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[dslgunstar]

The problem doesn't really lie with the AR itself. It's that you have BRs around the map because people like BRs, and once you die with a BR and can't find one again, the other team can pound you from a distance. Then when you have the upper hand and push map control with BRs you whorde all the power weapons and well there goes the game for the other team. I think one of the brilliant parts of Halo MP (maybe the most brilliant) is the strategy created around keeping power weapons while holding certain points of the map. It's not like COD where you can run around with some camo gun and knife people in the back the whole game. With the AR you cannot effectively play the game the way you should be able to. The AR is useful and should be in Reach, but not as a starting weapon. I don't care if you give me that new dong gun, a long distance Dax rifle or whatever as long as I have a chance at pushing people back when they start hammering my base.

Ok, but now we've turned a complete 180 and you're arguing that the AR is underpowered and ineffective against BR users, while everyone else has been arguing that the AR is overpowered and takes no skill to use.

I believe that the AR does take skill to use, because the clip is too shallow to kill a healthy player at anything beyond close range. That means if someone crosses your sight-line at standard Halo distance (typically medium range in big maps like Valhalla, or medium close in smaller maps like the pit), the AR forces you to combine shooting with melees or grenades to get the kill...all the while marching through gunfire (unless you're approaching from behind a player, at which point you're better off holding fire until you're closer).

The AR has skill to it, just not the same skillset as the BR. Instead of going for headshots and leading targets, you have to burst fire manually to keep your accuracy as high as possible as you close from medium range to close range, you have to place grenades to weaken targets or force them to reposition and lose you from their zoom sights, and/or you have to get in close enough to finish them with a melee. Fail to use the full Halo trifecta of shoot-grenade-melee, and you'll be stuck reloading while you get lead pumped into your face.

 

[Grimm Fandango]

FFS GAF, we finally get new info and it turns into BRvAR -_-

 

[Arnie]

FFS GAF, we finally get new info and it turns into BRvAR -_-

To be fair, as nice as the new images were, GameInformer did a terrible job at informing us of the new game. I know there are new weapons but do I know how they are used? No. I know there are six Spartans with different skill sets but do I know how this affects gameplay? No.

Edge article can't come sooner.

 

[proposition]

So...am I right in thinking they still haven't updated the engine to a real-time lighting solution?

Hrrm...

 

[electricpirate]

It will be replaced by the Elite version, the Mandible.

The long and mid range combat in CE is enjoyable in large part because the enemy has no ability to fire back at that range; it's a one-sided shooting gallery. The best they have is a plasma rifle. :lol

One thing Halo:CE does really well though (and ODST for that matter) is that it pretty severely limits those mid-long range weapons. You can keep a pistol on you through most of the first Halo, but by doing so you you have to be really judicious with the ammo, and mix in other weapons to drop shields. Especially on legendary.

The bumper crop of BR's and carbines has always been one of my quibbles with the campaign of H2 and H3, which sometimes makes them feel like more of a shooting gallery, even though they have their own mid range weapons to shoot back.

 

[squidhands]

-_-

I think you meant

 

[Ninja Moomin]

So...am I right in thinking they still haven't updated the engine to a real-time lighting solution?

Hrrm...

HUH? Halo 3 has amazing lighting? The texture work and sub-hd resolution is what hurts it... but even then only in the larger areas.

 

[The Librarian]

Not only for the Spartans, but without the years of ship-to-ship space combat the Insurrectionists forced the UNSC to fight, they would have been totally unprepared for the Covenant armada. They wouldn't have been even able to mount the slightest defence, and all Human worlds would have been glassed or humanity enslaved in very short order.

It's something I like about Halo's story. Our Humanity allowed us to fight the Covenant as best as we could at the time.

 

[proposition]

HUH? Halo 3 has amazing lighting? The texture work and sub-hd resolution is what hurts it... but even then only in the larger areas.

The lighting is great if all you care about is nice looking bloom, I guess.

 

[Ramirez]

I don't think most of these guys have a problem with the AR because of how terrible they are at the game.

Go into any social playlist and 9/10 games are against terrible people where you can get away with just running around with an AR meleeing everything to death.

The AR only becomes a real liability against teams who will butt pound you with map control and BRs to the face.

So, I kind of understand why they don't hate it, kind of.

 

[danwarb]

So...am I right in thinking they still haven't updated the engine to a real-time lighting solution?

Hrrm...

