Support NeoGAF

[Fahzgoolin]

Okay, we get it.

But are grenade indicators really that detrimental to competitive gameplay? I feel like that is such a small thing to complain about.

I know..I feel silly for so many repeated posts. But yes I and many others (including seasoned Halo pro's) do feel it's detrimental. I don't want to go into all the depths of problems and scenarios it might cause here (I've posted enough). Just go to HaloWaypoint and search "remove hitmarkers" and you will see tons of posts and articulated arguments.

Of course I'm one of those "MLG L33T jackasses", so maybe I'm the minority.

 

[Orochinagis]

26 melees!

Did someone said melees!!?

 

[Fahzgoolin]

Did someone said melees!!?

BXB+BXB+BXB....

 

[Akai__]

IGN First looks promising.

I remember a while back that they said the silenced SMG would be in H2A MP. Have we seen anything of it?

Yeah, that was in one of the panels. As far as I know, there hasn't been any news about it.

 

[Ramirez]

One of my favorite non gameplay related things in Halo was always looking up to a bright blue sky with a Halo in the sky. Bloodline would look incredible with that, oh well.

Still baffled that Warlock got remade, anyone could forge that map, boring.

 

[woodland]

All the colors drained out of Blood Gulch ;\ Sweet

 

[The Librarian]

Does H2A BR actually have spread or it is just cosmetic like H4 Dmr's bloom?

Maybe a little spread? But it's not all that much.

All the colors drained out of Blood Gulch ;\ Sweet

Coagulation didn't have an enormous amount of color to begin with.

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

Coagulation didn't have an enormous amount of color to begin with.

Bright green, blue, grey, and brown.

The new one is just grey and brown... :/

 

[Omni]

Coagulation didn't have an enormous amount of color to begin with.

Yeah. Just washed out browns

oh

 

[Poker Face]

a blue sky would have been nice.

 

[The Librarian]

Yeah. Just washed out browns

The only thing really brings out color is the skybox, not the map itself.

Was never a huge fan of Coagulation's color palette; it was always drab. And I don't think you read my post in full; I did say "enormous."

 

[Fahzgoolin]

The only thing really brings out color is the skybox, not the map itself.

Was never a huge fan of Coagulation's color palette; it was always drab. And I don't think you read my post in full; I did say "enormous."

Either way, its immediately apparent that the recent and only screenshot is washed out due to some sort of haze/fog or post-processing effect. Even the trees on the cliff wall are grey yellow-green vs. the original trees being more bright and lively. Of course...the aesthetic is more desert like in this one. Like someone else stated, the contrast just isn't there in the screenshot.

We can just wait until the map walkthrough to judge I guess. You said that Shrine looked better when you played it, so maybe this will be similar.

 

[IHaveIce]

not enormous but the contrast was big, light green, orangish brown, and a clear blue.

Though I always disliked all map variations of Blood Gulch, I don't care so much

 

[The Librarian]

Either way, its immediately apparent that the recent and only screenshot is washed out due to some sort of haze/fog or post-processing effect. Even the trees on the cliff wall are grey-green vs. the original trees being vibrant lively green. Like someone else stated, the contrast just isn't there in the screenshot.

We can just wait until the map walkthrough to judge I guess. You said that Shrine looked better when you played it, so maybe this will be similar.

I understand the complaints. I didn't like how 343 muted Valhalla's even-more vibrant colors in Halo 4.

 

[HTupolev]

The only thing really brings out color is the skybox

"Not much color contrast except for how the sky couples with everything else" is pretty distant from "not much color contrast."

There's a reasonably strong 3-color scheme in the original.

I understand the complaints. I didn't like how 343 muted Valhalla's even-more vibrant colors in Halo 4.

Ragnarok is disgusting.

Blotchy shading on natural terrain, crappy water, piss filter, hazy blown-out lighting and screen-space effects.

Valhalla looks a million times better.

 

[The Librarian]

"Not much color contrast except for how the sky couples with everything else" is pretty distant from "not much color contrast."

