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[Hydranockz]

Imagine my situation... I just got XBL a year ago (espires next month) and the first game i played was halo. Ive been playing the franchise for years (splitscreen lan) and i had played it through XBL before but not for any length of time. After playing halo i went on to every other new shooter and realised that no other game has half the features that Halo has... I expected every single online game to have splitscreen matchmaking!! LOL I spent so much time on the Gears of War and CoD Menus/options trying to figure out how to do it... at no avail :lol

I hear ya there I organised an ODST launch party of sorts. It was awesome. 8v8 on the Mythic Disc and a few teams of 4 playing Firefight.

A few months later Modern Warfare 2 comes out. We organise another launch party... I brought it up about the system linking being really bad. I was assured and assured that IW had addressed this. Night of the lockin, 4 360's in the lobby...

"Hey, why can I only see one tag?"

Sighs ensued.

 

[dilatedmuscle]

Oh man, I just revisited Halo 1 campaign and was blown away by how much it's held against all the other Halo games let alone other shooters. It's somehow made all the other Halo efforts pale in comparison.

The Elites, the AI, the animation, the dynamism of the encounters, even the graphics still have a sleek beauty that is unmatched. Be it rose tinted glasses or whatever I'm viewing the game through, it's obvious Bungie has lost much since the first game.

I marvel at how well animated and cool the marines looked, and think of the abominations in Halo 3. Somehow, the animation and design has taken a regression. The marines actually reacted to where they were being shot, like most of the other enemies. Somehow the later games ditched this for god knows what reason.

The weapons had such punch. Sparks and searing plasma and bass. The melee attacks had such awesome animations, each one unique and lethal looking. The death animations looked mocap in quality. What has happened to Bungie's animators in recent years?? The Elites and grunts move so fluidly and with real weight that Bungie just can't seem to achieve anymore. Everything now is stiff and rigid and unresponsive.

Even things like AI seem far more naturalistic. Fighting Elites is still a revelation. It feels like you are fighting something lethal and calculating, yet graceful and beautiful. The sounds, animation and behaviour all conspire to make you fear these aliens yet relish fighting them. The brutes, for all their pack behaviour lack the immediacy of the true Halo antagonist.

Sigh.

Here's hoping that Reach can mark a triumphant return for Bungie. What's funny is, I have greatly enjoyed every Halo game and replay them constantly yet the original still manages to be the most impressive.

I didnt play Halo CE for about 6 years or so and i played it again last month for the first time in forever and i felt exactly the same. Seems like Halo 2's graphics really limitted the Halo experience and scope. Halo 3 was more like a polished and tweaked Halo 2... seems like they finally got their act together and realised that what made Halo.... well, HALO has been missing for 10 years and they are trying to recapture it with reach, im hopeful.

 

[electricpirate]

I find the campaign of CE, 3, and ODST all have some interesting strengths, I just want Reach to Capitalize on them all without letting too much of Halo 2's campaign seep in. Actually think ODST supercedes CE or 3 as my favorite campaign of all time, but there's more that can be done for sure.

Things that I want Reach to steal from CE
- Tightly paced storytelling, with a minimum of exposition. (I doubt we are getting this)
- Elites that are a worthy challenge; elites that will dodge when under fire from midrange and let their shields recharge.
- Big huge nade' splosions
- Ammo that is tightly limited on weapons like the Deemer, making them more valuable, and making the player make choices more hard choices.
- Overbassy explosions and weapons (I think we are getting there )
- levels that are more like big playgrounds that can be approached in a few ways (Silent Cartogropher and Halo are the two best examples)
- Introduce the full sandbox early on, it might just be, because 3's sandbox was so huge, but we didn't get to use flame nades, maulers, or splazer till the last 1/4 of the game.
- Music, Not sure why but CE's music has always clicked with me.
- weapon spin when shot

Things I want reach to steal from 3
- Crazy Bombastic battles.
- AI driven scarabs
- Brute pack AI, even if brutes are gone. Moar flanking tactics plz.
- Vehicular play, especially jacking, etc. There's very few things as satisfying as boarding a tank to completely turn a battle around
- Use the sandbox in weird ways. Like the "Mongoose, rocket launcher mowdown." I love that scene.
- if flood are there, make them like h3 flood, where you can drop the infection form, but another can bring it back.
- Skulls, campaign scoring

From ODST
- Defend and hold sections, hell yes
- feeling of vulnerability and tension. LOVED IT.
- exploration
- a well told side story
- enemies on patrols that you can surprise, or will join a fight in progress.

