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[goldenpp72]

You hit the nail on the head. Halo 1 just had that moody, almost Ico or Shadow of the Colossus feel to it. That desolation and isolation of an alien world was utterly nailed.

Part of the problem with the writing since that game is that they sometimes try to do cheesy action but the rest of the game is too serious to do that. You can only do that type of thing if you're not trying to have real consequences for the characters. What I mean is, cheese works when you know how the story is going to play out in every way, like in any Arnold Schwarzengger movie.

Oh, and the romance in ODST was god awful. Why even bother putting it in? And the interaction between the characters wasn't any good either. You can't just throw together the cast of Firefly and automatically expect the characters to automatically be as good as the ones from Firefly.

Yeah I agree. Halo 1 to me started as a kind of artsy but still gruff marine shooter, it was actually the second xbox game I played and I wasn't a big fan. Once I landed on halo, the majestic subtle music, the alien feel of everything, even the introduction to the flood, there were so many memorable moments and potential to the story, halo 2s initial e3 reveal (the 8 minute trailer) reminded me of exactly what I expected out of halo 2.. Then we got the real halo 2.

I guess i'm more into the serious side of halo, I didn't mind the silly sounding grunts or the random marine banter during fights, it added some levity, but I felt the rest of halo 1 was well told and had a sort of majestic mood to it. The odsts in the commercials show serious concern, fear, you get the impression of doom, but when you play their just loud, obnoxious arrogant fuck wads with paper thin personalities.

After that it just felt like some fans tried to recycle halo and add generic alterations, though i still enjoy halo games, the story has become basically non existent for me. I hope the new developers if nothing else, have better writers, because it went from amazing to shit to decent to holy fuck bad under bungies wing. I sort of feel like bungie let the hugeness of halo get to their heads and they decided it would be RADICAL to add in licensed music, hollywood bullshit and remove the subtle beauty of the original I guess. Sort of like going from shenmue to a grand theft auto game but pretend they were the same series.

Of course, I can't say the halo reach trailer doesn't excite me on a gameplay level, especially since I felt odst made wise changes. I actually feel like reach might have enough changes in modes and gameplay to keep it fresh for more than a month.

 

[NOKYARD]

Nothing.

You're looking too deep. Is fix'd now.

 

[Trasher]

Rather than just type out the names of the two remaining Halo story fans I think it's more appropriate to give some insight into the souls of such creatures:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13472614&postcount=77643


Holy shit, I had forgotten how awesome this post was. Golden days of HaloGAF IMO. :lol

Welcome to HaloGAF, Max. Mad props if you can stomach us.

I'm sure Blur won't be so happy that you brought that post back in to focus haha.

He had a little case of nerd-rage that day, but has since apologized for said raging.

Eazy, how are you still bringing up posts that old? I want to know how such relics are accessed.

Spoiler

RIP Halo Thread

 

[Domino Theory]

The A button on Omlet's pad must be on a mission right now to find its way back out from inside the controller, such was the force applied to it when the Accept Invite option was on screen.

I saw the invite and yelled bloody murder at Coco P on MSN.

Then I accepted the invite and it told me to insert the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

I laughed.

Then I came to the sad realization, put my tail between my legs and went to my college classes for the day.

 

[electricpirate]

Honestly at this point I find myself enjoying the side stories of the Halo universe much more than the core experiences. The Terminals in H3 are more compelling than the main story, as is Sadies Story in ODST. The ARG's, are another example of this. Evolutions is chock full of good stuff.

There's signs of hope for Reach having a good plot, ODST was improved from Halo 3, even with the horrendous love story, and the technology improvements may help them do interesting humans for once. OTH I'm still wary of too much story though, CE's was so strong because it was so minimalist, there was almost no exposition, and barely any cutscenes. There was two solid twists, and the characters fit their roles well.

 

[goldenpp72]

Honestly at this point I find myself enjoying the side stories of the Halo universe much more than the core experiences. The Terminals in H3 are more compelling than the main story, as is Sadies Story in ODST. The ARG's, are another example of this. Evolutions is chock full of good stuff.

There's signs of hope for Reach having a good plot, ODST was improved from Halo 3, even with the horrendous love story, and the technology improvements may help them do interesting humans for once. OTH I'm still wary of too much story though, CE's was so strong because it was so minimalist, there was almost no exposition, and barely any cutscenes. There was two solid twists, and the characters fit their roles well.

