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[The Librarian]

So, how would you guys like the game to end? Be the Spartan that ended up on the Pillar of Autumn with John, or be the group still on Reach that takes out the Covenant fleet? Either would be great, but I'd rather have it tie in with the first Halo game by being on board the PoA at the end of the game (I'm very ignorant of Halo lore; I wasn't even aware that there was another Spartan on board).

The Spartan to which you are referring is Linda, who was revived and helped John when he returned to Reach in "First Strike."

She's now trapped in the Forerunner shield world with Kelly, Fred, Dr. Halsey, SCPO Mendez, and several Spartan IIIs.

 

[bigGIRLSblouse]

And don't even get me started on Forge. No one should call that "revolutionary" or use it as a crutch for the graphics, especially considering FarCry 2 has a full map editor that does everything Forge does and then some.

So Far Cry 2 allowed you to edit a map with friends online at the same time? I had more fun just goofing off in this mode than I did with my entire time playing Far Cry 2.

 

[Major Williams]

MIA - but not officially dead yet either:

Gray team - Jai-006, Adriana-111, Mike

Spirit of Fire Spartans - Douglas-042, Jerome-092, Alice-130

One Retired - Maria-062

Plus 4 more of the 33 who survived the augmentation have yet to be named, if i recall correctly.

So there are quite a few in addition to Kelly and Fred.

Also, just finished Pariah in Halo Evolutions - a Spartan candidate is still MIA: Soren-066. Though, he's not an official Spartan that was ever in active duty. He IS on the planet Reach when his

Spoiler

Longsword crashes

though, so he may show up in-game, though I highly doubt it. A reference to him would be neat though.


Edit: I actually think it would be pretty neat to see Dr. Halsey in-game as long as they don't ruin her character as it's presented in the novels. She has such a powerful presence and IS the reason for the whole Spartan-II program in the first place.

 

[EazyB]

So Far Cry 2 allowed you to edit a map with friends online at the same time? I had more fun just goofing off in this mode than I did with my entire time playing Far Cry 2.

Eh, I've never had a serious forging session with a second person, nor have I spent that much time goofing around with multiple people in forge that I'd sacrifice Far Cry 2 features for the ability to continue to do so.

Far Cry 2 has its faults. Its map editor is not one of them.

 

[Pete Rock]

Also, anyone who was into "serious" forging (lol) quickly realized that it was absolutely pointless to Forge with multiple people due to the minute discrepancies that are apparent after the host saves and reloads the maps for all the clients.

 

[squidhands]

That's Linda. You'd be hanging with the Chief for the game, they don't do any Reach land-side stuff, have a big space operation. She's not in a pretty state come the end of it (why she's not in Halo CE). She's in cryostasis for a good reason (not space travel).

Oh; nevermind, then. I got from that article that Linda was grievously wounded on Reach and was able to get aboard PoA. I do kind of like the idea of doing some space-faring, even if it's going from a ship to Reach Station Gamma. Any reasons why some space battle action wouldn't be good for the Halo franchise? After seeing the Booster Frames in action, I'll admit I wouldn't mind using one in game.

 

[Ramirez]

Oh bullshit. You sound like an insecure fanboy screaming "bias" because someone calls it like they see it.

Halo 3 had great lighting and that was about it. The jaggies were downright ridiculous and unacceptable. Had there been at least 2x AA, then the game would look much better. You're honestly going to say "but we can smack the dead bodies around" as an excuse for subpar visuals compared to other games? Halo 3 is doing a lot, but that doesn't mean the game can't look leaps and bounds better and run at a steady framerate. And don't even get me started on Forge. No one should call that "revolutionary" or use it as a crutch for the graphics, especially considering FarCry 2 has a full map editor that does everything Forge does and then some.

Can we hope to see more of your idiotic posts from the Halo 3 thread in the Halo Reach thread? I've missed you.

 

[TTG]

Eh, I've never had a serious forging session with a second person, nor have I spent that much time goofing around with multiple people in forge that I'd sacrifice Far Cry 2 features for the ability to continue to do so.

Far Cry 2 has its faults. Its map editor is not one of them.

