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[Plywood]

ODST didn't help either in terms of what it offered. I love it to death, but I'm a weirdo.

I thought Reach was going to have some kind of ODST and H1 hybrid mission structure. Where in Halo 1 there were some side objectives you could do and ODST you'd go to specific locations and activate a mission, I thought with Reach I'd get:

Overworld/Hub/Traveling

And upon activating a mission it'd come with there own side objectives and such.

It could've also been like Dead Rising with a time limit making you only able stop the covenant for so much before the inevitable Fall of Reach.

 

[Tawpgun]

Going back to the gameplay theorizing discussion at the top of the page, I wouldn't mind a tactical-style Halo game with regular Marines or ODST's and full-power Covenant enemies. Not as Halo 4, mind, but a separate game. Kinda like a Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six (before they became standard arcade shooters) with Halo enemies, where Brutes and Elites are a real challenge and Hunter pairs are RUN THE FUCK AWAY AND CALL IN BACKUP threats, not something you just dance around and fill with lead until it falls over.


And no, ODST does NOT count, since the ODST squad in that game were pretty much Spartan-lite and the game played as such. When the announcement trailer came out, I was expecting a more stealthy game where one-on-one with a Brute would be a tough fight and a full pack would be absolutely suicide to attack with anything but a power weapon or vehicle as said trailer implied, and was kinda disappointed that you could just play it like regular Halo with 15% more caution.

I'll be honest, after I was sort of burnt out on Halo 3 I wished ODST to be a game like this and was disappointed.

I'd love to play a spin off like this. It would be a completley different take on the tactical squad based shooter. In all the other ones you are fighting dumb terrorists or soldiers just like you. In this one we would be fighting a stronger enemy and you would need to out think them with strategy and shit to win.

Grunts would be fairly simple. Jackals would require aim. Brutes and Elites would be like bosses. And Hunters.... you gotta really be organized to take those fucks down.

 

[Thagomizer]

ODST was amazing. The atmosphere was top notch, and it probably has my favourite Halo soundtrack.

It's this or Halo 2, and I think I give the edge to ODST due to the lack of butt-rock.

This in particular brings back so many memories.

 

[Thagomizer]

I'll be honest, after I was sort of burnt out on Halo 3 I wished ODST to be a game like this and was disappointed.

I'd love to play a spin off like this. It would be a completley different take on the tactical squad based shooter. In all the other ones you are fighting dumb terrorists or soldiers just like you. In this one we would be fighting a stronger enemy and you would need to out think them with strategy and shit to win.

Grunts would be fairly simple. Jackals would require aim. Brutes and Elites would be like bosses. And Hunters.... you gotta really be organized to take those fucks down.

Sorry for the double post, but I've always wished Hunters were more aggressive and tactical with their fuel rod cannons- they always seem to just patiently fire one bolt at a time and never kill you unless you are unlucky or aren't paying attention. It'd be cool (in an "OH SHIT!") kinda way if, at a certain distance, both Hunters would just start lobbing plasma at you as fast as they can in a sort of saturation bombing, like the FRG grunts do, only far mor lethal.

Hunters just never feel scary like they should unless you are right up close to them. Their CQC has improved a lot, but they are still little threat at range.

Also, smarter deployment of Hunters. Almost every hunter fight so far has been in a wide open space with plenty of room to move- in other words, the perfect terrain for fighting Hunters. Remember in Halo 1, that hunter pair in the Maw? IMO, that was the best hunter fight in any Halo game, because you are in a tight, narrow space with little room to maneuver. You can't just charge in and dance around because they will wreck your face. You have to play smart, retreat, and use the Flood as a distraction to draw them out.

I think a good, intense way to start a Hunter fight is indoors, where you can't dance around. As soon as it sees you, it CHARGES- forcing you to retreat back outside to fight them. Games rarely force you to move backwards in combat- usually, going backwards in the same level means you are just going on an ammo run- and forcing a retreat and literally running for your life would be a cool change of pace.

