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[Hypertrooper]

Good lord.

Curious how the matchmaking setup will be - that's a LOT of content to choose from. This is a good problem to have.

"We have the Spartan Ops story mapped out, at least loosely, for a few years. The first season is very rigid at this point and we know where this story goes. If it's successful, if people enjoy it, we have a narrative arc that can last for years, with a known beginning, a middle and an end."

And I hope it will be a success. It must be. The concept is brilliant.

 

[Reagan's BR]

We're shooting for a base length of 15-30 minutes for each Spartan Ops mission.

The episodes in our ongoing CG linear series will be about 5-7 minutes each.

Gameplay missions 15 minutes + and that can get way longer with fewer players or highest difficulty. CG episodes ~7 minutes - but don't forget a lot of story happens inside the missions too.

Thanks! I was thinking that it was5 minutes including the cut scenes for a second there...that would be really short.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Gameplay missions 15 minutes + and that can get way longer with fewer players or highest difficulty. CG episodes ~7 minutes - but don't forget a lot of story happens inside the missions too.

there are months, not weeks of episodes. No firm number yet. Think tv season.

Just when I thought my hype for this game couldn't get any bigger....

 

[Der Flatulator]

Thruster pack! ;(

I thought so, but it was so quick!

 

[Pennybags]

"We have the Spartan Ops story mapped out, at least loosely, for a few years. The first season is very rigid at this point and we know where this story goes. If it's successful, if people enjoy it, we have a narrative arc that can last for years, with a known beginning, a middle and an end."

More planning than the entirety of Battlestar Galactica!

 

[ViewtifulJC]

The Spartan in the background appears to teleport....

That was the Thruster pack, that replaces the Evade. Same purpose, but you don't go as far, your hitbox isn't as wonky, and you probably can't fuckin' propel yourself across the map when you jump near the end.

 

[TS x Massacre]

there are months, not weeks of episodes. No firm number yet. Think tv season.

Nice! Pretty awesome, as a competitive guy I'm not usually into stuff like this, but as a big fan of the story surrounding Halo, I can't help but get excited.

 

[squidhands]

there are months, not weeks of episodes. No firm number yet. Think tv season.

American TV or BBC TV? Don't snow us into thinking it's Friends quantity and then it turns out to be Sherlock quantity. ;-)

 

[StalkerUKCG]

there are months, not weeks of episodes. No firm number yet. Think tv season.

If a TV series is typically 12 episodes and a Season is typically 20-24 would i be correct in the assumption its closer to a Series than a Season ?

 

[Trey]

Yeah the input lag Reach had needs to be fixed for sure if Spartan Ops is going to work.

They said the netcode will be the best its ever been in Halo 4.

 

[TheOddOne]

The Spartan in the background appears to teleport....

Yeah, that is weird.

 

[Ken]

Yeah, that is weird.

http://i.minus.com/iLFwOmY0sKrJj.gif[IMG][/QUOTE]

Looks very much like the thruster pack to me.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

there are months, not weeks of episodes. No firm number yet. Think tv season.

If a TV series is typically 12 episodes and a Season is typically 20-24 would i be correct in the assumption its closer to a Series than a Season ?

American TV or BBC TV? Don't snow us into thinking it's Friends quantity and then it turns out to be Sherlock quantity. ;-)

If its sherlock quality id take sherlock over friends

 

[Tha Robbertster]

Looks very much like the thruster pack to me.

Yeah, you can see the trail of sparks moving away from the camera.

 

[squidhands]

If a TV series is typically 12 episodes and a Season is typically 20-24 would i be correct in the assumption its closer to a Series than a Season ?



If its sherlock quality id take sherlock over friends

I'm not going to doubt the quality at all. Sherlock is fantastic, though.

 

[Tashi]

Damn I can't wait to play this game. PAX is so far away lol. And the lines I'm sure will be 3 million people long.

I wonder when we'll hear more details about the matchmaking experience and progression system.

 

[ElzarTheBam]

Lol, WTF Yahoo answers.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Damn I can't wait to play this game. PAX is so far away lol. And the lines I'm sure will be 3 million people long.