Reach can't be worse than halo 2 at least.

Halo 2 vs halo 1

Halo 1 you land on a ring mysteriously and spend the game figuring out what it is.

Halo 2 someone farts and you end up in another halo.

Halo 1 you get a creepy alien 1 kind of intro to the flood

Halo 2 someone farts and an alien goes 'the flood' and suddenly you fight flood.

Halo 1 promises alien and you get alien

Halo 2 promises earth, you get one level of earth

Halo 1 has mystery

Halo 2 has incubus

Halo 1 has an ending

halo 2 did not

Sorry, i'm not sure why i'm ragging on halo story today, I guess hearing any good marks towards halos story kind of irks me these days.

 

[EazyB]

I'm sure Blur won't be so happy that you brought that post back in to focus haha.

He had a little case of nerd-rage that day, but has since apologized for said raging.

Well yeah, water under the bridge, I'm sure he can look back at it and get a good laugh from it. I mean it's chalk chock full of hilarity:

• Agreeing with JdFox
• Hating on Coco P and Voc for being interested in Halo's story
• Thinking Dax was worth bringing back from ban-land
• The flame-baiting and tough guy attitude.

That's classic Halo 3 thread. So much spunk.

Eazy, how are you still bringing up posts that old? I want to know how such relics are accessed.

Spoiler

RIP Halo Thread

Google.com
Pretty nifty site.

Juices would be a good person to have on the team. Seriously.

That's the kid who thinks MW2 is the be all end all of polish, balance, and performance right?

No thanks :lol

 

[kylej]

Juices would be a good person to have on the team. Seriously.

Saw this weird ass bug for the first time tonight

http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=107646672

That chick could talk to everyone but she remained in that state for the rest of the game. Some sort of Halo limbo.

 

[bishoptl]

Well yeah, water under the bridge, I'm sure he can look back at it and get a good laugh from it. I mean it's chalk full of hilarity:

chock
CHOCK GODDAMN CHOCK I WILL TEACH YOU PROPER ENGLISH IF IT KILLS ME

 

[kylej]

That's the kid who thinks MW2 is the be all end all of polish, balance, and performance right?

No thanks :lol

That's the kid who knows how to use a BR better than probably everyone at Bungie. Would be worth it just to see matchmaking turn into anti-Dax land.

 

[Trasher]

Google.com
Pretty nifty site.

And all this time I thought you had somehow recreated or kept a log of the thread. It still exists!

 

[Kapura]

Juices would be a good person to have on the team. Seriously.

wat

that's a pretty terrible glitch to have. I hate it when I get stuck in walls in everyday life, but at least usually I can find a way out. Forerunner metal is hard, though. I GUESS MODERN WARFARE 2 ISN'T THE ONLY GAME THAT SHIPPED WITH GAMEBREAKING BUGS!

 

[Princess Carl]

chock
CHOCK GODDAMN CHOCK I WILL TEACH YOU PROPER ENGLISH IF IT KILLS ME

I didn't know you were a horse.

 

[EazyB]

That's the kid who knows how to use a BR better than probably everyone at Bungie. Would be worth it just to see matchmaking turn into anti-Dax land.

Half of this board knows how to use a BR better than everyone at Bungie

If Juices was in charge of MM playlists it probably would be more suited to my liking but that isn't saying much.

And all this time I thought you had somehow recreated or kept a log of the thread. It still exists!

Yeah, when it got locked and eventually dropped of the end of the thread list I thought it was lost forever. Wu posted a link to it a while back revealing it was still on the internet. I don't know how long it'll last but it's a kick skimming through some of those old pages.

@Backflip, yeah, TDG musta been permabanned. Him and bans were no stranger but he's missed.

I didn't know you were a horse.

The man can assume whatever form he deems necessary. If NeoGAF were the matrix he'd be Agent Smith.

bishoptlJaws.gif

 

[electricpirate]

Reach can't be worse than halo 2 at least.

Halo 2 vs halo 1

Halo 1 you land on a ring mysteriously and spend the game figuring out what it is.

Halo 2 someone farts and you end up in another halo.

Halo 1 you get a creepy alien 1 kind of intro to the flood

Halo 2 someone farts and an alien goes 'the flood' and suddenly you fight flood.