Basically, think of the Tank from L4D.

 

[Domino Theory]

Part of this was also because, for the vast majority of Halo 2's lifespan, it was the ONLY decent FPS option on the Xbox. Now, Halo has a lot of competition that simply didn't exist back on the original 'box.

Yeah, competiton affected its position in the marketplace as well.

 

[Karl2177]

I'll be honest, after I was sort of burnt out on Halo 3 I wished ODST to be a game like this and was disappointed.

I'd love to play a spin off like this. It would be a completley different take on the tactical squad based shooter. In all the other ones you are fighting dumb terrorists or soldiers just like you. In this one we would be fighting a stronger enemy and you would need to out think them with strategy and shit to win.

Grunts would be fairly simple. Jackals would require aim. Brutes and Elites would be like bosses. And Hunters.... you gotta really be organized to take those fucks down.

The mechanics in Reach would seem to be more fitting to an ODST. He's not a Spartan, so he can't control his gun as well(bloom). He doesn't move fast, so Sprint would be a great addition. The VISR should have a cooldown similar to the way Active Camo recharges when you aren't using it. It would have made the city so much more involving too, like looking for the Superintendent's guides. Add this stuff to yours (and Plywood above you) and it would have made a better game.

 

[NullPointer]

And no, ODST does NOT count, since the ODST squad in that game were pretty much Spartan-lite and the game played as such. When the announcement trailer came out, I was expecting a more stealthy game where one-on-one with a Brute would be a tough fight and a full pack would be absolutely suicide to attack with anything but a power weapon or vehicle as said trailer implied, and was kinda disappointed that you could just play it like regular Halo with 15% more caution.

You're right. I'd love to see a proper ODST with that real human fear. There was still too much spartan in the formula.

It could've also been like Dead Rising with a time limit making you only able stop the covenant for so much before the inevitable Fall of Reach.

While I abhor time limits of all kinds in games, my dream ending for Reach was the last spartans holding off kill teams as the transports headed away - sort of what you did in Exodus, but on a grander level. No matter what, you would die in this fight, but you got a score of sorts in terms of how many civilians were able to escape, with the true achievement being holding out long enough for most of the transports to flee. Saving everyone would be impossible.

 

[Plywood]

You're right. I'd love to see a proper ODST with that real human fear. There was still too much spartan in the formula.

I've said it about three to four times on GAF already but I'd still love to see it:

+

No matter what, you would die in the fight, but you got a score of sorts of how many civilians were able to escape, with the true achievement being holding out long enough for most of the transports to flee. Saving everyone would be impossible.

Well regardless I believe it is almost universally agreed amongst Halo-GAF that Reach's campaign could've been amazing.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Must have gotten Bungie to do that one for them, or they might have Megalo.

I really wish we had custom options for species. Could have set up some really interesting Spartan vs. Elite gametypes.

 

[Thagomizer]

You're right. I'd love to see a proper ODST with that real human fear. There was still too much spartan in the formula.

I've harped on this enough in the last several points, but to whit: an ODST meleeing a Brute in the chest with an SMG, and doing anything other than making the Brute backhand you into next week, is ridiculous.

It's like an MMA fighter getting taken out by a six year old's right hook, non crotch shot.

 

[NullPointer]

I've harped on this enough in the last several points, but to whit: an ODST meleeing a Brute in the chest with an SMG, and doing anything other than making the Brute backhand you into next week, is ridiculous.

Playing solo legendary helped instill some of that dread (and yeah, that Brute backhand is deadly then). And for those who don't think Hunters are scary, you've obviously never been blindsided by one in a dark second floor hallway. I lost like 10 years of my natural life in that moment and almost uttered a little girl scream.

I've said it about three to four times on GAF already but I'd still love to see it:

Ditch the monster closets and I'm game

 

[Thagomizer]

Playing solo legendary helped instill some of that dread (and yeah, that Brute backhand is deadly then). And for those who don't think Hunters are scary, you've obviously never been blindsided by one in a dark second floor hallway. I lost like 10 years of my natural life in that moment and almost uttered a little girl scream.