I wonder when we'll hear more details about the matchmaking experience and progression system.

I guess it will be my only game I'll play at PAX.

 

[RebornYeti]

Damn I can't wait to play this game. PAX is so far away lol. And the lines I'm sure will be 3 million people long.

I wonder when we'll hear more details about the matchmaking experience and progression system.

Sure the lines will be long, but it will be worth it. Can't wait to go to PAX!

 

[FyreWulff]

All the long lines at PAX will be for the Onlive consoles

 

[Tashi]

Yea I fully plan on waiting in line for only Halo at PAX. I'm sure a bunch of us could just wait on line and it would go quickly.

 

[Hey You]

Yeah, the Infection gametype palette has been pretty dry compared to Halo 3. Once I'm setting in Vancoova I'm going to start pushing something considerable for Infection.

I had to read that twice to get it.

Yeah, Living Dead still needs some work (hello, base maps!) and maybe some new gametypes.

 

[RebornYeti]

All the long lines at PAX will be for the Onlive consoles

Onlive consoles? Why would people wait in line for those?

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Just caught up. Did I read correctly that Spartan Ops environments don't have a ton of overlap with Campaign? That's incredible. I was sort of assuming/dreading it was just going to recycle old levels with new objectives. (Obviously some level of overlap is acceptable.)

Gameplay missions 15 minutes + and that can get way longer with fewer players or highest difficulty. CG episodes ~7 minutes - but don't forget a lot of story happens inside the missions too.

Amazing. I hope this works as planned, because I think it's one of the biggest innovations Halo 4 brings to gaming. My RL friends and coworkers (all casual Halo players at best) have been really excited when I tell them about what SpOps is going to be.

Do episodes have a time limit or can you always replay previous episodes?



-------

I guess it will be my only game I'll play at PAX.

Heh. I probably spent 90% of my PAX time last year at HaloFest. But that was mostly because of the awesome panels/people there.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Yeah I really don't understand it. Nerfing the snipe wouldn't be as ridiculous if the AR didn't get buffed with every game.

I think your point is valid, but...

Halo: CE AR -> Halo 2 AR?

Halo: 3 AR -> Halo: Reach AR, this was a buff?

 

[TheOddOne]

 

[Hypertrooper]

Just caught up. Did I read correctly that Spartan Ops environments don't have a ton of overlap with Campaign? That's incredible. I was sort of assuming/dreading it was just going to recycle old levels with new objectives. (Obviously some level of overlap is acceptable.)


Amazing. I hope this works as planned, because I think it's one of the biggest innovations Halo 4 brings to gaming. My RL friends and coworkers (all casual Halo players at best) have been really excited when I tell them about what SpOps is going to be.

Do episodes have a time limit or can you always replay previous episodes?

If I read it right, It is going to share the environment but the level are designed specifically for SO. But I am deadly wrong I think.

 

[Tashi]

Has there been a game that has done consistent and successfull episodic content before? I know a lot of have made promises and a lot have tried.

 

[biosnake20]

Not sure if this was posted yet but....

Walshy Halo 4 Weapons Group Discussion - Hands-On w/ Bravo & BesT Man - E3 2012

 

[Kuroyume]

Yeah, the AR is a terrible weapon in multiplayer. It's like Bungie just kept trying to make more and more relevant in each game, beginning with 3 and ending in Reach, and 343 is apparently continuing that tradition. No idea why...

They really need to beef up the precision weapons and then I wouldn't have any issues with the sniper rifle remaining as powerful as it is. I hate 5 shot weapon kills. Way to many times to press a trigger for one kill and that's if you don't miss any shots. Halo is coming dangerously close to a button mashing game. My fingers are going to get tired. Not even joking lol.

No kidding. I'm an old man. Not a spring chicken anymore. Can't be pulling the trigger 300x per game to kill people. Asking too much from my fingers. They need to nerf the AR and give some consideration to precision weapon users. Put the DMR at 3sk.

 

[El_Chino]

Showing off next-gen 343i technology?

 

[789shadow]

No kidding. I'm an old man. Not a spring chicken anymore. Can't be pulling the trigger 300x per game to kill people. Asking too much from my fingers. They need to nerf the AR and give some consideration to precision weapon users. Put the DMR at 3sk.

