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Halo |OT8| A Salt on the Control Room

You're all a bunch of dweebs.

I prefer dorks, but I'll settle for this.

George_Clooney_laughing.jpg
 
There ain't so many skins really, it seems. And two of the fifteen weapons are tied to pre-order or limited edition (bolded them).

EDIT No skin for Storm Rifle? Also, the only skin we haven't seen is the Light Rifle's skin, the rest are unlocked via specializations.

Light rifle skin comes with LE Console.

Halo_4_Limited_edition_console_download_content_digital.jpeg
 

Arnie

Member
I'd much rather play a Halo w/ a good population- a "competitive" Halo just wouldn't sell today. Reach had it's problems that stifled it's population (not being called 4- social progression was too few, too slow), but you'd still be hard pressed to find a current FPS that was more "competitive."

Competitive Halo thrived 5 years ago because they had a decent monopoly on the market.

Still believe adding more socially friendly aspects doesn't mean competitive needs to be removed- nor do I think it is.
So essentially your post breaks down to 'I'd rather play a Halo/COD hybrid than play Halo with a smaller population.'

I don't agree. Halo can sustain itself just fine, and it didn't have a monopoly of the market in 2007, so I don't know where you pulled that from. A numbered Halo game will sell buckets regardless of create a class, perks, prestige, killstreak rewards (ordnance), or any other feature plundered from COD and given a science fiction art pass.

I think the core game looks great, but the peripheral changes they've made have as much chance of combining to turn Halo fans away as they do bringing COD fans over. Respected people here who've played it have stressed that there is the potential for huge gameplay imbalance due to the many perks now available (I honestly have forgotten the name they're giving them, genuinely).

Halo doesn't require a gameplay imbalance such as this to be successful, and simply ripping it from the slew of shooters currently doing it is lazy and against the franchise' tradition of moving in it's own path, creating a fresh brand of fun that wins the minds of audiences for it's unique innovation, rather than it's ability to plunder from others.

Getting boned by randomness is not my idea of fun.

Same, and considering the likes of Ghaleon said the potential for that in this game is very large, my expectations aren't very high, at least at launch when I expect the playlists to be shit (and pushing 343's 'flagship' game types).

Luke Smith said it best in a Reach vidoc when he said Halo's about the better man always surviving, more so than ever that isn't the case in Halo 4. The element of chance, luck, and dice rolling is at an all time high, regardless of the bloom situation.
 
I'll get 'em to who ever wants 'em. I got lockout, hang 'em high, and chillout...plus complex and facility from goldeneye/perfect dark.

Also, who wants the game for free?
RQJB8-K964B-H6HQD-XBDH2-XG9Q3
QGDHB-33T8B-6PB7J-DRG6Y-MPQD6

How did you get the codes out of interest?

How is the game, for that price im VERY tempted to buy, I havent tried the trial yet but was wondering if people here would recommend it as a good substitute for Halo 1?
 

Talents

Banned
So essentially your post breaks down to 'I'd rather play a Halo/COD hybrid than play Halo with a smaller population.'

I don't agree. Halo can sustain itself just fine, and it didn't have a monopoly of the market in 2007, so I don't know where you pulled that from. A numbered Halo game will sell buckets regardless of create a class, perks, prestige, killstreak rewards (ordnance), or any other feature plundered from COD and given a science fiction art pass.

I think the core game looks great, but the peripheral changes they've made have as much chance of combining to turn Halo fans away as they do bringing COD fans over. Respected people here who've played it have stressed that there is the potential for huge gameplay imbalance due to the many perks now available (I honestly have forgotten the name they're giving them, genuinely).

Halo doesn't require a gameplay imbalance such as this to be successful, and simply ripping it from the slew of shooters currently doing it is lazy and against the franchise' tradition of moving in it's own path, creating a fresh brand of fun that wins the minds of audiences for it's unique innovation, rather than it's ability to plunder from others.

approved%20stamp.png
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
How did you get the codes out of interest?

How is the game, for that price im VERY tempted to buy, I havent tried the trial yet but was wondering if people here would recommend it as a good substitute for Halo 1?

It's a lot of fun, I'd recommend it for the price definitely and when I was playing with U4IX and Cyren yesterday there didn't seem to be any connection issues.
 

Defect

Member
Since Weapon skins count as a separate weapon, does that mean by getting the Console and redeeming the Light Rifle skin it grants you early access to the Light Rifle?
 