But don't you see? The character models suck because you can drop stuff in real time in Forge.

 

[NullPointer]

But don't you see? The character models suck because you can drop stuff in real time in Forge.

Maybe we can come to a middle ground here. At the start of Halo: Reach you're given the opportunity to "forge" your own gaming experience. Saved games and theater mode? That's 50$ out of your Forge budget, or you can replace it with 2xAA for the same cost. Ditching split-screen saves you another $40 you can spend on upping the game's resolution.

Its almost too perfect ;P

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Ditching split-screen saves you another $40 you can spend on upping the game's resolution.

I would riot. People would be hurt.

 

[TTG]

Maybe we can come to a middle ground here. At the start of Halo: Reach you're given the opportunity to "forge" your own gaming experience. Saved games and theater mode? That's 50$ out of your Forge budget, or you can replace it with 2xAA for the same cost. Ditching split-screen saves you another $40 you can spend on upping the game's resolution.

Its almost too perfect ;P

Can I trade in incendiary granades for the badass wind effects from Killzone? Especially the way it blows the flame around.

 

[NullPointer]

It all about choice, right?

I tellsya, Halo ala carte would make beeelions, man. Beeelions! :lol :lol

 

[Chinner]

Still amazing.

although it doesn't look as good now as it did in 2006, that graphics definitely have a charm to them and are generally much much better than the graphics we got in the final product.

If Reach doesn't have graphics that at least match the 2006 trailer I'll genuinly be disappointed.

 

[Vinterbird]

I would riot. People would be hurt.

But it would also mean a better singleplayer experience, since it means more scripts and triggers based on the player. Not something that is really possible with more then one player controlled character running around.

I would be happy if they ditched co-op, online and offline, in the singleplayer part and created a better singleplayergame instead.

 

[Domino Theory]

Can anyone explain to me how Halo 3's lighting was done and why that specific method cost a lot of performance which hindered Halo 3's visuals? I never managed to wrap my head around that topic and even when I took a look at the Lighting PP presentation Bungie made, I still didn't understand a thing (aside from teh pretty pictures ).

 

[duk]

although it doesn't look as good now as it did in 2006, that graphics definitely have a charm to them and are generally much much better than the graphics we got in the final product.

If Reach doesn't have graphics that at least match the 2006 trailer I'll genuinly be disappointed.

screw the HDR!

im hoping it'll be at least that good, still very very good today.

 

[Psychotext]

I would be happy if they ditched co-op, online and offline, in the singleplayer part and created a better singleplayergame instead.

I'd be joining him on his riot. Halo is all about co-op for me, and without it, I doubt I'd bother buying the next instalment.

 

[EazyB]

although it doesn't look as good now as it did in 2006, that graphics definitely have a charm to them and are generally much much better than the graphics we got in the final product.

The trailer isn't much different graphically than certain cinematic in Halo 3. Of course outside of the cinematics the game took a significant drop in IQ. This is why I think the gameplay graphics in Reach could match the 06 trailer with just a higher resolution, some AA, and better AF.

 

[TheFightingFish]

I'd be joining him on his riot. Halo is all about co-op for me, and without it, I doubt I'd bother buying the next instalment.

Ditto here for me. Solo Halo is something that I've only played bits of from time to time, but I've finished and loved CE, 2, 3 and ODST playing legendary co-op.

My big hope for Reach is that they keep campaign co-op in. Horde modes are fun and all, but I really just like playing the main storyline with a friend or two. I would love to see them expand more on the Firefight concept though (which wore thin pretty quickly for me in ODST). If they could add in some type of randomized objective based gameplay to keep it from just being "defend all the time" and up the player count I'd be really interested.

 

[Zabka]

although it doesn't look as good now as it did in 2006, that graphics definitely have a charm to them and are generally much much better than the graphics we got in the final product.

If Reach doesn't have graphics that at least match the 2006 trailer I'll genuinly be disappointed.

I really liked the concrete texture on MC. The armor in the actual game looked waxy.

 

[The Librarian]

The trailer isn't much different graphically than certain cinematic in Halo 3. Of course outside of the cinematics the game took a significant drop in IQ. This is why I think the gameplay graphics in Reach could match the 06 trailer with just a higher resolution, some AA, and better AF.