I don't think that completely unbalancing the game is more important than your tired fingers.

 

[BigShow36]

Yeah, the AR is a terrible weapon in multiplayer. It's like Bungie just kept trying to make more and more relevant in each game, beginning with 3 and ending in Reach, and 343 is apparently continuing that tradition. No idea why...

They really need to beef up the precision weapons and then I wouldn't have any issues with the sniper rifle remaining as powerful as it is. I hate 5 shot weapon kills. Way to many times to press a trigger for one kill and that's if you don't miss any shots. Halo is coming dangerously close to a button mashing game. My fingers are going to get tired. Not even joking lol.

Recipe for ruining halo: nerf precision weapons. beef up assault rifle. finished.

Exactly. What needs to happen is that the AVERAGE kill speed stays the same but the maximum kill speed gets faster. You do this by making the weapons harder to use effectively (slower Aim Assist and faster stafe).

I'm so tired of Halo slowing down to the point where its a chore just to play. There's no excitement anymore because the weapons are too easy to use but at the same time take forever to kill with. Its frustrating, to say the least.

I don't think that completely unbalancing the game is more important than your tired fingers.

There are better ways to balance weapon kill speed than just shots to kill. Halo CE had a tsk pistol, but consistently getting 3-shot kills against good opponents was incredibly rare and incredibly skillful. Make the DMR hard to use but don't force everyone to have plodding kill-times.

 

[User 73706]

Longbow looks great....

Man, I love how poofy all the new clouds look. They hit a good balance between realistic and fantastic. The second pic's sky reminds me a bit of the last level of Halo 3 where you could see the Ark overhead and it was a bunch of reddish/brownish skybox stuff.

Haha, the Halo 4 forum is amazing right now. Everyone is so polite, positive, and excited. I'm loving it.

Somewhat relevant, this post got me thinking. lolBK

Grenade Launcher shots would manually blow up after entering a vehicle (considering you need to be able to shoot using some of them), but that's not to say you could have a teammate stick a damaged hog right in the driver's seat, bring it over to the enemy base, and then leave so they think they have a free hog only to blow up the whole thing. Even better, wait for a full group of 3 to get in and then completely fuck them over when they think they're going to attack your team.

I see the sticky detonator having some massive potential in Halo 4. Just imagine a BTB game where you have 7 teammates stick your mongoose and then you ram a Scorpion with it or something.

 

[Trey]

What needs to happen is that the AVERAGE kill speed stays the same but the maximum kill speed gets faster.

I would agree with this if it took an exponential amount of skill to achieve the "maximum kill time" relative to the average kill time.

 

[789shadow]

I can see the sticky detonator is already causing imaginations to run wild.

 

[BigShow36]

I would agree with this if it took an exponential amount of skill to achieve the "maximum kill time" relative to the average kill time.

You'll get no argument from me. The max kill time should require a ton of skill to consistently pull off. Right now, we've got max kill times and average kill times approximately at the same level. Make the weapons actually require some skill and we'll see a greater stratification of players and inject some much needed variety into playstyles.

In my ideal Halo game, the best players in the world would only be getting max kill times about 60-70% of the time.

 

[The Librarian]

This is getting frustrating. How in the world do you watch downloaded game videos on the Xbox? I downloaded the Halo 4 gameplay demo and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to view it.

 

[Korosenai]

This is getting frustrating. How in the world do you watch downloaded game videos on the Xbox? I downloaded the Halo 4 gameplay demo and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to view it.

Just download it here and then watch it on your pc: http://press.xbox360.com/products/p51/halo-4

 

[Falagard]

Yeah, that is weird.

You guys are seeing it wrong. There's one dude getting assassinated with a sword, and another down the hall in the smoke who is using thruster. The thruster user boosts at the same time as the sword thrust, which makes it look like it's the same guy teleporting down to the end of the hall.

 

[ElzarTheBam]

This is getting frustrating. How in the world do you watch downloaded game videos on the Xbox? I downloaded the Halo 4 gameplay demo and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to view it.