Probably not, since Halo 3 already had dynamic lighting and fantastic HDR.

Perhaps you're confusing lighting with shadowing?

 

[GhaleonEB]

One thing Halo:CE does really well though (and ODST for that matter) is that it pretty severely limits those mid-long range weapons. You can keep a pistol on you through most of the first Halo, but by doing so you you have to be really judicious with the ammo, and mix in other weapons to drop shields. Especially on legendary.

The bumper crop of BR's and carbines has always been one of my quibbles with the campaign of H2 and H3, which sometimes makes them feel like more of a shooting gallery, even though they have their own mid range weapons to shoot back.

Agree, for the most part.

And this is exactly what I was talking about when I said I liked what ODST's sandbox did in removing the BR for the Automag. (And got eviscerated for it by the usuals, of course.)

As to what's been announced so far:

Nothing really unexpected. Introductions to the new characters, setting and story. New weapons, tools and abilities. Tweaks to the gameplay balance and style. A different approach to story telling, and a new engine to push more and make it prettier while it does so.

Pretty much what I'd expect from a sequel. I really dig most of the specifics, but I think it's clear from what wasn't in the article that Bungie is saving quite a bit up their sleeve for later. (And the leaked pics from earlier certainly point to that.)

 

[The Librarian]

I don't think most of these guys have a problem with the AR because of how terrible they are at the game.

Go into any social playlist and 9/10 games are against terrible people where you can get away with just running around with an AR meleeing everything to death.

The AR only becomes a real liability against teams who will butt pound you with map control and BRs to the face.

So, I kind of understand why they don't hate it, kind of.

Holy fuck, live and let live. It's just videogame, so why does it matter if they are bad at it or not? If you don't enjoy aspect(s) of a videogame someone else does, fine, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. You are not, however, entitled to put anyone down for enjoying something you don't enjoy. Especially when you type it up in such a way that it's an insult that will have measurable consequences in real-life.

Don't be so butt-hurt about it.

One thing Halo:CE does really well though (and ODST for that matter) is that it pretty severely limits those mid-long range weapons. You can keep a pistol on you through most of the first Halo, but by doing so you you have to be really judicious with the ammo, and mix in other weapons to drop shields. Especially on legendary.

The bumper crop of BR's and carbines has always been one of my quibbles with the campaign of H2 and H3, which sometimes makes them feel like more of a shooting gallery, even though they have their own mid range weapons to shoot back.

Agree with this post. It's why I enjoyed ODST's gameplay so much with the removal of the BR.

 

[Vast Inspiration]

AR/BR whiners are a fucking plague. Shut the fuck up.

And I agree Ghaleon, ODST improved the sandbox. I trust Bungie that with changes being made at every level of the game (grenades, movement, guns, melee, vehicles), they'll create a new sandbox that we'll fall in love with.

But most of you are busy bitching about the fucking rifles.

 

[dslgunstar]

I don't think most of these guys have a problem with the AR because of how terrible they are at the game.

Go into any social playlist and 9/10 games are against terrible people where you can get away with just running around with an AR meleeing everything to death.

The AR only becomes a real liability against teams who will butt pound you with map control and BRs to the face.

So, I kind of understand why they don't hate it, kind of.

Some people are claiming the AR is overpowered/too easy to use and by that virtue defines the game as a close-combat experience.

Others are arguing that its underpowered and useless against teams that make good use of the BR.

I play ranked and social, a variety of standard and objective-based gamestyles, and in my experience the AR is an effective and balanced close-range weapon, and the BR is an effective and balanced mid-ranged weapon. Both take some degree of skill to make the most out of, but the skillsets are different (headshots and leading shots versus manually burst firing and using grenades to offset the disadvantage of the shallow clip and lower range/damage).

 

[Mr. B Natural]

i need this game now plz

edit: not sure if this has been posted: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/bungie-reach-is-better-across-the-board

The last mention about changing from stealth mode to sprint mode on the fly reminds me too much like Crysis...

If that's the only big difference in terms of gameplay between reach and halo 3 (along with a couple of new guns) then I'll probably have to just rent this one. I really don't care if they head back to the use of health packs, or make the pistol like it was or whatever...those are all very inconsequential to the game. Bungie needs to come up with something interesting about this last game for me to buy it.