Yeah, but you can still kill a Brute with a frontal melee, which always feels really silly to me.

I honestly don't remember Hunters in a tight space anywhere besides the Maw.

 

[Devolution]

Just played the most awful game on Uncaged, and some douche went -4. If Halo 4 is sans vote to kick, I'm seriously thinking about forgoing bothering with that shit. Needing a full party every time just to enjoy a game is tiresome.

 

[NullPointer]

I honestly don't remember this happening anywhere besides the Maw.

Happened for me on my first playthrough where the two Hunters appear in a large courtyard very early on. I hadn't noticed the gate opening and letting them (since I cleared the area of enemies and thought I was safe) in as I was exploring a bit through the buildings, some of which had very dark hallways and staircases.

Some hunter must've gone full on ninja, and crept up right behind me in one of those second floor hallways. I turn around and time stopped, almost had a heart attack on the spot. Fired blindly and ran for the hills, ended up jumping off a balcony and running all the way across that courtyard and back to the ammo crates. I might've peed a little.

From that moment on I had that thousand yard stare and single drip of perspiration whenever I slowly crept through the buildings.

 

[Thagomizer]

Happened for me on my first playthrough where the two Hunters appear in a large courtyard very early on. I hadn't noticed the gate opening and letting them (since I cleared the area of enemies and thought I was safe) in as I was exploring a bit through the buildings, some of which had very dark hallways and staircases.

Some hunter must've gone full on ninja, and crept up right behind me in one of those second floor hallways. I turn around and time stopped, almost had a heart attack on the spot. Fired blindly and ran for the hills, ended up jumping off a balcony and running all the way across that courtyard and back to the ammo crates. I might've peed a little.

From that moment on I had that thousand yard stare and single drip of perspiration whenever I slowly crept through the buildings.

Oh, ok, I see what you meant. I just wish that that kind of moment was standard, not an occurrence that will only happen if you don't play the way the game wants you to.

 

[Hey You]

I really wish we had custom options for species. Could have set up some really interesting Spartan vs. Elite gametypes.

Yeah, hopefully 343i will release a gametype, even if its not in MM (which I think it should, not invasion slayer).

 

[The Librarian]

The issue isn't that Halo is losing its popularity to Call of Duty, it's that Halo isn't really gaining many new fans. It seems that those who fell in love with Halo are sticking with Halo and it isn't really going beyond that.

Halo: Reach managed to gain some new consumers with gameplay additions such as the Jetpack, the Armory and credits, but not by much, I imagine.

Look at the sales numbers for Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach's first month on the market. Each has sold 3.3 million units on launch month, afaik.

Halo is withstanding the market nicely with consistency, but it also needs to grow in the market. 343 is attempting this with new Halo novels, new Halo action figures, Halo: Legends for Japanese/Anime users and of course, Halo Anniversary.

Like Phil Spencer said, those who were only 8 years old when Halo CE came out are now 18 years old so Halo Anniversary's release makes perfect sense from a marketing/business perspective and is definitely a fan service (one of the most requested releases for the Halo franchise).

Halo 3 sold 3.3 million units on launch day. Close to 4 million for the month if I recall correctly.

 

[senador]

Man, I just sit here and shake my head reading what most of you want out of 4, blah.

I hate sprint, mainly for the fact that upon spawn you can be right back where you were 5 seconds prior to mop up the kill. I can't tell you how many times I've sprinted back to the guy and got a revenge medal within 10 seconds of dying, heh. It also ruins objective games, if flag juggling was still in it wouldn't matter as much, but here you are running slow as a snail while the other team sprints into position, really lame. I like how MLG locks it out on spawn, but really I would love to just see it gone for good, as someone else said, just because every other FPS on the market has sprinting doesn't mean that Halo needs to fold on its core gameplay and include it.

