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Halo |OT8| A Salt on the Control Room

FyreWulff

Member
They released DLC maps for the game, they did not put a DLC playlist into the game.

The communtiy asked for one, they were assured it was coming, never happened.

The DLC was not given priority weighting in the existing playlists, cue people not bieng able to play the maps they payed for on a consistent basis or even at all, in some cases beyond custom game settings.

I seem to remember the maps were also already on the disc, right? That sounds even worse than Perfect Dark XBLA's matchmaking
 

Gazzawa

Member
They released DLC maps for the game, they did not put a DLC playlist into the game.

The communtiy asked for one, they were assured it was coming, never happened.

The DLC was not given priority weighting in the existing playlists, cue people not bieng able to play the maps they payed for on a consistent basis or even at all, in some cases beyond custom game settings.

Yeah basically someone like you was managing the playlists. Elzar the breaker of promises
 

Akai__

Member
***question***

***question***

Had the same question a few OT back, here is the question and answer:

CrazY CroaTia said:
You are the man, I wanted to talk.^^

Is Halo 4 going to be a multilingual game? Like, can we switch the language in the game or is Halo 4 so big, that this content didn't fit on the disc?

Would be glad, if you could answer that.

Game will be localized in the normal suite of languages. Come at me Brazil Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese!
 
I seem to remember the maps were also already on the disc, right? That sounds even worse than Perfect Dark XBLA's matchmaking

Nah, not the maps, I think that was resident evil 5 though, I'm not sure.

Though, they charge to unlock 10 further levels, past level 40 in MP.

Yeah basically someone like you was managing the playlists. Elzar the breaker of promises

I never break promises, NEVER I say!
 
No, it is not good gameplay-wise. The enemies are too strong and accurate (the only comparable enemies were Jackal Snipers in Halo 2). Level desing is boring. Weapons are boring (outside the Grenade launcher which is rare and almost useless in the campaign). Armor abilities are too sparse... and irrelevant, the AI sees through the camo.
Rail-shooter sections are horrible.
Space combat is absolutely awful.
Vehicle health system and handling ruin vehicle sections.
To the bold, the only time this is a problem is the Wraith mortars on the higher difficulties. The Covenant should be more powerful and oppressive than the UNSC, so the fact that they're tougher enemies is actually nice apart from one or two encounters. Absolutely agree with the on-rails sections; they tarnish what would otherwise be extremely solid campaign levels. Couldn't care less about the AA's; they certainly don't do anything to detract from the campaign, as relatively useless as they are.

There are lots of problems with every single Halo campaign, Reach is no different. I find the flexibility of encounters (and the fact that I have fun in co-op) to be enough to keep my attention diverted from the atrocious writing and storytelling. I'm extremely ready for some Halo 4, though.
 

willow ve

Member
Yeah, it should be the DLC destination, especially with Squad DLC gone. I'm just going to be retreading what I've already said at this point, but hopefully Anniversary and the way they handled Reach taught them that you either go all the way ala Halo 3: Mythic or don't do it at all. Reach's DLC maps themselves were good; the way they were supported in terms of matchmaking was not.

I'm still not a fan of the environment sounds on the Reach DLC. The waterfall and the outer space battle are way too loud. They literally take over the maps on my headphones.
 

Conor 419

Banned
The belief that just server lists would work well for console gamers is erroneous. I imagine you could have a successful hybrid, but JUST lists would be fallow and frustrating. And it's not like they're a cavalcade of laughs in PC land.

They worked exceptionally well in BF3. (The only game that has tried)

I think CSS/TF2 is the best structured online experience to date.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Christ the jumping in CE is bad.


They worked exceptionally well in BF3. (The only game that has tried)

False. Sort of.

At the beginning it was alright. Just standard BF3 DICE controlled servers.

Then they allowed people to buy and make their own servers. And what ended up happening is that player servers completley ran over DICE ones. To make it worse, DICE removed a lot of their own servers to save money. So while there are some DICE servers left its near impossible to find them.

And player servers, while they can be fine, suffer from a lot of bullshit due to dick admins. I've been kicked, banned, and switched teams for doing too good. Likewise, they ban certain weapons too. And if you use them you're kicked. I know how easy it is to do it. I was an admin on my friends server.
 

Woorloog

Banned
To the bold, the only time this is a problem is the Wraith mortars on the higher difficulties. The Covenant should be more powerful and oppressive than the UNSC, so the fact that they're tougher enemies is actually nice apart from one or two encounters.