So many great halo memories, now I want to do a play through of all three in order before Reach drops.

 

[soldat7]

I just read the history of Guardian piece on Bungie.net, and I'm wondering where I can get the other articles detailing the history of the rest of the Halo 3 maps. Urk?

 

[The Librarian]

I just read the history of Guardian piece on Bungie.net, and I'm wondering where I can get the other articles detailing the history of the rest of the Halo 3 maps. Urk?

There have only been two of that type of article released so far: Guardian and Construct.

 

[NOKYARD]

Your son is my kind of guy.

That didn't really sound good.

What I meant was, that's also why I stay in the matches after being left alone
:lol

You would be surprised at how much your kids can teach you. My Average Joe interview (if i ever get around to finishing it) focuses on parents gaming with their kids.


Also, today at HBO. :lol

 

[Ramirez]

Absolutely not! i have guest games all the time when people come over and we get high or drink. Halo is the only game we play because its the only game that allows online guests. So many other games are behind because they cant handle all the halo features.

Yes, because I really want to play with people who are so baked they can't even shoot straight.

SMH, I had to play splitscreen last night with a buddy and wanted to chop my dick off after a couple of matches, I just don't see the appeal at all.

That's one thing COD gets right at least...

 

[electricpirate]

And I thought luke hated fun more than anyone else here.

 

[Kibbles]

And I thought luke hated fun more than anyone else here.

Now that the Colts lost, I'm sure Luke Smith has already murdered Oonsk.

 

[Kuroyume]

Games with guests need to die or at the very least blocked out of every list except one. Keep them away from BTB.

 

[Kapura]

Games with guests need to die or at the very least blocked out of every list except one. Keep them away from BTB.

To what end?

 

[vhfive]

if you dont like guests play ranked. there are playlists that dont involve guests so stop bitching.
halo is the only fps that has splitscreen online multiplayer and they aren't going to take that away (nor should they)

 

[soldat7]

There have only been two of that type of article released so far: Guardian and Construct.

Ah. Thanks.

 

[Kuroyume]

There's a reason why other games don't have splitscreen and that's because it sucks. It's detrimental to online gameplay. BTB is where Halo is best and that damn thing fucking sucks because of guests. They tried ranked but the stupid ranking system ruined everything. Reach needs to keep them out.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

What's with all the split-screen haters? Just because you don't like it that doesn't give you the right to deny others the oppurtunity to try it.
Some of the best moments I've ever had with Halo MP happened in and because of split-screening.

"Got a bunch of friends round, they can all watch while I play! We can all take TURNS! YEAH!"
No, thanks.

 

[Kuroyume]

It's not that I don't like it. It's that it ruins the game for everyone else. It probably also holds back Bungie from better graphics.

 

[Oozer3993]

Oh man, I just revisited Halo 1 campaign and was blown away by how much it's held against all the other Halo games let alone other shooters. It's somehow made all the other Halo efforts pale in comparison.

The Elites, the AI, the animation, the dynamism of the encounters, even the graphics still have a sleek beauty that is unmatched. Be it rose tinted glasses or whatever I'm viewing the game through, it's obvious Bungie has lost much since the first game.

I marvel at how well animated and cool the marines looked, and think of the abominations in Halo 3. Somehow, the animation and design has taken a regression. The marines actually reacted to where they were being shot, like most of the other enemies. Somehow the later games ditched this for god knows what reason.

The weapons had such punch. Sparks and searing plasma and bass. The melee attacks had such awesome animations, each one unique and lethal looking. The death animations looked mocap in quality. What has happened to Bungie's animators in recent years?? The Elites and grunts move so fluidly and with real weight that Bungie just can't seem to achieve anymore. Everything now is stiff and rigid and unresponsive.