I just hope 343 can find a middle ground, I'm not delusional enough to think everything they do is going to be a "hardcore" Halo fans wet dream.

I appreciate this response. You said why you dislike something instead of just acting like the reason something should't be in the game is fact.

I noticed a big reason of why I like sprint tonight while playing, and its due to bad spawns. When I have a rough round and start getting bad spawns its hard for me to recover. So to combat that or prevent it on spawn I will sprint to the nearest cover before I do anything else.

Another reason I use it, I noticed, is say on Asylum following someone out into the rock fields for a kill, and getting it, but see several opponents coming, I'll sprint back to cover or my team. I run away, but not in the way you may think. I've played some pretty infuriating rounds where every time shields were popped the other team would run completely away, and just keep going. Its like they were pros at weaseling out of kills. This is not the extent I use it.

On Asylum, I also noticed that I use it to sprint-jump up the side of many ramps to get a head start and be out of the open. Or, if a Jet Packer starts shooting me from god knows where, I'll split too.

I hated feeling locked to a speed in past Halos though. It feels good to get that extra speed, kind of like NullPointer was saying. I really do enjoy using it, but with the reasons I found tonight, better spawns and a faster base speed would help fix some of the problems I use sprint as a solution to.

My 2 cents anyway.

Sprint wouldn't be as valuable as it is if spawns weren't so shitty.

Srs. I would bet my primary use for it is to GTFO of bad spawn. Which reminds me...bad spawns are my number 1 complaint of Reach.

 

[Devolution]

Sprint wouldn't be as valuable as it is if spawns weren't so shitty.

 

[Tunavi]

What game has good spawns?

 

[MrBig]

What game has good spawns?

Battlefields's squad based spawning works well. The concept doesn't work in 16 player arena environments though (see: broslsayer)

 

[thezerofire]

Battlefields's squad based spawning works well. The concept doesn't work in 16 player arena environments though (see: broslsayer)

To be fair, BC2's allows you to spawn when your teammate was fighting, and it doesn't broadcast when you're spawning on someone

 

[senador]

What game has good spawns?

I shouldn't spawn in the middle of firefights.

 

[minasodaboy]

I'm still catching up here, but the discussion has really been great to read these last few pages. Regardless of what Halo 4 turns out to be, I can't wait until the beta to hear everyone's reactions.

It is almost as if the waters of Lake Minnetonka have indeed been purifying.

Goodnight Sweet Prince

Spoiler

OT4

.

 

[Devolution]

What game has good spawns?

I don't recall h2 being this bad.

 

[The Real Napsta]

I don't recall h2 being this bad.

Halo 2 had awful spawns.

Halo CE had amazing spawns in 2v2 if your teammate was good at getting you randoms and spawning you near power ups.

 

[Plywood]

Why is the majority of the competition I face usually in yellow bar and under? Ugh.

 

[The Real Napsta]

Why is the majority of the competition I face usually in yellow bar and under? Ugh.

I'm assuming it's not your connection. What part of the country do you live in?

 

[Plywood]

I'm assuming it's not your connection. What part of the country do you live in?

Northeast.

Filter on Good Connection and My Language.

 

[kittens]

I'm still catching up here, but the discussion has really been great to read these last few pages. Regardless of what Halo 4 turns out to be, I can't wait until the beta to hear everyone's reactions.

It is almost as if the waters of Lake Minnetonka have indeed been purifying.

Goodnight Sweet Prince

Spoiler

OT4

.

omg, please tell me we have a new HaloGAF junior that will make Prince references in every post, cause that's awesome.

 

[feel]

I can't wait until the beta to hear everyone's reactions.

Can't wait for the epic meltdowns when we get the first gameplay info. Including mine if there's a hint of reach in there lol.

omg, please tell me we have a new HaloGAF junior that will make Prince references in every post, cause that's awesome.

hehe he's not new

 

[Devolution]

Halo 2 had awful spawns.

