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Halo: Reach Beta Thread

CrazedArabMan said:
Longest >>> All other maps

2cogehf.jpg
 

Kapura

Banned
AwesomeSyrup said:
Best Halo map is Blood Gulch. Without question. :D
Have you played it recently? I can count the spawns positions on one hand. However, I loved every Halo CE map with teleporters, the more the better. Chiron TL-34 was awesome. It is a great example of learning the map being the key to success. Practice makes AWESOME.
 
Kapura said:
Have you played it recently? I can count the spawns positions on one hand. However, I loved every Halo CE map with teleporters, the more the better. Chiron TL-34 was awesome. It is a great example of learning the map being the key to success. Practice makes AWESOME.
Yeah that does suck. If only we had it in Halo 3 or Reach, a little Forge could fix that.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
OuterWorldVoice said:
Why did you read all the books if you hated the game story?
He wanted to make sure they were all terrible, so he had no choice to but to support this franchises longevity, but not enjoy it.
 
i like orbital, and visually i think it by far the best looking human map, and one of, if not the best looking map all together.

I'd love to see it return in halo reach as a starting level akin to the beginning of halo 1/2 starting levels. I miss starting in a ship.

snowbound on the other hand... The only thing that I hope remains from that map is the automated turrets and the ability to position them via forge.
 

Monocle

Member
WTF, Bungie just unleashed an unexpected double whammy of awesome: the best podcast and the best Weekly Update of the year so far, a welcome surprise after my post-Beta anxiety about Reach. And E3's just around the corner. This is a great month to be a Halo fan.

I was glad to hear about all the (tentative?) gameplay adjustments mentioned in the podcast, especially the juiced up movement and rebalanced grenades. In the back of my mind there's still a tiny pang of worry that Spartan movement in Reach won't feel as dynamic as it did in the other Halos. We'll see. Sounds like grenades have been fixed, though, and every other change seemed well justified. It was very cool of the guys to address all the major points of concern/rage.

As for the Weekly Update, as much as we all love urk, it has to be said that Sketch earned the right to gloat for having dropped such a delicious payload of science directly into the community's eager...hands. Vehicles look to be drastically improved, and the UI is better than ever. I especially loved the Armory teaser shot because I'm an irrepressible customization freak. That custom Spartan rocked my face off and I'm sending Bungie the bill. (Also: ROFLcopter @ "Tool of Destruction." Right Click -> Save As)

So yeah, the game's looking much better. Go ahead and punch my ticket, 'cause I'm ready to reboard the hype train.

Edit:
EazyB said:
Yeah yeah, you want Halo 3.5, we get it already.
Seriously, right? Keep your Halo out of my Halo, n00berz.
 

pringles

Member
Dirtbag said:
Pretty good rankings, you especially nailed the 1. and 2., Midship and Lockout are a step above everything else imo.. one of the reason for that I believe is that they're not centered around powerweapons like so many other maps.

I have to say one of my favorite maps of all time though is one that people never talk about: Colossus! Brilliant underrated map that will most likely never see a re-make.. which considering how Blackout turned out maybe isn't so bad.
 

Magni

Member
Cocopjojo said:
I need the following achievements in Halo 2 Vista.
Who wants to help me get them?
RIGHT NOW (maybe not..)

I need 'em too :D Can't play right now, I've got a final and an oral presentation to prepare for tomorrow, but we'll find a time =) SAE Magni
 
Monocle said:
WTF, Bungie just unleashed an unexpected double whammy of awesome: the best podcast and the best Weekly Update of the year so far, a welcome surprise after my post-Beta anxiety about Reach.

As for the Weekly Update, as much as we all love urk, it has to be said that Sketch earned the right to gloat for having dropped such a delicious payload of science directly into the community's eager...hands.
Hey now, go easy on Irk. He's a sensitive kind of guy. I hear he still wets the bed at night.

pringles said:
Pretty good rankings, you especially nailed the 1. and 2., Midship and Lockout are a step above everything else imo.. one of the reason for that I believe is that they're not centered around powerweapons like so many other maps.
I'm not a huge midship fan. I think one thing that has always bothered me about midship is the ability for players to get on the roofing of the 2 side platforms leading to the sword, or at least one of them. That ruins the map hands down in my book. I can't stand it when I see people up there. I like games where people are where you'd expect them to be. That spot has never seemed like a place that you're supposed to be able to reach, even though I know that testers would have easily figured out that you can get up there; so I guess it is. >:-(
 
Deputy Moonman said:
Hey now, go easy on Irk. He's a sensitive kind of guy. I hear he still wets the bed at night.