Woorloog

Banned
Light rifle skin comes with LE Console.

http://stickskills.com/omega/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Halo_4_Limited_edition_console_download_content_digital.jpeg[img][/QUOTE]

Oh, great.

So, no Storm Rifle skin and we've seen all the rest. They look all pretty bad.

Golden skins for all the weapons would have been cool. Or some other precious metallic looking ones. Or how about human weapons covered in Covenant alloys or Covie weapons plated with steel used in human weapons?

The skins in Halo 4 currently are just boring patterns that are pretty ugly.


[quote="Defect, post: 41915714"]Since Weapon skins count as a separate weapon, does that mean by getting the Console and redeeming the Light Rifle skin it grants you early access to the Light Rifle?[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily. It is possible you still need to unlock the weapon itself before the skin is unlocked.
But also possible... i hope that isn't the case.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Since Weapon skins count as a separate weapon, does that mean by getting the Console and redeeming the Light Rifle skin it grants you early access to the Light Rifle?

I would imagine so.

Also, I'd like more info on the light rifle being 4sk over the DMR/BR. I did notice the light rifle seems to have a significantly slower zoomed in fire rate though.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I would imagine so.

Also, I'd like more info on the light rifle being 4sk over the DMR/BR. I did notice the light rifle seems to have a significantly slower zoomed in fire rate though.

Doesn't the LR fire 3 round bursts while unscoped but scoped it fires slower, single shots that use up 3 rounds at time and doing more damage?
 
Well, to be fair, we know that's only in certain playlists.

That said, those will be the most popular playlists.
Let's be honest, there will be one playlist that has restricted loadouts and such.
Doesn't the LR fire 3 round bursts while unscoped but scoped it fires slower, single shots that use up 3 rounds at time and doing more damage?

It has different damage properties and zoomed and unzoomed. I think we have surmised that it's a 4sk with zoomed and 5sk without. 12 shots in the clip, regardless of zoomed or not. Very powerful weapon.

Queued Murder Miners to DL, I'll play it later today.
 

JFizzle

Neo Member
next time you should hide the codes in Email tags.
But nice of you, is there already a GAF thread for it?

No but I wish somebody would make one! :D
Or you could just go post on our forums.

I'm guessing the only way to get maps from other people is to play on them and save it during a match?

Yeah but if you join or save when anything is destroyed they will also be destroyed in your saved version. So you have to join at the very start of the match and click "save map" or go to recent maps and do that.

Yeah, all the maps you play will be temporarily saved automatically in your recent maps list (but they'll be gone once you exit out to dashboard.) Once you manually save them you got 'em for good. I just hooked Overdoziz up with some maps.


How did you get the codes out of interest?

I'm one of the developers!
 

Woorloog

Banned
It has different damage properties and zoomed and unzoomed. I think we have surmised that it's a 4sk with zoomed and 5sk without. 12 shots in the clip, regardless of zoomed or not. Very powerful weapon.

It does sound very interesting and powerful.
But it also sounds kinda hard to master.
Flexible weapon probably, offering both the BR and DMR in the same package.
 

Amazing Mic

Neo Member
So essentially your post breaks down to 'I'd rather play a Halo/COD hybrid than play Halo with a smaller population.'

I don't agree. Halo can sustain itself just fine, and it didn't have a monopoly of the market in 2007, so I don't know where you pulled that from. A numbered Halo game will sell buckets regardless of create a class, perks, prestige, killstreak rewards (ordnance), or any other feature plundered from COD and given a science fiction art pass.

I think the core game looks great, but the peripheral changes they've made have as much chance of combining to turn Halo fans away as they do bringing COD fans over. Respected people here who've played it have stressed that there is the potential for huge gameplay imbalance due to the many perks now available (I honestly have forgotten the name they're giving them, genuinely).

Halo doesn't require a gameplay imbalance such as this to be successful, and simply ripping it from the slew of shooters currently doing it is lazy and against the franchise' tradition of moving in it's own path, creating a fresh brand of fun that wins the minds of audiences for it's unique innovation, rather than it's ability to plunder from others.

I'd rather play "Halo" with a bigger population, but that isn't going to happen. This number of Halo fans potentially being turned away is incredibly small. These hardcore Halo fans that left Reach, where did they go? H3? That's such a small percentage. Did they stop playing FPS? Doubt it.

I'm going to play whatever H4's most competitive offerings are- just like I did with Reach. But, for example, I watched the Arena only gain a respectable population when there was a credit jackpot. Everyone can talk til their face turns blue about settings and competitiveness- which I love- but it won't make the game healthy. Sad, but I'm completely convinced of that.