Even things like AI seem far more naturalistic. Fighting Elites is still a revelation. It feels like you are fighting something lethal and calculating, yet graceful and beautiful. The sounds, animation and behaviour all conspire to make you fear these aliens yet relish fighting them. The brutes, for all their pack behaviour lack the immediacy of the true Halo antagonist.

Sigh.

Here's hoping that Reach can mark a triumphant return for Bungie. What's funny is, I have greatly enjoyed every Halo game and replay them constantly yet the original still manages to be the most impressive.

Thumbs up to this post. The past week and half I've been going back and playing through parts of H1, mostly trying out some tricks. I recorded a bunch of them from the 2 best levels ever, Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals (nothing new but still cool) and will be throwing a video up on YouTube as soon as I get settled on my new laptop.

 

[ScrabbleBanshee]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

 

[Nutter]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

What an insightful first post in the thread. Will read again.

 

[Gui_PT]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Much like our interest in this sort of posts.

 

[big ander]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Much like our interest in this sort of posts.

BAM said the lady.

 

[vhfive]

what is more fun?
a couple of friends come over your house/appt/dorm you decide you want to play some video games. your options are:

a. play splitscreen 3 person free for all (where one person dominates the other 2)

b. play one game then hand the controller over to the next person and have to wait for 2 games.

c. play splitscreen online.

this scenario may never happen to you (because you either have no friends or all your friends have xbl) but to other people it happens quite a bit. so if you dont like it the go play ranked. also if you love btb but hate guests (im looking at you kuroyume), squad battle is 6v6 and feels very much like btb try it you might like it.

 

[duk]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

look guys, he's trying to be cute!!

 

[Magni]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Oh, so cute, a troll :]

 

[The Librarian]

It's not that I don't like it. It's that it ruins the game for me. It probably also holds back Bungie from better graphics.

Fixed.

 

[Magni]

look guys, he's trying to be cute!!

Get out of my head please.

 

[big ander]

It's not that I don't like it. It's that it ruins the game for everyone else. It probably also holds back Bungie from better graphics.

How does it ruin the game for everyone else? Some of the most fun I've ever had in Halo 3 have been 5 hour overnight social slayer/BTB stints with 4 or 5 friends on two xboxs, both using splitscreen. And I don't think we ruined anything for other people.

 

[feel]

Also, today at HBO. :lol

 

[Kapura]

How do guests ruin the game? You're making statements without reasons, which makes them hard points for you to argue.

Most of my best halo experiences are from when I was playing splitscreen with some friends, with mandatory screenlooking. We've been doing this since Halo: CE and it is one of the best damn features in the game. It turns the game from a solitary affair (like MW) into a game you can play with friends. If anything, I hope they expand the splitscreen for reach. It'd be awesome to be able to do four player co-op on a single box, not to mention firefight.

 

[Stinkles]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Go do that in a wrestling thread. I dare you.

 

[Sai-kun]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Oh you.

 

[Neverender]

Yes, because I really want to play with people who are so baked they can't even shoot straight.

SMH, I had to play splitscreen last night with a buddy and wanted to chop my dick off after a couple of matches, I just don't see the appeal at all.

That's one thing COD gets right at least...

What the fuck? Splitscreen is awesome fun and it pisses me off that more games don't have splitscreen-online, CoD included. It's too fucking bad that you take the game so seriously that you can't enjoy it but it really is a good feature. If you don't like it, play ranked. The playlists are called social for a reason. And before you bring up not being able to play ranked btb... well that's a problem with Bungie's playlists not splitscreen.

tl;dr

people like to get baked and play halo with their friends, thankfully bungie included the option. stop being so old.

 

[Hootie]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

Oh please, you really could have tried a bit harder.

Came up in a meeting with Hydranockz earlier, the idea of holding a C.E./H2 through-back lan, much like our ODST one.

 

[Hydranockz]

Oh please, you really could have tried a bit harder.

