Peril playing.
We can only settle this one way. Fracas, do you like The Library?
HigherLevel
Member
Reach had two things that really hurt the campaign IMO.
The first is lack of character development. The characters felt more lifeless and uninteresting than the ODSTs in ODST. I just didn't care about the story because I couldn't connect to the characters. They felt like generic marines, not super soldier Spartans.
The second major issue for me was the lack of a feeling of impending doom. I knew Reach was about to get messed up, but Bungie did a terrible job of presenting that in the game. I mean "the Covenant is on Reach" line was so weak and none of the characters made a big deal about it or anything.
A third lesser issue, at least for me, was the music. Marty is a genius, the music in the trilogy and ODST is amazing, but Reach was just not memorable. When I think about the Reach soundtrack no tune pops up in my head lack when I think of the other games.
I still think most of the issues with Reach was a lot of the longtime Bungie guys working on Destiny instead of Reach. I don't wanna say it was Bungie's B team, but the fact Sage got lead sandbox designer on it after not even working on any other Halo games says something.
The first is lack of character development. The characters felt more lifeless and uninteresting than the ODSTs in ODST. I just didn't care about the story because I couldn't connect to the characters. They felt like generic marines, not super soldier Spartans.
The second major issue for me was the lack of a feeling of impending doom. I knew Reach was about to get messed up, but Bungie did a terrible job of presenting that in the game. I mean "the Covenant is on Reach" line was so weak and none of the characters made a big deal about it or anything.
A third lesser issue, at least for me, was the music. Marty is a genius, the music in the trilogy and ODST is amazing, but Reach was just not memorable. When I think about the Reach soundtrack no tune pops up in my head lack when I think of the other games.
I still think most of the issues with Reach was a lot of the longtime Bungie guys working on Destiny instead of Reach. I don't wanna say it was Bungie's B team, but the fact Sage got lead sandbox designer on it after not even working on any other Halo games says something.
Better than Halo 3?
The final part of the first level (The part with the Chieften, Johnson and the dam) > all.
I agree. I remember buying my 360 solely for Halo 3. Oh so worth it.
For me, my campaign ratings go like this: 3>1>Reach>2>ODST
Also, The Library is ok. The Silent Cartographer's my favorite CE level though.
Ran into this bug. I just restarted until it went normally. It still took a stupid amount of time, though.
Then it apparently corrupted a file during the install because the game would freeze on loads until i did a reinstall.
It just seems like a technical disaster. Some multiplayer maps will stutter no matter what, even once you've fixed the normal stuttering the game has on "overpowered" hardware. District, Turf, and Backwash are close to unplayable for me, and it seems to be a common issue with modern Nvidia drivers.
The Real Napsta
Member
CE > ODST > 3 > Reach > 2
Campaign.
Obviously for MP you just put the games in order of release.
Campaign.
Obviously for MP you just put the games in order of release.
The Librarian
Banned
Install first, dont tray and play if it gets stuck. So, click install, don't launch, wait till its done, quit the installer then launch the game.
There is always a half second stutter when a player joins or quits, no biggie. Other than that, I have had no problems with Halo 2 Vista.
Can't wait to play with you guys.
Hydranockz
Member
That rail section :/
Ok, just uninstalled, and reinstalling now.
I'm not gonna be able to play with you guys til this weekend though.
Gonna be sweet though
If Halo 4 has on-rails sections I will shake my head so hard. Would be fitting for Reach 2.0 though. I'm guessing the Natural Evolution of those on-rails sections is making you follow a person throughout the campaign who will open doors for you around every corner.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
For me story/atmosphere wise it goes ODST > Reach > CE > Halo 3 > Halo 2
NullPointer
Member
Those two rail sections. But they could have been far worse. We're often getting picked up and dropped off in Halo games - at least this time you got to man a gun. But on higher difficulties these sections just expose their cheapness when you don't do exactly as you're scripted to do.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
No wayyyyy. That's a pretty small, simple encounter. Last time I played it on Legendary, I breezed through it all in no more than 3 minutes. It's not multidimensional enough. That sorta hidden tunnel through the dam is cool, but I found it on my first play through.
My favorite encounters, in no particular order, and with only half articulated reasonings:
- The battle right before entering the first Forerunner structure on The Covenant.
- Two Betrayals : That Covenant x Flood battle on the snowy field. So many ways to approach it. One of the best examples of careful / dynamic weapon choice.
- The CE encounter that the Installation 04 Firefight map is based off of. I really like the first encounter on that mission, too. Really made you feel like you were being pursued and hunted.
- The stealth Elites inside the Truth and Reconciliation.
- All of Attack on the Control Room.
- Most of The Ark.
I really just like Halo CE, hah. I loved nearly all of ODST, too, but I don't remember its missions all that well. I need to replay it, I think.
Hah, now you really do sound like a kylej clone.
Halo 2 worst story/atmosphere? Still bitter about that cliffhanger?
didnt that used to work for all missions? i tried that for new alexandria earlier and it completed the level anyways. i assumed it was a bug that had been fixed since last time i abused it many months ago.