I'm probably misunderstanding you, but the trailer looks better than Halo 3's cinematics.

I have no idea what happened with the E3 06 trailer. Can't download it on Bungie.net, and that youtube video I got the screencap from was the best quality version I could find.

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

 

[MCD]

I'm probably misunderstanding you, but the trailer looks better than Halo 3's cinematics.
http://i48.tinypic.com/33tm69s.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/2la6dd0.jpg

I have no idea what happened with the E3 06 trailer. Can't download it on Bungie.net, and that youtube video I got the screencap from was the best quality version I could find.

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

Bungie happened.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

I'm probably misunderstanding you, but the trailer looks better than Halo 3's cinematics.

I have no idea what happened with the E3 06 trailer. Can't download it on Bungie.net, and that youtube video I got the screencap from was the best quality version I could find.

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

HD version on youtube.

 

[TTG]

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

I don't understand why people continue to whine about trailers vs gameplay. Let me share a philosophy I've been following since the original playstation days: If it doesn't have a HUD, it's not real time.

Is this really something that has to be repeated every time there's a new trailer for any game?

 

[Domino Theory]

Just saw the Halo 3 E306 trailer on YouTube, man, that trailer still brings me chills to this day. Looks so fucking incredible. Hopefully we get a Halo that looks like that someday.

I don't understand why people continue to whine about trailers vs gameplay. Let me share a philosophy I've been following since the original playstation days: If it doesn't have a HUD, it's not real time.

Is this really something that has to be repeated every time there's a new trailer for any game?

Agreed, I really don't care for third-person trailers for a fucking first-person game. Annoys me to no end.

But aside from that, it would've been a lot easier for all of us to cope with that had Bungie not come out and said "that is real-time, that is on bar for where we're shooting for in real gameplay [for Halo 3]". That quote was taken right from the 'Making of Halo 3 E306 trailer' by Marcus (whose actually now in charge of Halo: Reach, actually).

 

[NullPointer]

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

 

[Mastperf]

I'm probably misunderstanding you, but the trailer looks better than Halo 3's cinematics.

I have no idea what happened with the E3 06 trailer. Can't download it on Bungie.net, and that youtube video I got the screencap from was the best quality version I could find.

I don't understand what happened, graphically, between the E3 06 trailer and the finished product.

You can still download the HD version on Live.

 

[NullPointer]

Is this really something that has to be repeated every time there's a new trailer for any game?

Bungie themselves made the point several times in the Reveal "Making of" ViDoc that this was what Halo 3 was going to look like. So they set themselves up for these comparisons.

lazy devs!

Hell, 4 player co-op more than made up for any graphical misgivings for me. Forge, Saved films and the like don't really do anything for me though, although I'll admit they're neat.

 

[duk]

lazy devs!

 

[godhandiscen]

Still amazing.

I would kill to play that. And no, please don't defend Bungie on this one. What we got is nowhere as epic or as good looking.

 

[TTG]

I would kill to play that. And no, please don't defend Bungie on this one. What we got is nowhere as epic or as good looking.

I would love to see the "reveal" video outsourced to Pixar just to see the response.

 

[EazyB]

I'm probably misunderstanding you, but the trailer looks better than Halo 3's cinematics.
http://i48.tinypic.com/33tm69s.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/28sbvon.jpg

That specific cutscene didn't hold up well going to the finished product but I'm speaking about the Halo 3 engine in general and other cutscenes in the game that look really good.

Like I said, the Halo 3 engine with better resolution, AA, and AF would look really close to the screens people capture using the game's screenshot tool:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256358

 

[Plywood]

Gold Chief > Green Chief.

 

[VaLiancY]

So we throw Bungie under the bus because they made a compromise on the engine for the sake of performance? I was feeling this thread when it was about what made the past Halo games great, adding more elements of the lore and how they could improve on it with Reach but now it feels like it has boiled down to "Bungie better add some AAx2 to this or else I'll moan some more"

 

[The Librarian]

I don't understand why people continue to whine about trailers vs gameplay. Let me share a philosophy I've been following since the original playstation days: If it doesn't have a HUD, it's not real time.