Halo CE had amazing spawns in 2v2 if your teammate was good at getting you randoms and spawning you near power ups.

Depends on the map. Colossus was shit but other maps if you knew how to toss nades or crouch jump worth a shit you were okay.

 

[Trasher]

New beard avatar eh, Devo? You love dem beardz.

 

[FyreWulff]

I'm pretty sure Halo 2's spawn system was based off a roulette wheel simulation run on the host box.

 

[kittens]

Can't wait for the epic meltdowns when we get the first gameplay info. Including mine if there's a hint of reach in there lol.

hehe he's not new

Really? My bad, hah.

As others have said, I've been really enjoying the conversation on the past few pages. A lot of thoughtful, well-explained opinions and analyses. I'm content to read and not chime in myself, but I thought the discussion is a nice ending to OT4.

 

[Devolution]

New beard avatar eh, Devo? You love dem beardz.

Catbeard is superior.

 

[O D I N]

Got my Buninja hoodie today. Along with a little card commemorating the 20th anniversary and thanks from the Bungie Foundation.

I like the 'Bungie' logo on the sleeve.

It smells new and like victory. And tears, which is odd.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Don't blow too far past 20k. I'll post the new thread in about seven hours, when I get up.

 

[Hey You]

Don't blow too far past 20k. I'll post the new thread in about seven hours, when I get up.

Holy crap.

How often do OT's even reach 4? Halogaf must be of the few, if not only.

 

[NullPointer]

Holy crap.

So much bitching.

So much love.

 

[thezerofire]

So much bitching.

So much love.

HaloGaf: We bitch because we love.

 

[Tunavi]

Post-Game Carnage Report for OT4
GhaleonEB 749
Steelyuhas 717
(DNF) Hitmonchan107 680
(DNF) Tashi0106 680
Tunavi 661
A27 Tawpgun 578
Ramirez 572
Dax01 571
MrBig 514
wwm0nkey 493

Get on our level

 

[Ramirez]

The only thing that could have made this game more hilarious was if Fyrewulf was on the blue team.

http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/gamestats.aspx?gameid=701849555&player=TJ Ram

Probably the worst Reach players I've ever encountered.

I finally saved up 2 million credits, the most expensive armory item is now gone.

 

[RebornYeti]

GhaleonEB 749
Steelyuhas 717
(DNF)Hitmonchan107 680
(DNF) Tashi0106 680
Tunavi 661
A27 Tawpgun 578
Ramirez 572
Dax01 571
MrBig 514
wwm0nkey 493

Get on our level

Are those posts in this thread? Oh dear. I probably have like 5 including this one.

 

[Ramirez]

Are those posts in this thread? Oh dear. I probably have like 5 including this one.

That's a lot of unheard crying, am i rite?

 

[PNut]

The only thing that could have made this game more hilarious was if Fyrewulf was on the blue team.

http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/gamestats.aspx?gameid=701849555&player=TJ Ram

Probably the worst Reach players I've ever encountered.

Lol. You know what? I bet those 4 casuals probably laughed it off and searched again and didn't nerd rage in any forum too. That's what sucks. If there was a real incentive for them to win it might be different.

 

[Trasher]

Holy crap. We've posted bitched a lot in these last couple days. 20k here we come!

 

[Plywood]

Post-Game Carnage Report for OT4
GhaleonEB 749
Steelyuhas 717
(DNF) Hitmonchan107 680
(DNF) Tashi0106 680
Tunavi 661
A27 Tawpgun 578
Ramirez 572
Dax01 571
MrBig 514
wwm0nkey 493

Get on our level

All of those post and nothing to say.

 

[RebornYeti]

That's a lot of unheard crying, am i rite?

Yes I spend most of my time lurking, and 80% of that time I'm crying.

You destroy me, HaloGAF.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Are those posts in this thread? Oh dear. I probably have like 5 including this one.

-Yeti 44