The majority of the old competitive community was just "socials" in disguise- fascinated by the shiniest thing in front of them. As far as that 2007 monopoly. MW had come out late 07, and that empire didn't show up overnight. I can't think of another title that would even come close to H3 in online capabilities around then.

So yeah, I'd rather give have these changes when compared w/ the option of waiting 30-minutes for an onyx level Arena match- having to search 2s if I want to play w/ friends- because the pool is so small.
 
Luke Smith said it best in a Reach vidoc when he said Halo's about the better man always surviving, more so than ever that isn't the case in Halo 4. The element of chance, luck, and dice rolling is at an all time high, regardless of the bloom situation.

Before I ask you to elaborate on this, can you tell me if Starcraft 2 at the highest level is competitive?

Because I seem to be coming up short when I think of gameplay additions which rely heavily on luck or dice rolls. We already know recoil in this game is predictable (ie. without randomness).

I think what you believe to be luck is the ability to change your loadout. I know Ghaleon had said he almost felt apologetic for using the Thruster AA as well as unlimited sprint at some point but was it luck that let him beat other players using that or was it strategy? If the optimal strategy was to use that AA then where is the luck in what is a very open choice?

The thing with Starcraft is that there are 3 completely different races wach with dosens of strategies and build orders that can drastically change the game. The highest level of play doesn't ust restrict it to one race and a specific build so that the real skill comes simply from how fast players can perform all the actions. While that is definitely an important part of higher level play, the difference comes from the stratey each player rolls with. Yes certain units will absolutely demolish other units but there are mos certainly always counters and there is never an 'optimal' strategy. I can't remember the last time I heard 'Zerg Rush' being mentioned but I know for a while it was the thing to do to kinda get an upper hand. What changed? Strategies. People learned how to counter this one strategy.

To apply this to Halo, I don't agree that because someone chose Thruster and beat me while I had Hologram that somehow they were lucky or they beat me by chance. I chose my strategy. I chose something I thought could give me the upper hand. If someone identified I had Hologram and so didn't fall for it and then beat me, was that luck?

I just hope that the imperfect balance exists in 4 as it does in Starcraft.
 
Oh awesome! Im loving the Halo 1 influence! It kind of looks like you guys went out of your way to make Halo 1 playable over live, and added a cool map building element, looks awesome, cant wait to try the trial!

Man I found out someone I knew like a few years back made millions from App development, I really need to make a app/ indie game/ whatever and try my luck man, wish I was pro-active a few years back :(
 
So yeah, I'd rather give have these changes when compared w/ the option of waiting 30-minutes for an onyx level Arena match- having to search 2s if I want to play w/ friends- because the pool is so small.

the changes that are being made aren't going to help the population.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Kind of wonder if we should start a Murder Miner thread, game is pretty fun lol

EDIT: Missed JFizzles post above me, might make a thread soon.
 
so just listened to Halo 2 OST vol. 1 for the first time in years (usually just listen to CE or halo 3). I forgot how much I dislike the incubus/breaking benjamin songs
 

JFizzle

Neo Member
Oh awesome! Im loving the Halo 1 influence! It kind of looks like you guys went out of your way to make Halo 1 playable over live, and added a cool map building element, looks awesome, cant wait to try the trial!

Yep, that was definitely our goal from the beginning. We miss Halo 1!


The trial lasts like 5 minutes. Be aware of that.

It's actually 8 minutes, but yeah it sucks, we have no control over that.
 

Arnie

Member
I'd rather play "Halo" with a bigger population, but that isn't going to happen. This number of Halo fans potentially being turned away is incredibly small. These hardcore Halo fans that left Reach, where did they go? H3? That's such a small percentage. Did they stop playing FPS? Doubt i.
Why? Do you really believe the population of Halo 4 would've been meagre and somehow debilitating without these divisive changes?

I know many players who loved Halo 3 but never stuck with Reach because of the gameplay changes, and, crucially, the removal of the 1-50 system. Don't want to talk about that too much because it's been done to death, but it was unique to Halo, and a part of the enjoyment for a huge proportion of the playerbase; My friends who've turned their back on Halo, who aren't into COD may I add, aren't what you would call 'competitive' at all.
Before I ask you to elaborate on this, can you tell me if Starcraft 2 at the highest level is competitive?

Because I seem to be coming up short when I think of gameplay additions which rely heavily on luck or dice rolls. We already know recoil in this game is predictable (ie. without randomness).