I'm not a huge midship fan. I think one thing that has always bothered me about midship is the ability for players to get on the roofing of the 2 side platforms leading to the sword, or at least one of them. That ruins the map hands down in my book. I can't stand it when I see people up there. I like games where people are where you'd expect them to be. That spot has never seemed like a place that you're supposed to be able to reach, even though I know that testers would have easily figured out that you can get up there; so I guess it is. >:-(

I guess that spots fair game, your pretty vulnerable up there. For some odd reason I loved Midship, but cant stand Heretic, I know its a straight port, but it just feels wrong, like really cloustrophobic. It feels like im constantly stuck on the scenery, and the sight lines seem a lot smaller aswell, maybe its just the FoV which makes it seem so much more restricted, but ive never felt like that on any of the other remakes.

I doubt many people will agree with me, but I think the multiplayer maps should all be about as detailed as Hang em High was, I love good aesthetics, but not when they interfere with the gameplay.
 
Thinking about the pit in halo 3, they removed the spawns up in the buildings right? reading these lists I suddenly realised that for quite a while now I have not spawned up in one. Was annoying when it was shotty snipers on that map :p
 
bobs99 ... said:
I doubt many people will agree with me, but I think the multiplayer maps should all be about as detailed as Hang em High was, I love good aesthetics, but not when they interfere with the gameplay.
I'm following you. Aesthetics are nice, but they have little if nothing to do with how well a map plays. Case in point: Hang'em High (as you said); it wasn't a super detailed map by any stretch of the imagination, but it played great. Although that could be said for almost any of the Halo:CE maps. Damnation, Longest, Chillout, Wizard, and Derelict were all pretty bland as far as decorations were concerned.

But imagine the rest of the community freaking out when they don't see 500% improved graphics. Nothing cracked me up more than following the Reach thread and seeing all the people determine whether or not they were excited for Reach based solely on graphics. Comments like, "Oh this looks like Halo3... consider me unimpressed." lawlx100 :lol In my opinion, when it comes to the multiplayer side of a game, aesthetics should be the absolute last thing worked on, anyway. Solid gameplay, physics, etc. will alway be able to compensate for lesser graphics, whereas good graphics are a joke if the game doesn't play well.

EDIT: While I'm thinking about it, I might as well add my thoughts on Valhalla. It wasn't a bad map, but I didn't care for it. If we lumped all of the Halo maps together, it would fall somewhere right in the middle of my list.
 

Dirtbag

Member
I think the problem with remakes is that they rarely work in the new game.
So many little changes to movement speed and jump heights and the weapon sandbox completely changes what made the past map great.
I think its why I really can't stand map remakes in halo. The only ones that felt like an improvement to me were Avalanche and Coagulation (and Coag only slightly). In the case of Avalanche/Sidewinder, they are so different you might not recognize the two next to each other, and they don't come close to playing the same way.

Especially now in Reach more then ever, maps need to be designed to play into the strengths/weaknesses of the game. I think the broad changes have completely re-wrote what will constitute a good/bad Reach map. To be honest, I can't imagine what a map like Lockout or Hang'em High would even play like with jetpacks and to a lesser extent armorlock & camo.
Imagine Midship with Armorlock now, all those sweet stickies ruined...
Imagine Hang'em High with Jetpacks everywhere, pretty much devoid of all cover now.
Imagine Zanzibar 1-flag with all the AA's attacking the flag, think of how hard it would be to keep a team from getting the flag now.
Imagine lockout and traversing from the BR1, straight up to BR3 with a jetpack. Or going back up from shotgun to under glass... or snipe 1 to 3... Imagine what the new 'improved' radar would do to lockout.
 

pringles

Member
Deputy Moonman said:
I'm not a huge midship fan. I think one thing that has always bothered me about midship is the ability for players to get on the roofing of the 2 side platforms leading to the sword, or at least one of them. That ruins the map hands down in my book. I can't stand it when I see people up there. I like games where people are where you'd expect them to be. That spot has never seemed like a place that you're supposed to be able to reach, even though I know that testers would have easily figured out that you can get up there; so I guess it is. >:-(
That's true, I hate that spot. Doesn't break the map, but if you're facing douchebags who insist on getting up there all the time it gets tiresome. Usually a well placed plasma grenade or two will take care of them though.. which brings me to one of the reasons I love Midship so much: Plasma grenade starts! Should be way more maps with that in Halo.
 