Is this really something that has to be repeated every time there's a new trailer for any game?

I'm certainly not whining. The only whining I hear when people talk about the trailer vs Halo 3's graphics is the promises Bunige spoke of in the trailer. Direct quotes from the making of trailer. The most prominent one: "This is the game. This is the engine. This is what Halo 3's going to look like." Otherwise, nobody would be comparing the two. Well, at least, not as much anyway.

It's different for Reach, though. We're seeing the opening cinematic of the game, and based on Halo 3 and ODST (hell, all the Halo games sans Halo Wars), what we see in the trailer is close to what we'll see during gameplay.

You can still download the HD version on Live.

That doesn't help much seeing as how I can't take a screen capture of that.

HD version on youtube.

Thanks. Have edited my post accordingly.

Edit -

That specific cutscene didn't hold up well going to the finished product but I'm speaking about the Halo 3 engine in general and other cutscenes in the game that look really good.

Like I said, the Halo 3 engine with better resolution, AA, and AF would look really close to the screens people capture using the game's screenshot tool:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256358

Ah. Yeah, the screenshots look a lot closer in quality to the trailer than the actual game, but there are differences aside from lack of AA, AF and resolution (look at the fins of the portal in both screens).

 

[NullPointer]

So we throw Bungie under the bus because they made a compromise on the engine for the sake of performance?

Cortana: "Don't make a promise you can't keep."

Seriously though, nobody is being thrown under buses here. But if you can't hold devs responsible for their own claims then there's little reason to dissect bits of pre-release media and speculate at all.

 

[Ultimo hombre]

So we throw Bungie under the bus because they made a compromise on the engine for the sake of performance? I was feeling this thread when it was about what made the past Halo games great, adding more elements of the lore and how they could improve on it with Reach but now it feels like it has boiled down to "Bungie better add some AAx2 to this or else I'll moan some more"

It wasn't a compromise, more of a tech obsession in lighting. They failed to manage resources properly and blew their wad on the lighting which made for poor visuals in other areas.

Halo 3 even has good textures but you can't tell due to lack of filtering. The resolution issue is obvious. Halo being a high contrast game means jaggies will show up even more thus AA becomes even more critical.

What the hope here is that Bungie has become more efficient at coding on the 360, perhaps even have a new engine that is 360 centric vs a patched up older engine. Couple that with good art direction and we should get a great game. We'll find out shortly.

 

[VaLiancY]

Cortana: "Don't make a promise you can't keep."

Seriously though, nobody is being thrown under buses here. But if you can't hold devs responsible for their own claims then there's little reason to dissect bits of pre-release media and speculate at all.

I chose the wrong words but I'm just seeing a company trying to sell their product the best they can. They wanted some hype to push their product because if I can remember the fall season that Halo released had some strong competition. Maybe I'm alone on this but I like the way game looks now, yeah the jaggies are an upset but not something that distracts me.

Shit, I play TF2 in DX8 mode. Graphics aren't exactly high on my list. =\

 

[TTG]

I guess the marketing team who decided to edit in some developers talking vh1 style about how great their game will be over a pre-rendered video worked wonders after all. You guys really bought into that shit :lol

Like I said, eagerly awaiting a Pixar quality video and Marty O'donell telling us all about how it's really in a pre alpha state.

 

[clashfan]

The thing that bothered me most about Halo 3 was not the IQ but the animations was just stiff and floaty. Animation really needs to improve. I'm ok with lower resolution but give me better animations.

 

[duk]

The thing that bothered me most about Halo 3 was not the IQ but the animations was just stiff and floaty. Animation really needs to improve. I'm ok with lower resolution but give me better animations.

agreed on having better animation

halo reach should be THE FPS of this gen

 

[Slightly Live]

Slight Update to OP, added links to VGA 2009 site - which will be streaming the event live and to a Joystiq story - confirming that they will be liveblogging the show.

 

[Vast Inspiration]

I guess the marketing team who decided to edit in some developers talking vh1 style about how great their game will be over a pre-rendered video worked wonders after all. You guys really bought into that shit :lol

Like I said, eagerly awaiting a Pixar quality video and Marty O'donell telling us all about how it's really in a pre alpha state.