I think what you believe to be luck is the ability to change your loadout. I know Ghaleon had said he almost felt apologetic for using the Thruster AA as well as unlimited sprint at some point but was it luck that let him beat other players using that or was it strategy? If the optimal strategy was to use that AA then where is the luck in what is a very open choice?

The thing with Starcraft is that there are 3 completely different races wach with dosens of strategies and build orders that can drastically change the game. The highest level of play doesn't ust restrict it to one race and a specific build so that the real skill comes simply from how fast players can perform all the actions. While that is definitely an important part of higher level play, the difference comes from the stratey each player rolls with. Yes certain units will absolutely demolish other units but there are mos certainly always counters and there is never an 'optimal' strategy. I can't remember the last time I heard 'Zerg Rush' being mentioned but I know for a while it was the thing to do to kinda get an upper hand. What changed? Strategies. People learned how to counter this one strategy.

To apply this to Halo, I don't agree that because someone chose Thruster and beat me while I had Hologram that somehow they were lucky or they beat me by chance. I chose my strategy. I chose something I thought could give me the upper hand. If someone identified I had Hologram and so didn't fall for it and then beat me, was that luck?

I just hope that the imperfect balance exists in 4 as it does in Starcraft.
My response to this is going to be admittedly limited because I haven't played Starcraft 2, so I can't dissect the analogy too much. What I will say though is that the fundamental difference between the two genres makes comparing the game from a macro level seem, to me, wonky.

The enjoyment and thrill attained from a game like Starcraft is learning to read and build in accordance with what you think the opponent will be doing in any situation; that's not the same as a randomer picking a special reload boost that just happens to give them an advantage in combat. In Halo it's combat that's the deciding factor, not the 'strategy', because that's how Halo's always positioned itself within the shooter genre, and that's the corner of the genre that is most competitive.

You were correct in my labelling of 'chance, luck, and dice rolling', and by that I meant things like the perks and ordnance. Whilst the changes aren't huge, they are enough to tip the fight in a player's favour regardless of their grasp of the core mechanics. In a shooter that isn't rewarding, this isn't an RTS game. It's not enjoyable to be respawning because the opponent had an innate advantage, and these perks don't balance off each other like a strategy game because the layer of combat is monumentally more involved; in Starcraft you're clicking to engage, in Halo it's a much more intimate experience.
 
so just listened to Halo 2 OST vol. 1 for the first time in years (usually just listen to CE or halo 3). I forgot how much I dislike the incubus/breaking benjamin songs

I think they're good save for Hoobastank's stupid Connected [-] thing. They just wouldn't be in actual encounters (minus Follow), so props to bungle for just keeping them on the soundtrack.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Yep, that was definitely our goal from the beginning. We miss Halo 1!




It's actually 8 minutes, but yeah it sucks, we have no control over that.

Understandable, I tossed my money to you guys just because something like this should be supported anyway.

Looking forward to the updates. Any plans to have a bigger open world in the survival mode at all?
 
My response to this is going to be admittedly limited because I haven't played Starcraft 2, so I can't dissect the analogy too much. What I will say though is that the fundamental difference between the two genres makes comparing the game from a macro level seem, to me, wonky.

The enjoyment and thrill attained from a game like Starcraft is learning to read and build in accordance with what you think the opponent will be doing in any situation; that's not the same as a randomer picking a special reload boost that just happens to give them an advantage in combat. In Halo it's combat that's the deciding factor, not the 'strategy', because that's how Halo's always positioned itself within the shooter genre, and that's the corner of the genre that is most competitive.

You were correct in my labelling of 'chance, luck, and dice rolling', and by that I meant things like the perks and ordnance. Whilst the changes aren't huge, they are enough to tip the fight in a player's favour regardless of their grasp of the core mechanics. In a shooter that isn't rewarding, this isn't an RTS game. It's not enjoyable to be respawning because the opponent had an innate advantage, and these perks don't balance off each other like a strategy game because the layer of combat is monumentally more involved; in Starcraft you're clicking to engage, in Halo it's a much more intimate experience.

I just don't see how your opponent can have an innate advantage over the combat but you can't? Surely what you are picking is going to give you the innate advantage in whatever area of combat it relates to. The combat is so varied that I absolutely believe there is room for strategic thinking in how you play.