Blueblur1

Member
bobs99 ... said:
I guess that spots fair game, your pretty vulnerable up there. For some odd reason I loved Midship, but cant stand Heretic, I know its a straight port, but it just feels wrong, like really cloustrophobic. It feels like im constantly stuck on the scenery, and the sight lines seem a lot smaller aswell, maybe its just the FoV which makes it seem so much more restricted, but ive never felt like that on any of the other remakes.

I doubt many people will agree with me, but I think the multiplayer maps should all be about as detailed as Hang em High was, I love good aesthetics, but not when they interfere with the gameplay.
Hang 'em High was great and all but I'd like some eye candy at the very least.
 
Am I the only one that hates the new radar? As if knowing the direction of an incoming opponent wasn't enough, now you know exactly where that player is without ever actually seeing them. Campers will multiply ten-fold this fall.
 

Gui_PT

Member
Stormtrooper30 said:
Am I the only one that hates the new radar? As if knowing the direction of an incoming opponent wasn't enough, now you know exactly where that player is without ever actually seeing them. Campers will multiply ten-fold this fall.

Eh, I had no problem with camping during the Beta. Don't think that'll happen.
 

Blueblur1

Member
Stormtrooper30 said:
Am I the only one that hates the new radar? As if knowing the direction of an incoming opponent wasn't enough, now you know exactly where that player is without ever actually seeing them. Campers will multiply ten-fold this fall.
Actually, it's the one thing I really miss now that I've gone back to Halo 3. I really liked knowing whether or not someone was about to come around the corner. Less paranoia = good times.
 
Gui_PT said:
Eh, I had no problem with camping during the Beta. Don't think that'll happen.

Yeah I can't remember a single instance of camping in the beta. And seems to me like the new radar will do just the opposite. Knowing where more people are more often will reduce the instances of camping.
 
Gui_PT said:
Eh, I had no problem with camping during the Beta. Don't think that'll happen.

Sword base was aweful for it, the campers knew if people were gonna come up lift, or through the doorway. I think though that the lift room wouldnt be a problem if that doorway was widened to make it easier to attack the people there.

Its a bit like Orbital, tight 90% corners and small doorways dont work well.
 

Gui_PT

Member
bobs99 ... said:
Sword base was aweful for it, the campers knew if people were gonna come up lift, or through the doorway. I think though that the lift room wouldnt be a problem if that doorway was widened to make it easier to attack the people there.

Its a bit like Orbital, tight 90% corners and small doorways dont work well.

Yeah, that was the only problem. I remember Dax camping on the yellow lift with a shotgun.

For shame.

That'd actually be a good solution.
 

Blueblur1

Member
Sword Base also had some walls where grenades wouldn't bounce off with much force. I would throw grenades at a wall/side of the doorway to bounce the 'nade into the lift room and instead of bouncing off into the room as expected it would simply hit the wall and practically just fall flat. It made it easier for the campers to camp.
 
Blueblur1 said:
Sword Base also had some walls where grenades wouldn't bounce off with much force. I would throw grenades at a wall/side of the doorway to bounce the 'nade into the lift room and instead of bouncing off into the room as expected it would simply hit the wall and practically just fall flat. It made it easier for the campers to camp.

Thats by design I think, (which sucks), I guess super powerful nades would be tooo overpowered if they could be bounced anywhere. I think it would be better if they were nerfed on a power standpoint, but more versatile from a use standpoint as it stands they almost play like Plasma nades, but without the sticking qualities.