There's a reasonably strong 3-color scheme in the original.

I didn't say anything about color contrast. I said Coagulation didn't have an "enormous" amount of color, and it doesn't – but the contrast between the skybox and the actual map makes it seem that way.

 

[Welfare]

Can Hitmarkers be disabled through custom game options? Really don't like them.

 

[AlStrong]

edit: nvm.

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

It feels GREAT to see Camo back on Warlock.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I think I'm just gonna avoid ever playing H2A maps with their change for the sake of change oddities and H4 engine quirks and lack of blue skies

 

[Fracas]

I think I'm just gonna avoid ever playing H2A maps with their change for the sake of change oddities and H4 engine quirks and lack of blue skies

Same.

 

[Sephzilla]

If we complain enough about it do you think it's too late for Frankie to go back and tell them to add some more color to those maps? I'm still mostly going to play vanilla Halo 2 anyway, but I'd like more incentive to play the Anniversary maps.

Seeing how drab and lifeless Bloodline looks compared to Coagulation is depressing, especially when I consider Coagulation to look drab compared to OG Blood Gulch.

 

[Ramirez]

Let's just hope there's playlists with classic games only.

 

[Sephzilla]

Let's just hope there's playlists with classic games only.

Hasn't this more or less been confirmed?

 

[Fahzgoolin]

Hasn't this more or less been confirmed?

Yes and Yes. Game specific hoppers were confirmed by Stinkles quite awhile ago. Max stated specifically during a Shrine walkthrough that if players don't like the new changes to their beloved maps then they can feel free to just play classic in matchmaking.

 

[Sephzilla]

Yes and Yes. Game specific hoppers were confirmed by Stinkles quite awhile ago. Max stated specifically during a Shrine walkthrough that if players don't like the new changes to their beloved maps then they can feel free to just play classic in matchmaking.

I like hearing it reconfirmed, though

Honestly, I'm still really excited about the H2A stuff even if the maps are depressing looking in terms of visuals. But day 1 I'm probably going to jump exclusively into Halo 1 and Halo 2 hoppers because those are old friends I have missed for the longest time.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

I like hearing it reconfirmed, though

Tell me I'm beautiful.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

In regards to "343 doesn't like sunlight and color", we need to remember how faithfully, if not better, they are rendering the campaign remasters.

VS.

It's not like they are oblivious oafs that are adverse to color, they obviously just want to take the H2:A Bloodline map in a different art direction/mood.

 

[Ramirez]

Hasn't this more or less been confirmed?

Nothing is confirmed yet, I'd personally like a list with just CE-3, and no 4 or h2a, but I feel that's highly unlikely.

 

[woodland]

It's not like they are oblivious oafs that are adverse to color, they obviously just want to take the H2:A Bloodline map in a different art direction/mood.

That just means they have poor taste in colors when not forced to stay true to the material...

 

[Trey]

The maps look fine to me.

 

[HTupolev]

In regards to "343 doesn't like sunlight and color", we need to remember how faithfully, if not better, they are rendering the campaign remasters.

Isn't Sabre Interactive handling the visual asset production, or was that never confirmed, or am I just horribly mixing things up?

At any rate, H2A campaign isn't necessarily as indicative of where 343i is heading with other content; they seem to be sticking closer to the source material than they did in CEA, perhaps due to various complaints about CEA.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

In regards to "343 doesn't like sunlight and color", we need to remember how faithfully, if not better, they are rendering the campaign remasters.

VS.

It's not like they are oblivious oafs that are adverse to color, they obviously just want to take the H2:A Bloodline map in a different art direction/mood.

I'm assume different art teams are working on SP vs MP, because the two experiences seem to have a distinct visual contrast.

 

[The Real Napsta]

There better be no Spartan Laser!

Learn to control power weapons.

 

[AlStrong]

Isn't Sabre Interactive handling the visual asset production, or was that never confirmed, or am I just horribly mixing things up?