Halo 1 promises alien and you get alien

Halo 2 promises earth, you get one level of earth

Halo 1 has mystery

Halo 2 has incubus

Halo 1 has an ending

halo 2 did not

Sorry, i'm not sure why i'm ragging on halo story today, I guess hearing any good marks towards halos story kind of irks me these days.

The only thing I really disagree with is the part about incubus. I thought it worked well in context, as did breaking benjamin.

 

[Stinkles]

I didn't know you were a horse.

Stallion is more like it.

 

[Slightly Live]

The only thing I really disagree with is the part about incubus. I thought it worked well in context, as did breaking benjamin.

SMH

 

[Princess Carl]

Stallion is more like it.

 

[Sai-kun]

SMH

wow. Avatar quote.

 

[Syracuse022]

Juices would be a good person to have on the team. Seriously.

Saw this weird ass bug for the first time tonight

http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=107646672

That chick could talk to everyone but she remained in that state for the rest of the game. Some sort of Halo limbo.

I've seen it one other time. It happened to Self Induced on Valhalla - link - and we spent the rest of the game trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Also, bahahaha @ the dinosaur who killed himself.

 

[Stormtrooper30]

I personally hate shaky cam leaks. I like all my reveals to be in full HD and straight from the source so there is no confusion. Now, if it were an HD capture of leaked footage... well thats different.

Spoiler

Blur is so damn fun

Edit: I, too, was amazed to see that Eazy had found that post. I remember it well.

And wtf at the horse stuff.

 

[broony]

Ramirez wanted me to give you guys this update:

Little Ram gets to come home finally!

Hey man, I'm a Euro lurker here so you won't know me, but as a new dad myself I'm really pleased to hear this. Good luck to you and your family mate.

 

[Flipyap]

Do you mean the games? Or in general.. The halo story is pretty much a clusterfuck.

Halo 1: mysterious, moody, subtle, beautiful.

Halo 2: Fucked up beyond belief, choppy, crap attempts at hollywood one liners (hi there cortana 2 of 'he never gets me anything') and of course, the fancy sounding english aliens :lol

Halo 3: Better, but

Yeah, OK, stop right there. Are you insane?!

Spoiler

TO WAR

 

[goldenpp72]

Yeah, OK, stop right there. Are you insane?!

Spoiler

TO WAR

How is halo 3 not better than halo 2 plot wise? Halo 2 introduced petey piranha and didn't even have an ending :lol Seriously all the important plot points of halo 2 felt so.. unimportant.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

How is halo 3 not better than halo 2 plot wise? Halo 2 introduced petey piranha and didn't even have an ending :lol Seriously all the important plot points of halo 2 felt so.. unimportant.

You are out of your mind. HALO 3 dumbed the plot down so much. HALO 2 had some great storytelling.

 

[goldenpp72]

You are out of your mind. HALO 3 dumbed the plot down so much. HALO 2 had some great storytelling.

 

[InvincibleAgent]

I never played Halo CE so I never noticed how bad the stories were in Halo 2, 3 and ODST :lol

 

[Magni]

Do yourself a favor and play that masterpiece NOW! What are you still doing on here? Play it!

 

[goldenpp72]

I never played Halo CE so I never noticed how bad the stories were in Halo 2, 3 and ODST :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqi8yxmlmO4

Compare this scene to anything in any other halo game, no contest. It didn't need big explosions and shit to be great

 

[Cuban Legend]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqi8yxmlmO4

Compare this scene to anything in any other halo game, no contest. It didn't need big explosions and shit to be great

And with that, I just popped in my dusty Halo CE disc and am Installing now.

Haven't played it since 2004... It's been so long I had actually forgotten completely about that scene.

HOW could I have forgotten it was so rich with cinematic and gameplay awesome...?

 

[goldenpp72]

I don't know how anyone could forget, while it is my favorite scene cinematics wise, parts like walking on halo for the first time will always be magic. If a new halo ever captured that haunting feeling of sorts id be shocked to hell.

 

[squidhands]

Halo 2 has incubus

:lol :lol

 

[Falt]

Rose tinted nostalgia at it's best!

 

[Flipyap]

How is halo 3 not better than halo 2 plot wise? Halo 2 introduced petey piranha and didn't even have an ending :lol Seriously all the important plot points of halo 2 felt so.. unimportant.