What worries me is that when Bungie discuss the power of the nades, they discuss it in terms of how many it takes to kill a Spartan from full shield to death, while letting the shields recharge inbetween. Rarely does gameplay work like that, throughout the beta I found myself losing a tiny amount of shields and getting blasted away by a single nade, I guess the busted health meter was more to blame for that than the nades though.

Thinking about it, the majority of my issues with the Reach beta can probably be linked to the UI not working as intended in some way, which is a good thing, because now that the UI is fixed the full game wont feel so random.
 
Stormtrooper30 said:
Am I the only one that hates the new radar? As if knowing the direction of an incoming opponent wasn't enough, now you know exactly where that player is without ever actually seeing them. Campers will multiply ten-fold this fall.
I loved the radar in Reach. Halo 3's seems, uh - what's the best word here? - "fuzzy" by comparison.
 

Dirtbag

Member
Dax01 said:
I loved the radar in Reach. Halo 3's seems, uh - what's the best word here? - "fuzzy" by comparison.

I was hot and cold on it. I think it needs some limited vertical range similar to the horizontal range. I think its fine that you can see someone in close range below you, but I think when you start stacking multiple floors or just long floors apart, it gets extreme (swordbase example - top of both lifts vs. basement / 1st floor levels.. its too much).
 

Walshicus

Member
Midship and Lockout would be top of my list of worst Halo maps. Hate them.

Blood Gulch, Sidewinder, Headlong, Zanzibar, Turf, Relic, Valhalla... best.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Sir Fragula said:
Midship and Lockout would be top of my list of worst Halo maps. Hate them.

Blood Gulch, Sidewinder, Headlong, Zanzibar, Turf, Relic, Valhalla... best.
Another BTB fan, I see. My preferences in maps are highly influenced by whether there's a Warthog cruising around or not. It's one of the reasons I'm really interested in the rest of the Reach MP maps: we didn't really get a taste for what they're like in the Beta.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Another BTB fan, I see. My preferences in maps are highly influenced by whether there's a Warthog cruising around or not. It's one of the reasons I'm really interested in the rest of the Reach MP maps: we didn't really get a taste for what they're like in the Beta.
f0rj8x.png
 

Magni

Member
I saw that anime girl pop up in the OT, but what's the source thread..?

Frag, I generally agree with you, but Lockout and Midship the worst maps of Halo? boothisman.gif
 

Kibbles

Member
Regarding the update: Since when has Shishka became a MP Map Designer? Maybe this is a map he's making with the new map editor mode?
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Kibbles said:
Regarding the update: Since when has Shishka became a MP Map Designer? Maybe this is a map he's making with the new map editor mode?
He's been a MP map designer for years. Not sure if he came back to the team in time for Halo 3's design stage, I don't recall the timing of when he left Certain Affinity. (Bang up job on Age of Booty, BTW.)
MagniHarvald said:
I saw that anime girl pop up in the OT, but what's the source thread..?
The OT is a strange and wonderful place.
 

Blueblur1

Member
http://www.nobleactual.com/

ZBR

Yes, I know it’s been way too long since I last posted.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of madness because we’re bringing this giant game in for a landing. I won’t lie, there’s been some turbulence and some areas of the game are coming in hot, but we’ve got the landing gear down, the runway is visible, and the engines are throttling back.

In the midst of this 24/7 period of crunch for the game, we are heading for ZBR (zero bug release). We have a huge team of testers who are hammering on the game in every way possible and logging tons of bugs about things that are broken, look bad or finding exploits that make the game just plain silly. Then, the development team is tasked with triaging all of these bugs every day and determining which ones are things we must fix and how we should prioritize them over other bugs. The goal is that our fix rate for bugs is higher than the incoming rate, so we can crush all these nasty critters by ZBR. It’s tough work, but ultimately this kind of diligence on our part means that you all get to have a better gameplay experience when you have it in your hands this Fall.

That said, we are still having fun with last minute “fixes” (which some could argue are really new features – shhh, don’t tell Harold, our CEO). For instance, I just came in today and met with our campaign design lead, Chris Opdahl, and he showed me something he and the engineers cooked up yesterday with vehicles vs. biped physics that I’ve been begging to see happen since I started Halo1 back in late 90s. I won’t spoil the fun by telling you what it is, but needless to say, it will make you a very happy player to finally see this.

-Marcus
 
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