IIRC... Sabre is handling H2A SP, Certain Affinity is on MP duty. Ruffian is handling H3/H4.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

That just means they have poor taste in colors when not forced to stay true to the material...

I don't know about that, but they definitely decided to take on a certain cinematic filter/vibe in Halo 4. To me comparing these shots kind of shows that they want to carry forward some of the same art styles because they are on the same engine, just modified from eachother:

Zanzibar (now Stone City) is pretty much the only map without this "moody" feel.

 

[FyreWulff]

Is this pic new?

Coag went full Unreal 2K4

 

[Fahzgoolin]

If they made the rocks more of the orange hue like in Halo 4's level Reclaimer, I have a feeling there would be a lot less complaints about Bloodline being "washed out and muddy."

Example:

 

[Kibbles]

IGN off to a good start, hopefully it stays that way.

 

[FyreWulff]

The fuck

Put some more color in that jesus.

quick and bad photo edit. edit on the left, original on right

if the juicy filter is still in there, might be able to get a result close to that

edit: original on left in this one

 

[jem0208]

"Not much color contrast except for how the sky couples with everything else o
Ragnarok is disgusting.

Blotchy shading on natural terrain, crappy water, piss filter, hazy blown-out lighting and screen-space effects.

Valhalla looks a million times better.

What? No.

Ragnarok is so much better.

 

[Poker Face]

quick and bad photo edit. edit on the left, original on right



if the juicy filter is still in there, might be able to get a result close to that

edit: original on left in this one

please no addition of color. needs to be brown or grey.

but seriously those look so much better.

 

[Ampoc]

I kind of like the gritty feel, but that's just me.

Also, I noticed the tree's were replaced with.. I'm not really sure, but Pillars of a broken down building? (Look to the right of the image.)

Looking forward to some gameplay.

 

[Madness]

I've long talked about the look of Halo 4 and now H2A maps. There is something I just cant explain that is off to me. It's missing the vibrancy of older games. Plus there is this pervasive tint/lighting/filter that really mutes or washes over the pic. Whether it's yellow, brown, blue, orange etc. I think the only map that I can remember that had a mix of colors, wasn't necessarily that next gen filter was something like Longbow.

I didn't add Valhalla which was sort of a reimagining itself, but I have compared Valhalla to Ragnarok here before even side by side.

 

[User 73706]

What? No.

Ragnarok is so much better.

Ragnarok is awful in its attemp to recreate the aesthetic of Valhalla. It's closer to what Tempest was in that it's some weird Arizona-esque dryland.

Quick and dirty color corrections:

Compared to the original:

When you level everything out, it's pretty apparent the map's covered in this weird, limey haziness.

 

[Nebula]

Feels like you slapped Juicy down in forge.

 

[User 73706]

Bonus gloomy edition:

 

[Zeouterlimits]

It's the bases that look particularly weird to me in that Bloodline shot.

Why would competitive players who DON'T like the stalactites choose to play with them on, when they could simply select "Lockout Anniversary" with indestructible center glass and no stalactites? (in matchmaking and especially in customs" Or is this a case of "they shouldn't enjoy things I don't enjoy?"

Population split for stuff like this is my main worry. If I don't want to play with xyz settings, but it's easier to find matches in those playlists.. it's a bummer.

Things that affect the map flow on Lockout & Ascension aren't what I came to MCC looking for. It's largely cool to see the maps in H2A and because of how good looking they are [as well as the marketing focus and very existence leading to probable population density] I want to play on them, it's just unfortunate (to me) that they come primarily with those changes.

Thursday will be fun, the playlists have been a good thing to ponder since the announcement.

 

[Fata1moose]

I feel like Outcast was a desert map done right, it doesn't have many colors to its pallet, but it looks nice nonetheless.

 

[Madness]

Used these images before in another post, but the banshee shot especially illustrates what I mean about the tint/lighting and how it just washes over the map, mutes colors. And it's not necessarily yellow itself. I'm on mobile right now so hard to use images, but I have a few to show what I mean and I'll do it from pc.