It ain't fun when you have to spend an assault rifle magazine to kill a grunt.
It ain't fun when a skirmisher with a needle rifle can headshot you (Reach is the only game where the AI can headshot the player, lose shields and not matter how much you have health you die instantly from a headshot) from 100 meters away while you're sprinting or jetpacking. It ain't fun when a fucking grunt can do the same with a fuel rod even further away.
It ain't fun when the elites can suddenly melee you and instagib you even on normal.

The enemies were strong enough in Halo 2 and 3 without being frustrating accurate. A needless change, just like so many other things in Reach.

They worked exceptionally well in BF3. (The only game that has tried)

Indeed, if you forget that giving the players the control of dedis isn't a good idea. Fuck "500% Air maps only" servers.
 

Risen

Member
They worked exceptionally well in BF3.

No - I'm sure there's SOME scenario in which they worked exceptionally well, but I had a terrible time finding an acceptable server for a party of friends from around the country.

It ain't fun when you have to spend an assault rifle magazine to kill a grunt.
It ain't fun when a skirmisher with a needle rifle can headshot you (Reach is the only game where the AI can headshot the player, lose shields and not matter how much you have health you die instantly from a headshot) from 100 meters away while you're sprinting or jetpacking. It ain't fun when a fucking grunt can do the same with a fuel rod even further away.
It ain't fun when the elites can suddenly melee you and instagib you even on normal.

Why don't people like hard?
 

Conor 419

Banned
Indeed, if you forget that giving the players the control of dedis isn't a good idea. Fuck "500% Air maps only" servers.

Then don't play on those servers, that's the beauty of the system. It lets you do what you want.

No - I'm sure there's SOME scenario in which they worked exceptionally well, but I had a terrible time finding an acceptable server for a party of friends from around the country.

I didn't.

And there we have it.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Overdoz and I keep matching Teams of 4 and getting monster scrubs on our team. MM is dumping on our morning
 

Risen

Member
Then don't play on those servers, that's the beauty of the system. It lets you do what you want.

What I want is to play with my friends from around the country on an acceptable connection, on the same team, in the same squad.

The game certainly didn't let me do what I wanted well.

Overdoz and I keep matching Teams of 4 and getting monster scrubs on our team. MM is dumping on our morning

It was nice hearing the rings of Halo combat while working - am sad stream went dark.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Why don't people like hard?

I normally play Halos on Heroic, thank you very much. Legendary is usually more frustrating than fun or challenging in itself.

There's a difference beetween frustrating and challenging. Reach is frustrating even on easier difficulties. Halo 3 and ODST are suitably challenging on Heroic without being frustrating (well, they used to be... i'm too good vs the AI now).


Then don't play on those servers, that's the beauty of the system. It lets you do what you want.

I don't. The problem is, no one plays standard rules, 100% tickets, no extra rules (no shotguns) games. Which is what i want.
I have 3 or so of such servers on my favorite list. They're all empty 90% of time.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Then don't play on those servers, that's the beauty of the system. It lets you do what you want.



I didn't.

And there we have it.

Problem is there is no way of weeding those servers out from the bad ones. You can filter by player count, map, and gametype and thats pretty much it.

You have to search for a server whose name sounds alright. But the point is, dick admins everywhere.

a 100% player owned server browser for Halo 4 online would be terrible.

Now, if they have standard matchmaking, like say, ranked playlists are matchmade, and social are server browser, that could work.

Or, have a server browser that has two pages, 343 servers, and player servers.

We can hope for something like this maybe in Halo 5. Hopefully microsoft will stop being dicks for like 5 minutes and open up the next gen Xbox.
 

Akai__

Member
damn!

and thanks!

Where are you from? If you are from Germany or near to it, may I suggest you to pre-order at http://www.roxxgames.de/. All games are uncut and in english (Not sure for Halo 4). Don't know, when they are starting the pre-ordering for Halo 4, but you can ask in the Live Support in the upper right corner, if it is online.

They have an excellent service and the game is usually comming the next day, after you have purchased it. Last time, when I pre-ordered, my game came 3 days, before the official release.
 

raindoc

Member
Where are you from? If you are from Germany or near to it, may I suggest you to pre-order at http://www.roxxgames.de/. All games are uncut and in english (Not sure for Halo 4). Don't know, when they are starting the pre-ordering for Halo 4, but you can ask in the Live Support in the upper right corner, if it is online.