I understand the frustration you might feel if someone outstrafed you with a Thruster while you only had Camo. You're argument would perhaps be that from the spawn, your opponent was always going to be able to outstrafe you, which is totally true. The layer of strategy for me comes about when, as a Camo player, you can severely reduce the amount of time you need t spend strafing because you can get the drop on people and get more shots in first.

The fact that dying isn't so heavily punished in Slayer only modes with the addition of instant respawn leads me to believe that players should totally be swapping out to different playstyles midmatch. If I am using Camo but I continuously get killed by a PV user, I should switch to Hologram to mess with them. What would they choose to counter your Hologram with?

I like that there is seemingly a deeper level of combat this time around. I mean, all this talk of possible strategies and that's ignoring the far more strategic objective gametypes. I cannot wait to see the higher level of play that comes from 4. I look at Campaign getting a really well working set of enemies and I would like to think that teams in War Games would be just as cohesive and gelled together, whilst at the same time, each having uniques abilities and traits.
 

Released

Member
Before I ask you to elaborate on this, can you tell me if Starcraft 2 at the highest level is competitive?

Because I seem to be coming up short when I think of gameplay additions which rely heavily on luck or dice rolls. We already know recoil in this game is predictable (ie. without randomness).

I think what you believe to be luck is the ability to change your loadout. I know Ghaleon had said he almost felt apologetic for using the Thruster AA as well as unlimited sprint at some point but was it luck that let him beat other players using that or was it strategy? If the optimal strategy was to use that AA then where is the luck in what is a very open choice?

The thing with Starcraft is that there are 3 completely different races wach with dosens of strategies and build orders that can drastically change the game. The highest level of play doesn't ust restrict it to one race and a specific build so that the real skill comes simply from how fast players can perform all the actions. While that is definitely an important part of higher level play, the difference comes from the stratey each player rolls with. Yes certain units will absolutely demolish other units but there are mos certainly always counters and there is never an 'optimal' strategy. I can't remember the last time I heard 'Zerg Rush' being mentioned but I know for a while it was the thing to do to kinda get an upper hand. What changed? Strategies. People learned how to counter this one strategy.

To apply this to Halo, I don't agree that because someone chose Thruster and beat me while I had Hologram that somehow they were lucky or they beat me by chance. I chose my strategy. I chose something I thought could give me the upper hand. If someone identified I had Hologram and so didn't fall for it and then beat me, was that luck?

I just hope that the imperfect balance exists in 4 as it does in Starcraft.

Aren't you the one who posted a video where Day9 used a baseball/frisbee analogy to demonstrate how BW is a better game than SC2? What Day9 is talking about there is precisely what some Halo fans are concerned about.
 

Overdoziz

Banned
Murder Miners is awesome, all we need now is more Halo maps. I'm planning on remaking Sanctuary some time and Midship should definitely be remade too.
 
Well, now I wanna play Murder Miners. I don't have the points for it, but Im trying out the trial now. Im already in love with the character creation options..so good.


*edit* Damn, I spent too much time in the menu! Time expired as soon as I started playing. :lol

Hate to bring back the armor discussion, but after it was announced Mk VI would be unlocked via beating Legendary, I'm curious how many other armor sets will be unlocked by achievements.

I think I'm the only one in HaloGAF who enjoyed armor through achievements though. :_|

I <3 achievement based armor and vastly prefer it over unlocking in with simple progression.

Fi2tJ.jpg


Just found a shop with this in stock. Tastes good man.

I'm going to try and organise a Mountain Dew foreign exchange program for any US gaffers wanting to try some.

Nice, let us know if you do it! It seems we will get Halo 4 Mountain Dew here, but not the gamefuel.

The digital game art magazine Vertex by Ryan Hawkins is definitely worth a read if you are digital artist. Furthermore the first issue is interesting for the normal Halo fan because Ryan sat down with 343i's lead concept artist Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier. A great person who talks about his approach to the universe, his inspiration sources etc. The best thing? Vertex is available for free!
Cool, thanks for sharing this, Im downloading now.
 
I really hate 'imperfect balance', someone posted a video here a while back and it sounded awful, it seems like its exactly what Halo 4 is going with though. :(
 
Aren't you the one who posted a video where Day9 used a baseball/frisbee analogy to demonstrate how BW is a better game than SC2? What Day9 is talking about there is precisely what some Halo fans are concerned about.

Yeah, that was me. I don't think he was saying BW was a better ame than SC2, only that the units in BW had more depth to them than those of SC2.

I can see the concern and imperfect balance for everyone, but I'd personally rather they added something new rather than strip things away.
 
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