 

[Major Williams]

Third: Jorge was born on Reach? Interesting. Wonder if that will be brought up at all. Also, what's the deal with all these Spartans being born in different years? Usually it seems that every batch of Spartans who are trained together are born in the same year. Makes me wonder about how many different groups of Spartans we have yet to hear of.

|:- o

Yeah, good observation, I had the same thought, but then realized what was said of this team of Spartans.

Carter and Kat have been in the longest, and as Spartans die out of Noble Team, they are replaced with new ones. Surviving SIIIs from their expendable suicide missions were added one by one into the group. The difference in age is therefore attributable to two different causes:

- each SIII class (alpha, beta, gamma) was conscripted from a group of orphans/volunteers whose age varied from 6-10 (I believe).
- Each SIII class started at least a few years apart from each other (not sure on the exact timeframe.

Edit: beaten by PuddingTame a looong time ago

 

[Warm Machine]

The lighting is great if all you care about is nice looking bloom, I guess.

Its actually the baked in global illumination and what appears to be radiance transfer onto the characters that makes it look good.


Halo Wars is a game I started playing again just before ODST came out. Since them I'm sure I've done over 100 hours of it multiplayer. I love that game.

 

[The Crawf]

New article at GI
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/01/12/meeting-the-reach-team.aspx

 

[EazyB]

Which is it? Useless, or so useful even your cat can do it?

It's absolutely useless at anything beyond close-ish midrange but within that range you can just spray the shit out of people and as long as you land 6/32 shots you'll at least get a simultaneous beatdown for your "efforts." It's not versatile enough for a starting weapon and combat with it

Camp a corner, stare at your radar, spray the shit out of someone for a undeserved kill. But play an objective game or try to regain the lead when the other team has map control and BRs while you're spawning with a weapon that would require you draw them in to have any chance and you end up getting the dong. It's well enough when I'm play with the crew and we're giving randoms the most terrible time of their lives as they scurry around pinging us from a distance with their ARs while we've gathered BRs, but like Ram said, playing evenly matched teams creates situations where you'd otherwise have a healthy chance of coming back but if your team gets taken out even once, you're instead left at a crushing disadvantage.

This is why Reach's MP needs to have a more versatile weapon start or allow players to determine what weapon they spawn with that'll give them a fair shot at coming back given the situation. If that weapon requires skill and promotes deeper firefights that's just a an added bonus.

Spoiler

Aww, the old AR vs. BR debates. This feels... right.

 

[feel]

New article at GI
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/01/12/meeting-the-reach-team.aspx

Nice kinda like a mini Bungie Vidoc.

That Youtube video is now confirmed to be REAL. You can see the same menu screen behind the art director in GameInformer's video.

The guy still could have cleaned up and tampered the image (Kibbles style) from the menu screen we got from Tom Morello. On that lowres youtube video you can't really notice if the background is stretched.

It's doable.

But seriously, what makes me question that video so much is the fact that he decided to leak the menu instead of some gameplay.

 

[Arnie]

New article at GI
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/01/12/meeting-the-reach-team.aspx

That Youtube video is now confirmed to be REAL. You can see the same menu screen behind the art director in GameInformer's video.

 

[Frenck]

They had me at full feature parity with Halo 3. From that point onwards it only got better and better.

 

[Vast Inspiration]

That Youtube video is now confirmed to be REAL. You can see the same menu screen behind the art director in GameInformer's video.

:lol It seemed real to me, and I guess the nitpickers have egg on their face.

 

[Gui_PT]

I've finished all the games on Legendary

 

[The Librarian]

Still, considering your longstanding position on spray and pray, I thought a single-shot headshot weapon either in addition to or replacing the BR, and another separate one would be met with your delight. So color me a bit surprised.

I dislike the amount of love the gun gets in HaloGAF more than the gun itself. I don't hate burst-fire weapons or any of the like (I'm a huge fan of the FAL and the M16 in MW2).

New article at GI
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/01/12/meeting-the-reach-team.aspx

• Dude with an amazing beard.
• Background for the main-menu screen looks pretty slick.
• Marty has finished all games on Legendary. :bow
• It's funny (and for the best - it's best this way) how almost all of the main leads on Reach hardly touch multiplayer and are really campaign gamers. Good to hear.
• One of the guys knows that Joe Tung (sp?) favors the sniper rifle. During some match, this guy had Joe Tung on his team, and, knowing that Tung favors the sniper rifle, he grabbed it and betrayed Tung and fired the remaining rounds into the earth.:lol Sounds like something I would do. The most interesting bit about this is that he doesn't specify (at least, I don't think) whether it's a Reach MP match or Halo 3.