They have an excellent service and the game is usually comming the next day, after you have purchased it. Last time, when I pre-ordered, my game came 3 days, before the official release.

i'm from austria and i'll either have the UK version sent to me by Amazon or a relative over there, depending on whether or not i can find a better deal there from a local distributer. no preorder until i've figured that out.

I toss the AR as quickly as I can in favor of anything.

so true. i hope that the H4 Assault Rifle actually deserves it's name and doesn't behave like a SMG again. (imo)
 
Zero for me, since they're all MP.


*twitches*
Well then, how much is my sense of entitlement worth? It's gotta be at least worth some pantaloons for my xbl avatar. ;-)

It ain't fun when you have to spend an assault rifle magazine to kill a grunt.
It ain't fun when a skirmisher with a needle rifle can headshot you (Reach is the only game where the AI can headshot the player, lose shields and not matter how much you have health you die instantly from a headshot) from 100 meters away while you're sprinting or jetpacking. It ain't fun when a fucking grunt can do the same with a fuel rod even further away.
It ain't fun when the elites can suddenly melee you and instagib you even on normal.

The enemies were strong enough in Halo 2 and 3 without being frustrating accurate. A needless change, just like so many other things in Reach.
I guess I've played so much Firefight that I've gotten used to the ridiculous aim of the AI and can adjust enough in campaign to make it fun. I toss the AR as quickly as I can in favor of anything.
 

Conor 419

Banned
What I want is to play with my friends from around the country on an acceptable connection, on the same team, in the same squad.

The game certainly didn't let me do what I wanted well.

Yeah, not really a server browser issue then is it?

I don't. The problem is, no one plays standard rules, 100% tickets, no extra rules (no shotguns) games. Which is what i want.

Then have a handful of standard servers which are easily identifiable.

Problem is there is no way of weeding those servers out from the bad ones. You can filter by player count, map, and gametype and thats pretty much it.

Then allow options to do so, 343i could manage it.
 
It is difficult enough. That's not an issue. The issue is how fucking frustrating Reach's gameplay is. Not to mention slow.

Your kidding? Ive played through the campaign plenty of times at this stage, theres nothing wrong with the gameplay. Too slow? Cod is alot faster, maybe try that.

Its most definitely not difficult enough. Legendary as it is should be Heroic, And there should be a higher difficulty to replace the existing Legendary.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Well then, how much is my sense of entitlement worth? It's gotta be at least worth some pantaloons for my xbl avatar. ;-)
The twitch was at the reminder of how great Firefight Doubles was. And now it's gone.

Paper cut, meet lemon juice.

My list of worries about Halo 4 is quite long, but the playlist management is near the top, with decisions like that.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Your kidding? Ive played through the campaign plenty of times at this stage, theres nothing wrong with the gameplay. Too slow? Cod is alot faster, maybe try that.

The AI is ultra accurate. The AI is freaking strong (or weapons are underpowered, practically the same thing). The player character moves slow compared to earlier Halos.
Combine all three aspects and the game is rather slow overall.
Combine with restrictive level design and we've got an awful game.

You can stuff COD to your arse.

Reach is slow, but I've said that about all Halo games. Mandatory sprint makes me happy.

Sure, all Halos are slowish but Reach is needlessy so. Sprint doesn't make the gameplay faster, just passing through empty areas.
 

Louis Wu

Member
I'm talking more about the fact that you guys apparently believe that people who can't get over the atrocious layout are people who wouldn't have intelligent discussion to add, heh.

That's not what I meant, at all. Sorry for not being clearer.

What I was trying to say was that other forum styles encourage a type of posting that isn't particularly productive to meaningful conversation - one-word responses, gif responses, etc. Folks accustomed to this type of forum come to HBO and are faced with a layout that can take a little bit to get their head around - and experience has shown that the ones that want to contribute enough to spend the effort are also generally willing to conform to the different posting style. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, and there are clearly exceptions (zoojoo is a fine example, at least so far) - but over the past 12 years, it's been borne out more often than it's been violated.

I'm not saying people who like flat-style boards are less intelligent, or even less flexible than folks who normally post at HBO. I'm saying that ANYONE willing to make some concessions to a new and different style has a better chance at fitting in on a board that has out-of-the-norm standards than people who aren't willing to make those concessions.

It's a tolerance thing, not an intelligence thing.