I don't even know where to start...
Important plot points felt unimportant? What? As in, after playing Halo 3 and seeing all the world building from Halo 2 moved from the spotlight to some dark corner behind the scenes?
Halo 2 took a game with next to no story or characters and built a universe around it. Some goofy design decisions aside (loloroflle talking plants wtf), it was an impressive, ballsy change in direction.
With Halo 3 they made an effort to hide that universe under a really big pile of "OORAH!" (it's what the fans want after all, not some talking lizard drama), resulting in an almost incomprehensible plot. It was a string of barely connected events, ending with one long masturbatory nod to the "good ol' times" of Halo:CE.

Maybe it's because I first played Halo 2 long after it was released (and I was far more interested in what happens to the Arbiter, than that green tin man) but I didn't feel it lacked an ending. Alliances were made, plans were set in motion, stuff was teased. It was a cliffhanger.
I assumed the party escort submission position and calmly waited for the next part.

Then "TO WAR" happened.

 

[EazyB]

Rose tinted nostalgia at it's best!

You'd think. But I pop in CE from time to time (just last month in fact) and it still does somethings from a gameplay and level design perspective better than any other Halo title. Fuckin aged like fine wine.

I personally hate shaky cam leaks. I like all my reveals to be in full HD and straight from the source so there is no confusion. Now, if it were an HD capture of leaked footage... well thats different.

Because the videos Bungie releases are clear as day and don't lead to any confusion?

I don't even know where to start...
Halo 2 took a game with next to no story or characters and built a universe around it.

Worst thing that ever happened to Halo.

 

[metareferential]

Because the videos Bungie releases are clear as day and don't lead to any confusion?

That is the ancient art of teasing.

 

[Flipyap]

Worst thing that ever happened to Halo.

Skip cutscenes, during the few talky gameplay bits cover your ears and shout "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU". Problem solved?

 

[EazyB]

Skip cutscenes, during the few talky gameplay bits cover your ears and shout "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU". Problem solved?

While Bungie's focus continues to lean towards shoddy character development and convoluted alien religions/politics instead of crafting overwhelmingly atmospheric scenes so full of mystery your mind's left in an orgasmic state of intrigue?

 

[Lunchbox]

Reach better have some breaking benjamin in it.

if not, Halo 2 > Reach by default


that 3 way fight in the big hall room near the end of halo2 with "Blow me away" in the background was amazing.

 

[Flipyap]

While Bungie's focus continues to lean towards shoddy character development and convoluted alien religions/politics instead of crafting overwhelmingly atmospheric scenes so full of mystery your mind's left in an orgasmic state of intrigue?

Well, if nothing else, it should make things more mysterious. It might not be orgasmic, but you'll certainly be in constant state of confusion.

that 3 way fight in the big hall room near the end of halo2 with "Blow me away" in the background was amazing.

I really liked that part, until I heard the version with lyrics. Can't unhear.

 

[The Librarian]

How is halo 3 not better than halo 2 plot wise? Halo 2 introduced petey piranha and didn't even have an ending :lol Seriously all the important plot points of halo 2 felt so.. unimportant.

Halo 2 is significantly better, plot-wise, than Halo 3. It's no contest.

 

[Prine]

I think the brutes were horrid addition to the lore and game. Not as sophisticated and intimidating as elites, so taking them down didn't feel like an accomplishment.

Cannot stand their design either.

 

[Blueblur1]

I'm sure Blur won't be so happy that you brought that post back in to focus haha.

He had a little case of nerd-rage that day, but has since apologized for said raging.

Eazy, how are you still bringing up posts that old? I want to know how such relics are accessed.

Spoiler

RIP Halo Thread

Meh. If I had a nickel for every stupid post I made in 2007 and 2008, I'd be filthy stinking rich. If anyone wants to judge on me on stupid old posts, that's their problem.

What actually is disconcerting is how EazyB managed to pull up an old post of mine with the search feature disabled. I can only imagine he has hundred of old GAF posts bookmarked; the majority of which could possibly be mine. Now that is just really damn weird.

 

[EazyB]

What actually is disconcerting is how EazyB managed to pull up an old post of mine with the search feature disabled. I can only imagine he has hundred of old GAF posts bookmarked; the majority of which could possibly be mine. Now that is just really damn weird.