 

[Kimosabae]

The re-touching of the Covenant, the new Battle Rifle, the fall damage and the health system gives me hope that Bungie finally realizes (or did, but were somehow forced to make ham-fisted digressions) what made the original game special. For the first time in years, I can say I have near blind excitement for a video game.

If Halo was Alien, Reach has the potential to be Bungie's true Aliens. It took nine years, but it seems Bungie is finally giving me a new Halo game.

 

[BladedExpert]

I dislike the amount of love the gun gets in HaloGAF more than the gun itself. I don't hate burst-fire weapons or any of the like (I'm a huge fan of the FAL and the M16 in MW2).

• Dude with an amazing beard.
• Background for the main-menu screen looks pretty slick.
• Marty has finished all games on Legendary. :bow
• It's funny (and for the best - it's best this way) how almost all of the main leads on Reach hardly touch multiplayer and are really campaign gamers. Good to hear.
• One of the guys knows that Joe Tung (sp?) favors the sniper rifle. During some match, this guy had Joe Tung on his team, and, knowing that Tung favors the sniper rifle, he grabbed it and betrayed Tung and fired the remaining rounds into the earth.:lol Sounds like something I would do. The most interesting bit about this is that he doesn't specify (at least, I don't think) whether it's a Reach MP match or Halo 3.

smh

 

[The Librarian]

smh

Oh relax. All in good fun.

 

[Shafto]

What's this Youtube video that's now real?!

 

[Gui_PT]

What's this Youtube video that's now real?!

This

 

[Shafto]

Intriguing. It won't surprise me if footage is leaked soon. Didn't David Ellis claim on 4 Guys 1Up that it's already playable start to finish?

 

[Nutter]

Holy fuck, live and let live. It's just videogame, so why does it matter if they are bad at it or not? If you don't enjoy aspect(s) of a videogame someone else does, fine, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. You are not, however, entitled to put anyone down for enjoying something you don't enjoy. Especially when you type it up in such a way that it's an insult that will have measurable consequences in real-life.

Don't be so butt-hurt about it.

.

I would suggust you follow your own words as well.

Now as far as me detering people from staying. You wont hear anything more regarding weapons from me. If bungie does give weapons a Headshot bonus I would see that as a fix to my problems with the guns. This is suppose to be 2500's so guns should be doing more damage to headshots. Even if they dont, Ill still be enjoying the game.

 

[Wizman23]

I'll take AR spray and pray over that shitfest Modern Warfare 2 any fuckin day of the week. I can't wait to see what Reach has in store for multiplayer. The next 6 weeks are going to be the toughest but then Bad Company 2 launches so hopefully that will hold us over until the Reach beta hits. I'm calling it now that Blood Gulch will be a map included in the beta.

 

[BladedExpert]

Oh relax. All in good fun.

It's griefing GREIFER!!! Oonsk would not approve...

 

[The Librarian]

I would suggust you follow your own words as well.

I am. Just because I speak on the subject once doesn't mean I'm going against what I said. I'm not continually down-playing others for enjoying something I don't enjoy as much or even dislike.

It's griefing GREIFER!!! Oonsk would not approve...

Oonsk does the samething, except it's with the Splazer.

 

[kylej]

I'm calling it now that Blood Gulch will be a map included in the beta.

Luke Smith will descend to earth, clutching images of a perfect Lockout recreation and all will rejoice.

 

[electricpirate]

Speaking of the DMR, I find it very interesting that it had a scope in leaked shots, then no scope in the magazine...

I'll go ahead and say it, customizable, or upgradeable weapons.

 

[Oozer3993]

I call this style of gameplay "Halo." Or "awesome."

Played Halo 2 customs with some GAF folk tonight. Twas awesome. Would have been better with more numbers tho. If folks are up for that later this week, we should make it so.

I'm always down for some old school Halo. I was just playing through a couple levels of H1 yesterday. Sliding the Warthog to shoot yourself through the security door before it locks is one of my favorite sequence breaks in any game.

That Youtube video is now confirmed to be REAL. You can see the same menu screen behind the art director in GameInformer's video.

As pointed out, we already had that design leaked by an esteemed guitarist. But the "leaked" video has only the sky moving, if that. In the GI video, you can see the structure on the right moving behind the word Halo over a guy's shoulder.