It ain't fun when you have to spend an assault rifle magazine to kill a grunt.
It ain't fun when a skirmisher with a needle rifle can headshot you (Reach is the only game where the AI can headshot the player, lose shields and not matter how much you have health you die instantly from a headshot) from 100 meters away while you're sprinting or jetpacking. It ain't fun when a fucking grunt can do the same with a fuel rod even further away.
It ain't fun when the elites can suddenly melee you and instagib you even on normal.
Heh. I don't have a problem with ANY of these things - except maybe FRG grunts. I actually LIKE the skirmisher stuff - I KNOW I have to lay low and let shields recharge if they're gone and a needle rifle skirmisher is out there. I LIKE that - and I'm okay with him killing me if I forget. (I'm mad at ME for screwing up, not the game for challenging me.)

Dunno - different playstyles, I guess. Ghal has talked about how frustrating Legendary can be, and with the exception of the telepathic Wraiths (that can pinpoint you through any number of obstacles) and plain AI cheating (like yesterday's FRG Brute), I can't really see his point, either. I have a ton of fun on Reach's Legendary. (WAY more fun than H2's Legendary, for example.)
 
The AI is ultra accurate. The AI is freaking strong (or weapons are underpowered, practically the same thing). The player character moves slow compared to earlier Halos.
Combine all three aspects and the game is rather slow overall.
Combine with restrictive level design and we've got an awful game.

You can stuff COD to your arse.

I was genuinely recommending the game, not insulting you.

Great to see your mature enough to carry a discussion without "Stick it up your ass".

Too accurate? Take cover. Too strong? Take your time. Movement speed? I didnt find it to be a problem at all. Restricting level design? Clearly you just want to complain about this game. The levels were great. The only restrictive level was Nightfall and that was restrictive for a reason.
 

Beckx

Member
I guess I've played so much Firefight that I've gotten used to the ridiculous aim of the AI and can adjust enough in campaign to make it fun. I toss the AR as quickly as I can in favor of anything.

Much good sense here: it's not that there aren't *issues* with how some of the enemies function - of course there are. Some of the things that Woorloog points out are bad design.

That said I generally enjoy the campaign notwithstanding some of the design choices.

It's not a zero sum game.

The best (and most open) part of Nightfall is the part that everyone (me, included) skips now. I'm sad. :(

Yeah. Very glad I did my Legendary playthrough first & dark, because that level has some epic fights.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Your kidding? Ive played through the campaign plenty of times at this stage, theres nothing wrong with the gameplay. Too slow? Cod is alot faster, maybe try that.

Its most definitely not difficult enough. Legendary as it is should be Heroic, And there should be a higher difficulty to replace the existing Legendary.

Disagree. Heroic is the perfect sweet spot.

Problem with Legendary is it becomes bullshit difficult.

Psychic Wraiths, Enemies weapons do more damage to you than you do to them. It should stay the same, but allow for a Mythic Difficulty, and tie an achievement to it.
 
I'm not saying people who like flat-style boards are less intelligent, or even less flexible than folks who normally post at HBO. I'm saying that ANYONE willing to make some concessions to a new and different style has a better chance at fitting in on a board that has out-of-the-norm standards than people who aren't willing to make those concessions.
I don't post at HBO in part because of the layout.
 
The best (and most open) part of Nightfall is the part that everyone (me, included) skips now. I'm sad. :(

Im the same, Every now and then i play out the firefight there. Really is a fantastic part of the game.


Disagree. Heroic is the perfect sweet spot.

Problem with Legendary is it becomes bullshit difficult.

Psychic Wraiths, Enemies weapons do more damage to you than you do to them. It should stay the same, but allow for a Mythic Difficulty, and tie an achievement to it.

Im not some sort of sadist however. My first run through a Halo game is always Heroic. I tend to play the campaign alot though, so the higher difficulties become easier the more i know the campaign. I agree on the Mythic difficulty. That would be awesome.



Best moment in Reach is the fight for Sword Base, the number of allied AI makes it wicked.

Loved that level, I remember first reaching the top and not noticing the elite general. Turned around and he was Bam right in in my face. Scared the shit out of me.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Just busted through the Tashi Ceiling and only 3 people saw it :(

lol it wasn't that nice anyway and actually it wouldn't have happened if I didn't betray my teammate.

edit: I don't post in HBO because Claude is an objective holder :/
 
oh lawd, PAX is so soon.

Given the lack of response previous years I have decided to not bother arranging any sort of a pre-pax breakfast. With that said, is there anything scheduled for us to all hang out one morning/evening? it would be good to see 'yall again.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I was super disappointed that the squad mechanic of "hiring" friendly AI wasn't implemented further. It was like it was purely cosmetic.