Type this into google search and see how long it takes you to find your post.

site:neogaf.com halo 3 thread Blueblur1 disturbing

What can I say. I'm a Google wizard. I typed "disturbed" before checking "disturbing" but it worked out in the end.

Protip: "site:neogaf.com" has always worked better than GAF's search feature. I honestly had no idea they disabled it :lol


Anyways, I'd always thought of putting together a list of "Memorable HaloGAF Thread Moments" but I've never had the time. Think it'd be really funny though.

Well, if nothing else, it should make things more mysterious. It might not be orgasmic, but you'll certainly be in constant state of confusion.

Good point.

 

[Blueblur1]

Type this into google search and see how long it takes you to find your post.

site:neogaf.com halo 3 thread Blueblur1 disturbing

What can I say. I'm a Google wizard. I typed "disturbed" before checking "disturbing" but it worked out in the end.

Protip: "site:neogaf.com" has always worked better than GAF's search feature. I honestly had no idea they disabled it :lol


Anyways, I'd always thought of putting together a list of "Memorable HaloGAF Thread Moments" but I've never had the time. Think it'd be really funny though.


Good point.

I see, I see. Well, that's not too creepy. I suppose my posts were especially memorable to you though. :lol

 

[Tashi]

Hahaha damn. You can really kill a lot time reading those old ass posts. They're hilarious.

 

[Falt]

You'd think. But I pop in CE from time to time (just last month in fact) and it still does somethings from a gameplay and level design perspective better than any other Halo title. Fuckin aged like fine wine.

I hate wine.

It's been well over a year since I've played any CE campaign so I couldn't even begin to talk in dept about level design (the library!) and gameplay (super pistol!). The spark has long since faded for me... PC multiplayer on the other hand still makes me moist in all the right places*.

*

Spoiler

mostly armpits

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

Man, after reading this page I feel a little guilty for genuinely loving Halo's story (across all the games).

I think if anything Halo 2's story is the worst executed even, just because of the sheer complexity (and to a lesser extent, unintelligable elites - I could never understand what they were saying). Halo 1 was barebones enough that it could barely be said to have a story, although what there is gets the job done. Halo 2 by comparison is so convoluted, there are so many points where I was totally lost and elements like the Arbiter's conversion against the prophets were sketchy to say the least.

But still, the rest of H2 is pretty great, from the epic intro on the space station (with the bomb in space, I love the scale of it), to Miranda Keyes being a total badass following the covie ship into the rift, and the rise of the brutes. There is some great stuff in there.

Halo 3 was so pared back but I think it was also much easier to follow and the Ark was a perfect addition, the missing piece of the fiction that once it was in place made the whole series make so much more sense. I think the subtlety of the fiction is one of the series strong points - the obvious biblical parallel is so played down that most people IRL I've spoken to about it didn't even notice that element (despite how obvious it is), but I found that alternate-human-history element to the story very rewarding.

Even Halo Wars had a good story, and the inclusion of Sheild Worlds into game-canon was awesome after reading about them, since they're one of the keys to the forerunner plans. Similarly it's awesome how Reach will bring the SIIIs into canon (even though I'm still puzzled as to how the timeline works out there...).

Taking the novels/comics/anime into consideration, I find the Halo fiction to be one of the most satisfying in all of gaming (next to Mass Effect imo). It's grounded, dark, full of wonder and with an awesome sense of scale and grandeur. It may well have been written on-the-fly and have elements that didn't live up to their full potential, but it really is a great sci-fi universe. Shame all the other Spartans are off the board though, I have a feeling that Reach is going to make me long for more team-based Spartan shenanigans.

BTW, if there are any UK gaffers that want to play Halo with someone, send me an invite to Jedeye Sniv - I miss playing H3 but my friends all hate it. I need some pre-reach practice.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

SMH.

Halo 2 had a great narrative and the best cinematic writing of the series.
Also to re-iterative HydraNockz's request:

We're having a Friday night/Saturday morning Halo lockin. Halos CE/2 and 3 all night long baby. Mixed in with Zeouterlimit's copy of Halo Legends for the down time for some good measure.

Me and Zeouterlimits were musing the idea of 2 hours per Halo, with an hour in between for general shenanigans. I may just borrow some of the NeoGaf maps that were posted the other day

Looking for map & gametype suggestions.

 

[Sai-kun]

[[-_-HALO]] on vh[[-_-HALO]] imo :lol