 

[Nutter]

Luke Smith will descend to earth, clutching images of a perfect Lockout recreation and all will rejoice.

Blood Gultch
Lockout
Midship
Sanctuary
Citadel
Headlong

Call it the Flashback Map Pack. Include it with each new copy sold.
Assuming MP is anything like the previos Halo's.

 

[Arnie]

Speaking of the DMR, I find it very interesting that it had a scope in leaked shots, then no scope in the magazine...

I'll go ahead and say it, customizable, or upgradeable weapons.

The DMR wasn't in any of the GI pictures. What you may be thinking of is the new shotgun design which is viewable in Emile's hands on his profile picture. Another thing to note is that in his profile picture Emile is wearing a different helmet to his skull one from the screenshots.

 

[electricpirate]

I'm 95% sure that's the DMR in those shots. Look at the casing ejection port on the stock. It's a Bullpup unlike the Shotguns in Halo.

It also has a gas expansion chamber to go alongside the flashlight, once again, unlike the shotguns in Halo. It's harder to see, but the barrell is also way too narrow for a shotgun.

But this is all from blurry camera pics of the magazine, hence the 95% sure .

Edit: Hmm, looking at the H3 shotty seems to have a gas expansion chamber, and multiple shell ejection ports, I'll drop that down to 70% here

 

[op_ivy]

So...am I right in thinking they still haven't updated the engine to a real-time lighting solution?

Hrrm...

there was a powerpoint presentation on how bungie's new engine handled shadows, and it looked very impressive to me and looked like it was featured in the released cinematic. whether or not its "in game" is still up in the air i guess

 

[Blueblur1]

Continuous Game Informer Halo: Reach coverage = Good.

Dax not changing and being more annoying than ever before = Bad.

 

[NOKYARD]

-_-

I think you meant

I think you meant

⇙˚_˚⇘ ­


and don't forget Clippy, who portrays emotions for both characters

⇙˚_˚⇘ ö

⇙˚_˚⇘ ü

⇙˚_˚⇘ ő

⇙˚_˚⇘ ȍ

⇙˚_˚⇘ ȫ

Spoiler

if these do not show up try a different browser

 

[Domino Theory]

I enjoyed the 'Meet the Team' video. LRW was hilarious throughout the whole video. :lol

But now we wait until Thursday for the next update.

 

[DancingJesus]

Blood Gultch
Lockout
Midship
Sanctuary
Citadel
Headlong

Call it the Flashback Map Pack. Include it with each new copy sold.
Assuming MP is anything like the previos Halo's.

This would be the greatest shit ever made.

The new Reach screens look great. I really like the new look of some of the Covenant.

 

[BerserkerBarage]

Can I get some Relic homage action too? I always liked that level. Don't really know why.

If they brought Death Island over to Reach kinda like Narrows with Gephy, I'd buy 2 copies. 2 copies! Or at least 1 copy with a helmet that fits on my dog.

~B.B.

 

[Trasher]

Holy fuck, live and let live. It's just videogame, so why does it matter if they are bad at it or not? If you don't enjoy aspect(s) of a videogame someone else does, fine, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. You are not, however, entitled to put anyone down for enjoying something you don't enjoy. Especially when you type it up in such a way that it's an insult that will have measurable consequences in real-life.

Don't be so butt-hurt about it.

It wasn't meant to put anyone down. It's just his theory on why so many people enjoy the AR rather than the BR. And he's right. Most people use it because they aren't good enough with the BR. Calling someone terrible because they aren't good at a game is a put down??? No it's not. It's a fact of real-life that not everyone can be good at something. In my opinion you are the one that is acting "butt-hurt" because you took his post as an insult to yourself. It's just a video game. Chill out and take your own advice.

 

[GhaleonEB]

It wasn't meant to put anyone down. It's just his theory on why so many people enjoy the AR rather than the BR. And he's right. Most people use it because they aren't good enough with the BR. Calling someone terrible because they aren't good at a game is a put down??? No it's not. It's a fact of real-life that not everyone can be good at something. In my opinion you are the one that is acting "butt-hurt" because you took his post as an insult to yourself. It's just a video game. Chill out and take your own advice.

I'm not even sure I would go so far as to generalize why people use it. It's fun to use, for starters, even if it's application is more limited.

Personally, I use it because in many situations, it's the preferred weapon to BR. They're complimentary.