Isn't it under the my videos tab? Or if you downloaded Zune video on your 360, you will have to enter that app to access it.

I just stream halo vids off the waypoint app myself.

 

[HigherLevel]

This is getting frustrating. How in the world do you watch downloaded game videos on the Xbox? I downloaded the Halo 4 gameplay demo and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to view it.

Go to video, the my video apps, then video player and it should be there. Unless you have Zune then delete that crap because it makes it 10x harder to find.

 

[The Librarian]

Just download it here and then watch it on your pc: http://press.xbox360.com/products/p51/halo-4

I want to watch it on my TV so I can pretend like I'm playing it.

Isn't it under the my videos tab? Or if you downloaded Zune video on your 360, you will have to enter that app to access it.

I just stream halo vids off the waypoint app myself.

When I go into the video tab, I click on "my video apps," then I click on "video player." After that I see a menu that has four options: Zune Video, Current Disc, Portable Device, and Computer. I click on Zune Video, the screen fades to black for not a second, then I'm brought back to the same menu.

Go to video, the my video apps, then video player and it should be there. Unless you have Zune then delete that crap because it makes it 10x harder to find.

How do I delete stuff?

 

[squidhands]

Isn't it under the my videos tab? Or if you downloaded Zune video on your 360, you will have to enter that app to access it.

I just stream halo vids off the waypoint app myself.

That's what I did last night (after downloading the update) and watched the multiplayer vid about 10 times. No buffering either; they must have fixed some stuff in the update.

 

[Trey]

You'll get no argument from me. The max kill time should require a ton of skill to consistently pull off. Right now, we've got max kill times and average kill times approximately at the same level. Make the weapons actually require some skill and we'll see a greater stratification of players and inject some much needed variety into playstyles.

In my ideal Halo game, the best players in the world would only be getting max kill times about 60-70% of the time.

Of course this is desirable but I always felt the crux of where maximum kill times should be, as well as the "skill cap", is a function of the maximum offensive output combined with the opponent's maximum defensive capability.

Weapon execution is certainly a part of the equation but the weight should be upon player agency and defeating your opponent.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

This is getting frustrating.

But no, I don't know how either :/

 

[ElzarTheBam]

I want to watch it on my TV so I can pretend like I'm playing it.


When I go into the video tab, I click on "my video apps," then I click on "video player." After that I see a menu that has four options: Zune Video, Current Disc, Portable Device, and Computer. I click on Zune Video, the screen fades to black for not a second, then I'm brought back to the same menu.


How do I delete stuff?

Hmm, how weird, I don't have Zune on mine, I deleted it because it was annoying going into an app to watch videos downloaded onto your Xbox.

To delete stuff, go to the settings, then system and then storage, you can delete apps from there.

That's what I did last night (after downloading the update) and watched the multiplayer vid about 10 times. No buffering either; they must have fixed some stuff in the update.

Damn right! also was nice being greeted with the new UNSC symbol and Halo 2 music.

 

[The Librarian]

Hmm, how weird, I don't have Zune on mine, I deleted it because it was annoying going into an app to watch videos downloaded onto your Xbox.

To delete stuff, go to the settings, then system and then storage, you can delete apps from there.

There we go! Thanks for your help, everyone!

 

[Der Flatulator]

I want to watch it on my TV so I can pretend like I'm playing it.

HAHAHA...

Spoiler

I've done that already though I plugged my pc into my TV lol...

 

[BigShow36]

Of course this is desirable but I always felt the crux of where maximum kill times should be, as well as the "skill cap", should be a function of the maximum offensive output combined with the opponent's maximum defensive capability.
Weapon execution is certainly a part of the equation but the weight should be upon player agency and defeating your opponent.

The most efficient and reliable way to accomplish that is to increase the weapon execution skill-ceiling and increase the strafe-speed of the players. These one-off defensive mechanisms like the bubble shield, armor lock, evade, etc. are simplistic and too easy to execute and contribute very little to the actual gameplay or strategic depth of the game.

I'm not opposed to them as a supplement to the game's skill gap, but I am opposed to them as replacements to the basic FPS skills of movement and shooting.