In Gears 3, you can spot an enemy and your AI would fire on them. Something as simple as that would have been great.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I was genuinely recommending the game, not insulting you.

Great to see your mature enough to carry a discussion without "Stick it up your ass".

Too accurate? Take cover. Too strong? Take your time. Movement speed? I didnt find it to be a problem at all. Restricting level design? Clearly you just want to complain about this game. The levels were great. The only restrictive level was Nightfall and that was restrictive for a reason.

I've frigging played CODs and i really don't want to play them again. Don't particularly like their single player. Infinite enemies and all that.

Taking cover doesn't help when the AI instagibs you before you can get to cover. Slow movement speed doesn't help. Even worse is the weak strafing speed (fuck inertia in Reach).
Too strong is not fun because i'd like to keep moving, not get stuck on the same area for long time.
Taking time is not fun, this is not a cover-based shooter. Halo 3 and earlier Halos didn't have this issue because powerful weapons made brutal, fast firefights possible, if risky and fun change to being more careful. In Reach, taking time is pretty much necessity. Sure, trying to kill many enemies quickly is possible but due to many small things, it is frustrating. Bloom, slow plasma pistol charge and weak tracking, slow movement, awfully badly bouncing grenades, accurate enemies...
The level desing is not very good. Many encounter areas are weakly desinged lacking cover, lacking viable routes or being just plain uninteresting.
Halo 3 had some issues with area desing as well... but the encounters itself were far more interesting.

EDIT various half-assed features don't help. Friendly AI is a horrible driver. The friendly AI is generally unhelpful compared to earlier Halos were it at least worked just fine as cannon fodder. The squad hiring mechanic is a good example of this as well. The armor abilities are nearly non-existent in the campaign, and the AI is immune to some of them (holos, camo, neither fools the AI in solo games, in co-op they do work to some extent)-
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
oh lawd, PAX is so soon.

Given the lack of response previous years I have decided to not bother arranging any sort of a pre-pax breakfast. With that said, is there anything scheduled for us to all hang out one morning/evening? it would be good to see 'yall again.

Tried asking this yesterday, didn't get much. We need to to a meet-up somewhere, maybe multiple.

Devin, I need to get your info again. I think you were the person I saw most frequently in 2010 when I went.
 
Just busted through the Tashi Ceiling and only 3 people saw it :(

lol it wasn't that nice anyway and actually it wouldn't have happened if I didn't betray my teammate.

edit: I don't post in HBO because Claude is an objective holder :/
No worries, im sure you'll post it on youtube.
 
OK, hopefully I don't sound like a jerk here or whatever, but I had to respond to the following:

It ain't fun when you have to spend an assault rifle magazine to kill a grunt.It ain't fun when a skirmisher with a needle rifle can headshot you (Reach is the only game where the AI can headshot the player, lose shields and not matter how much you have health you die instantly from a headshot) from 100 meters away while you're sprinting or jetpacking. It ain't fun when a fucking grunt can do the same with a fuel rod even further away.
It ain't fun when the elites can suddenly melee you and instagib you even on normal.

The enemies were strong enough in Halo 2 and 3 without being frustrating accurate. A needless change, just like so many other things in Reach.

Except on the Normal/Easy difficulties and sometimes multiplayer, hasn't the AR been mostly terrible throughout the series?

As for Bold #2, what model are your nostalgia glasses and where can I get myself a pair? Seriously. H2 Legendary (especially solo) is one of the hardest of the series, particularly compared to Reach, and its difficulty was very much due to some annoying enemy encounters (jackals, brutes, hunters, elite honor guards, etc.). Both H2/3 had the most ridiculous jackal sniper sections. The only part that was really annoying, enemy-wise, in Reach, was the end section on Nightfall. Even then, it came down to devising an approach to the encounter and playing carefully.

I normally play Halos on Heroic, thank you very much. Legendary is usually more frustrating than fun or challenging in itself.

There's a difference beetween frustrating and challenging. Reach is frustrating even on easier difficulties. Halo 3 and ODST are suitably challenging on Heroic without being frustrating (well, they used to be... i'm too good vs the AI now).

Now I know you're trolling. Other than Legendary, Reach campaign is not difficult / frustrating in the slightest. Now, I would definitely agree with criticisms regarding some poorly designed levels and encounters, but I found them more boring than frustrating (Why YES! I would LOVE to fly around sitting in a grenade launcher gunner seat shooting things and killing them while getting hit by tons of shit that normally destroys me, but it's ok because my magic GL turret destroys stuff super quick).
 
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