You can quit the bullshit. The trailer was NOT pre-rendered. It was in-engine, and a demo of the entire sequence was shown off, everything was being done on a 360.

BUT, not so surprisingly, people decide to play it dumb and act as if games/engines don't change over the course of development. Yes, what we saw was possible. But if getting those graphics means losing 4-player coop, lowering the number of players on screen, or getting rid of saved replays, then I'm all for it; and so is probably anyone who really gives a fuck about Halo.

At the end of the day, those that love Halo will look at this trailer and then talk about all the features, gameplay, and story implications it carries. While insecure trolls will focus specifically on graphics. If the graphics are good, then they'll say its pre-rendered and the final game won't look like that, or if the graphics are average then they'll try to shit on the game for that.

Either way, its painfully obvious who knows or cares about Bungie's development process, and who just chimes in for a few snarky remarks. (Not saying that that's what you're doing, but many will do exactly that.)

 

[Captain Blood]

I think I will be skipping a home college hockey game to check out the trailer live saturday night......feel free to judge me. :lol

 

[Nutter]

I think I will be skipping a home college hockey game to check out the trailer live saturday night......feel free to judge me. :lol

I just hope it does what Halo 2, 3 were suppose to do. [An invasion that feels like an invasion]

*cue scene from "The Package" with MC and other spartans in Covie ship with hundreds of enemies in the room*

 

[Arpharmd B]

You can quit the bullshit. The trailer was NOT pre-rendered. It was in-engine, and a demo of the entire sequence was shown off, everything was being done on a 360.

BUT, not so surprisingly, people decide to play it dumb and act as if games/engines don't change over the course of development. Yes, what we saw was possible. But if getting those graphics means losing 4-player coop, lowering the number of players on screen, or getting rid of saved replays, then I'm all for it; and so is probably anyone who really gives a fuck about Halo.

I would sacrifice 4 player co-op to get a campaign that looked that good.

 

[riceandbeans]

You can quit the bullshit. The trailer was NOT pre-rendered. It was in-engine, and a demo of the entire sequence was shown off, everything was being done on a 360.

BUT, not so surprisingly, people decide to play it dumb and act as if games/engines don't change over the course of development. Yes, what we saw was possible. But if getting those graphics means losing 4-player coop, lowering the number of players on screen, or getting rid of saved replays, then I'm all for it; and so is probably anyone who really gives a fuck about Halo.

At the end of the day, those that love Halo will look at this trailer and then talk about all the features, gameplay, and story implications it carries. While insecure trolls will focus specifically on graphics. If the graphics are good, then they'll say its pre-rendered and the final game won't look like that, or if the graphics are average then they'll try to shit on the game for that.

Either way, its painfully obvious who knows or cares about Bungie's development process, and who just chimes in for a few snarky remarks. (Not saying that that's what you're doing, but many will do exactly that.)

Yep, the trailer was the real deal. From what it looks like, the graphics had to be scaled back like usual to make way for other features. You can even see Chief here in multiplayer donning the original "concrete" armor.

http://z.about.com/d/xbox/1/0/3/O/halo34306.jpg

 

[Kibbles]

Yeah another detail I like about that E306 trailer was the desert haze effect in the beginning and the sand blowing around. More stuff like that in Reach plz.

 

[Domino Theory]

Yep, the trailer was the real deal. From what it looks like, the graphics had to be scaled back like usual to make way for other features. You can even see Chief here in multiplayer donning the original "concrete" armor.

http://z.about.com/d/xbox/1/0/3/O/halo34306.jpg

WOW, and that's an Alpha shot, too.

 

[Arpharmd B]

WOW, and that's an Alpha shot, too.

You know the final product we got really looks that good or better. The problem with the game is IQ. Jaggies, low res, stuttery framerate... Bilinear filter on the ground.. I mean, when you look directly down at a texture in Halo, it's like Uncharted 2 amazing. Cept, you have to look directly down at it or else it's blurry poo.

Halo 3 photo mode surpases the 06 stuff. Halo 3 normal game does not.