Came up in a meeting with Hydranockz earlier, the idea of holding a C.E./H2 through-back lan, much like our ODST one.

I still have my Multiplayer Map Pack disc. You know what that means!

Spoiler

Plasma weapons on Backwash all night long

 

[Ramirez]

Some of you dudes will defend anything.

Can anyone tell me why Maption Sack is doomed to be a once a month double XP list? It's a breath of fresh air, yes, most of the maps are terrible, but at least it's something different. So much fail.

 

[GhaleonEB]

look guys, he's trying to be cute!!

Trying? I thought he was. Makes me nostalgic about the early days of the Halo 3 thread. Actually, the early days of just about any Halo thread, for that matter.

 

[Hydranockz]

Some of you dudes will defend anything.

Can anyone tell me why Maption Sack is doomed to be a once a month double XP list? It's a breath of fresh air, yes, most of the maps are terrible, but at least it's something different. So much fail.

I am so sick of Sandbox's default layout

 

[The Librarian]

Some of you dudes will defend anything.

Translation: "I can't think of any good reasons why splitscreen shouldn't be included, or at least none that any of you haven't intelligently rebuked, so I'm just going to post a purposefully-vague statement that gives me a false sense of saving face."

Edit - Just because you don't use or enjoy a certain feature, doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else.

 

[dilatedmuscle]

What happened to 7 on the 7th? it used to be 7v7 on avalanche all the time but last time i played it i ended up on a 5 v 5 on a random map

So people still foam over Halo? I thought it was sucked dry by now.

lol isnt it funny that a sucked dry franchise still has a lot of potential and is still miles ahead of the competition when it comes to features?

 

[Oozer3993]

Trying? I thought he was. Makes me nostalgic about the early days of the Halo 3 thread. Actually, the early days of just about any Halo thread, for that matter.

"Halo 3? More like Halo 2.5"

P.S. There's a reason why, when Bungie would talk about Halo 2's party system before it was released, they constantly stated they wanted to make it feel like you were playing with a couple friends sitting on the same couch as you: 'cause it's an absolute blast.

 

[electricpirate]

Some of you dudes will defend anything.

You hav epicked a strange p lace to make your stand against the bungie fandom.

Dax, that was surprisingly insightful.

 

[Thagomizer]

Wait, people actually don't like splitscreen? Being able to play with friends that you can actually punch in the arm is one of the best parts of Halo.


Off topic, but would anybody be willing to read some essays I am going to be using to try to transfer to Cornell?

 

[enzo_gt]

Everyone criticizing splitscreen should be condemned for an eternity. You guys are the reason why developers have gotten lazy and failed to include split screen and online options, preventing the gamers with gamer friends in real life from having fun. Thank god Bungie is not one of those devs. Some people don't only play online.

 

[Kuroyume]

He wasn't insightful at all. Don't encourage him.

Neither of us nor anyone else should have to spell it out. I think it's pretty damn easy to understand why guests are detrimental to online gameplay. Nonetheless, here's an example... I join BTB and after matchmaking does its thing I find myself on a team that's comprised entirely of guests. I'm not sure how many people someone can have as a guest but I've been on teams like that. The other team is comprised of people on their own connections. Right from the start I'm at a disadvantage because I have guys sharing one TV while playing the game. It's not 1997 anymore. The FPS genre has evolved. People aren't running around linear hallways simply aiming their guns at a random enemy. There's just way too much shit going on in a Halo game for a person to play on a quarter section of a televison. There's shit flying overhead. There's grenades, projectiles, and vehicles flying all over the place. Having a dedicated televsion or monitor means having the advantage nearly all the time. I once played a game against a team made entirely of guests and some random dude on my team said that there isn't a television in the fucking world that could compliment that many people and allow someone to play Halo decently. It's so fucking true.

The other problem with guests is that once the host leaves the game becomes completey unbalanced. The host leaves and all of the sudden your team is down four people. How is that fair? This isn't bitching about some random thing that happens occasionally in matchmaking. This happens often.