I don't think the ODST missions are particularly great, but the freedom that Mombasa Streets allows is something really unique to the series. Instead of being funneled down some (pretty giant, all things considered) hallways, being able to pull up the map and try to get around fights you don't want is such a gamechanger. The parts where the game wants you to just play a traditional Halo mission were pretty weak in my opinion.
Nothing has come close to CE for me, though. A Warthog getting dropped on the b30 beach and the game basically shrugging and saying "yeah, go find the bad guys, I guess?" is one of those experiences that changed how I thought about games.
NullPointer
Member
The entire "The Covenant" level in Halo 3 is pure Halo awesomeness that knows no equal.
But fighting that deadly Crow's Nest Brute Pack solo on legendary was the battle that taught me the most about Halo. That was the encounter where it finally and ultimately clicked with me, and when I walked out of that chamber to meet the next threat I was a changed Spartan.
But fighting that deadly Crow's Nest Brute Pack solo on legendary was the battle that taught me the most about Halo. That was the encounter where it finally and ultimately clicked with me, and when I walked out of that chamber to meet the next threat I was a changed Spartan.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
Ayup. Plus I hated the Arbiter parts.
I always felt there was never a real reason to avoid combat in Mombasa Streets. Bungie kept mentioning that as an ODST you weren't as powerful as a Spartan but it sure hell didn't feel that way. You still had shields which would recharge and your weapons still the same amount of damage so the difference wasn't exactly huge. Even on Legendary you hardly met any great resistance on the streets. Pretty disappointing to say the least.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
So awesome. Halo 3 has some wonderful encounters that really showed off the range of the sandbox combat and what separated it from other shooters.
NullPointer
Member
This is true. For all the subtle changes it mostly felt like they had just replaced shields with stamina.
I tried and failed so many times to beat that area, and each time I was able to attempt something new and daring. And while I was on the verge of becoming demoralized by getting my ass handed to me repeatedly, when I did finally clear the room it was because of the moment to moment decisions the game allowed and trusted me to make. I didn't cheap my way to a win through taking advantage of bad pathing or other AI weaknesses. I beat the room on its own terms, fairly, and even better, had done so in a way that was much cooler than my previous attempts. A truly well earned victory, something that is so very rare in today's overly scripted shooters.
I don't remember exactly what I did, but trust me, it was awesome ;P
I agree to a point. The reason I'd avoid encounters, especially while I was doing stuff like wandering around looking for the audio logs, was ammo conservation. I never wanted to be without a Carbine and the Magnum. So I had experiences like wandering down a street, seeing a Hunter pair, deciding "fuck that" and then going down an adjacent alley instead. This probably isn't a common practice, but I liked that it was possible for the first time in a Halo game.
I think back on ODST as a lot of missed potential that worked in spite of itself, which is one of the reasons it's the game in the series that I think most needs a direct sequel to fix its problems. It was a story that didn't really need to be told (well, we already know what the artifact is, what's the big deal?), with characters that ranged from unmemorable to outright unlikeable, with the exception of Buck. ODST Flood survival horror game. Ship it.
The Librarian
Banned
What characters were unlikeable?
Opinion is law 'round these parts.
Dare. I really, really didn't like her. Part of that has to do with the fact that I found her and Buck's love story to be kind of unbearable ("Do you remember what you asked me in the morning?" is such a groan-worthy line).
I expected a lot more from a conglomeration of Firefly and Battlestar actors, with a dash of Nolan North to top it off.
Everyone besides Buck?
NullPointer
Member
I like the atmosphere of ODST but I honestly forced myself through that campaign
cant really say why...
^^ this post is actually fact
thezerofire
Banned
maybe you're just a much better player than I am, but I tried playing ODST on Legendary and I just got wrecked right off the bat. Couldn't do it.
The Librarian
Banned
No way. There's nothing that offensive about all of the main cast for him or her to be unlikable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw2fmT9mgas&feature=g-u-u
I think Bungie accidentally forgot to set a video to Private on their youtube channel. Audio is completely fucked. Title doesn't seem final either.
Urk?
I think Bungie accidentally forgot to set a video to Private on their youtube channel. Audio is completely fucked. Title doesn't seem final either.
Urk?
I'm really going to argue with this. Reach's campaign was the poorest of all of them. There may not have been a "Cortana", "Coastal Highway", or "Library" mission; but there weren't any "Halo", "Delta Halo", "Ark", or "NMPD" missions either. Almost all of the encounters of Reach were forgettable, save for a few. The only ones that stick out in my head as being good are the intro to Sword Base, Traxus tower approach, New Alexandria flying, and Long Night intro. I really want to write up more, but my headache is getting to me. :/
NullPointer
Member
Don't have to be offensive to be unlikable. You could also be bland.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
NullPointer
Member
That encounter was about half an hour too short. For once there was a battle that looked straight out of one of the better Halo ads and it was over before you knew it.