I should clarify that I don't hate splitscreen. If it needs to exist than it should only exist offline. Let people have their fun on LAN or whatever but keep that shit away from online matchmaking.

 

[Blueblur1]

Some of you dudes will defend anything.

Can anyone tell me why Maption Sack is doomed to be a once a month double XP list? It's a breath of fresh air, yes, most of the maps are terrible, but at least it's something different. So much fail.

[Insert sarcastic joke here] .

 

[The Librarian]

He wasn't insightful at all. Don't encourage him.

Neither of us nor anyone else should have to spell it out. I think it's pretty damn easy to understand why guests are detrimental to online gameplay. Nonetheless, here's an example... I join BTB and after matchmaking does its thing I find myself on a team that's comprised entirely of guests. I'm not sure how many people someone can have as a guest but I've been on teams like that. The other team is comprised of people on their own connections. Right from the start I'm at a disadvantage because I have guys sharing one TV while playing the game. It's not 1997 anymore. The FPS genre has evolved. People aren't running around linear hallways simply aiming their guns at a random enemy. There's just way too much shit going on in a Halo game for a person to play on a quarter section of a televison. There's shit flying overhead. There's grenades, projectiles, and vehicles flying all over the place. Having a dedicated televsion or monitor means having the advantage nearly all the time. I once played a game against a team made entirely of guests and some random dude on my team said that there isn't a television in the fucking world that could compliment that many people and allow someone to play Halo decently. It's so fucking true.

The other problem with guests is that once the host leaves the game becomes completey unbalanced. The host leaves and all of the sudden your team is down four people. How is that fair? This isn't bitching about some random thing that happens occasionally in matchmaking. This happens often.

I should clarify that I don't hate splitscreen. If it needs to exist than it should only exist offline. Let people have their fun on LAN or whatever but keep that shit away from online matchmaking.

As Neverender and others have said, if you have a problem with guests, then don't play social; it's called "social" for a reason. If you want to play BTB but don't want to play with any guests, play Squad Battle. If Squad Battle isn't BTB to you, then you can't lay the blame on the splitscreen function for Bungie deciding to pull the plug on ranked BTB and not giving it another chance since.

 

[vhfive]

still dont know why you cant just play ranked

EDIT:hey look me and dax agree... should i be scared?

 

[Kuroyume]

What the fuck is Squad Battle?

BTB

That's it. Rename Squad Battle to BTB and I'll play it.

 

[Neverender]

He wasn't insightful at all. Don't encourage him.

Neither of us nor anyone else should have to spell it out. I think it's pretty damn easy to understand why guests are detrimental to online gameplay. Nonetheless, here's an example... I join BTB and after matchmaking does its thing I find myself on a team that's comprised entirely of guests. I'm not sure how many people someone can have as a guest but I've been on teams like that. The other team is comprised of people on their own connections. Right from the start I'm at a disadvantage because I have guys sharing one TV while playing the game. It's not 1997 anymore. The FPS genre has evolved. People aren't running around linear hallways simply aiming their guns at a random enemy. There's just way too much shit going on in a Halo game for a person to play on a quarter section of a televison. There's shit flying overhead. There's grenades, projectiles, and vehicles flying all over the place. Having a dedicated televsion or monitor means having the advantage nearly all the time. I once played a game against a team made entirely of guests and some random dude on my team said that there isn't a television in the fucking world that could compliment that many people and allow someone to play Halo decently. It's so fucking true.

The other problem with guests is that once the host leaves the game becomes completey unbalanced. The host leaves and all of the sudden your team is down four people. How is that fair? This isn't bitching about some random thing that happens occasionally in matchmaking. This happens often.

I should clarify that I don't hate splitscreen. If it needs to exist than it should only exist offline. Let people have their fun on LAN or whatever but keep that shit away from online matchmaking.

social.

Spoiler

social

fake edit: also your anecdote is bullshit, i've played splitscreen many times without problems. sure, you're disadvantaged by not having dedicated sound or a full screen to see as much detail but it's about having fun with people in the same room as you. sometimes local splitscreen just doesn't cut it.