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[Black Mantis]

Pretty much... everything. He's entirely defined by his species. You don't learn why he's important, who he was, what he did. He's "a Forerunner" and that has to be enough.
He wants to prevent humanity from attaining the mantle... but to what end? As far as we know, he's alone in the universe. Once he kills off every human, he'll be left sitting in his floating ball, surrounded by robot dogs and "inferior" species. Why would he want that? It's like screaming "IF I CAN'T HAVE IT, NO ONE WILL" in the form of a galactic genocide. (ancientmanyellsatgalaxy.jpg)

As I said before, given that the Halo games view things from the playable character's pov, you're not going to get all that unless The Didact were to stand around and explain it all to MC as he held him captive. That's the role of the terminals, and I personally felt that worked in regards to the Didact. Their failing in Halo 4, was to have those segments tucked off in the Waypoint app.

 

[NMFried]

I'd love to hear you elaborate on what's missing.

I'm not too far into it. But I noticed the game added iron sights, and everything is much... faster? I guess it's all of the extra additions, which I totally see as a step forward for the genre so it makes sense that Halo would follow.

There was just something so simple and tight about the first three games, but mostly Halo 3. Nothing was awfully gimmicky.

Will report back when I can about final thoughts/multiplayer.

 

[wesleyshark]

He was pretty far gone by the time 4 rolls around. Locked in an endless losing war with the Flood, tortured by the Gravemind, twisted by his efforts to become immune, and then stuck in his Cryptum for tens of thousands of years. He was conscious the whole time, btw.

Yep. He was locked up with nothing but his own maddening thoughts for thousands of years. He emerged really pissed off, naturally. It was supposed to give him time to reflect and recant, but instead he stewed on his own anger.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Yep. He was locked up with nothing but his own maddening thoughts for thousands of years. He emerged really pissed off, naturally. It was supposed to give him time to reflect and recant, but instead he stewed on his own anger.

He was also supposed to have access to the Domain, but, well, then the rings fired and...

 

[wesleyshark]

He was also supposed to have access to the Domain, but, well, then the rings fired and...

The Primordial's greatest sleight of hand.

 

[Poodlestrike]

The Primordial's greatest sleight of hand.

What a dick.

 

[wesleyshark]

What a dick.

Really fucking chilling.

Spoiler

Bless you Greg Bear.

 

[Flipyap]

As I said before, given that the Halo games view things from the playable character's pov, you're not going to get all that unless The Didact were to stand around and explain it all to MC as he held him captive. That's the role of the terminals, and I personally felt that worked in regards to the Didact. Their failing in Halo 4, was to have those segments tucked off in the Waypoint app.

Halo 1's primary antagonists were silent parasites and Elites speaking gibberish, and yet they've found multiple ways to explain what both of them wanted to achieve and why. We were even told of events that transpired 100,000 years prior.
All without the use of terminals. As for scenes where the Master Chief is held captive as exposition is being thrown at him - Halo 4 has that, but instead of the Didact, you hear it from his lover, Lord Voldemort on a floating segway.

 

[Madness]

Maybe instead of having a handcuffed Halsey wondering who is questioning here and a cutscene about Chief that really has nothing to do with the next 8 hours of the story, why not have had the first cutscene of Halo 4 be Didact being sealed away in that ball, hearing that the Librarian stayed on Earth and swearing revenge against humanity, and then you pan out of Requiem and it's the 50,000 years later and you start with Chief's ship drifting towards Requiem like the level starts.

This way you establish Didact was a Forerunner, he was locked away, he hates humanity and has been sealed in that ball, etc. So that when you land on Requiem, you see that ball, you see him escape you have a much better grasp on him and his motivations. I swear I saw a terminal after I beat the game that had something similar.

 

[m23]

ADS is fine in Halo 5, I'm happy for it and it looks cool. I still think it's funny how 343 worded it when it was revealed: "There is no penalty to hip-fire", yet ADS is more accurate. Sorry dudes, it don't work that way.

Is it still that way?

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

Is it still that way?

Not entirely sure, haven't seen somebody do the wall test. But I'm guessing it is; the bullets always shoot within the reticle, and the reticle still zooms and shrinks when you ADS on most, if not all, weapons.

 

[RedSparrows]

No, or minimally so, and then only for autos. Precision weapons are same at hip or scope.

 

[wesleyshark]

Is it still that way?

Not entirely sure, haven't seen somebody do the wall test. But I'm guessing it is; the bullets always shoot within the reticle, and the reticle still zooms and shrinks when you ADS on most, if not all, weapons.

Hip fire will always be less accurate. You're zooming in slightly or massively to aim, so naturally you'll be more accurate then running around firing from the hip.

Granted, someone who is really skilled at firing from the hip could he just as accurate, but aiming will give the player a natural boon to accuracy based solely on zoom and reticle size-to-target.

 

[SmartWaffles]

Not entirely sure, haven't seen somebody do the wall test. But I'm guessing it is; the bullets always shoot within the reticle, and the reticle still zooms and shrinks when you ADS on most, if not all, weapons.

I think ADS on autos still tightens the spread slightly but with descoping that's not really a problem and it happened in Halo before with ODST's SMG, plus they removed headshot bonus from autos entirely.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

Hip fire will always be less accurate. You're zooming in slightly or massively to aim, so naturally you'll be more accurate then running around firing from the hip.

I'm talking actual spread though, not just how it affects your aiming ability.

Here's a test from the beta

edit: in that video I did notice the ADS causes weapon-lift (or whatever you call it) for the auto weapons that were tested, whereas hipfire doesn't. That could balance things out a bit.

 

[maximrace]

I'm livestreaming on heroic here: http://www.twitch.tv/xet_belgie

 

[wesleyshark]

I'm talking actual spread though, not just how it affects your aiming ability.

Ah okay. That would need to be tested to see how it compares to the beta. I'd imagine there's still a slight reduction in spread whilst aiming, but I could be wrong.

 

[LordOfChaos]

He was also supposed to have access to the Domain, but, well, then the rings fired and...

Which brings us to the question of how it's back in Halo 5. Was it always there and just hiding itself from the Forerunners? Did it repair itself? Did the Forerunners build a new Domain? Was the Primordial just lying about all the things?

 

[m23]

Not entirely sure, haven't seen somebody do the wall test. But I'm guessing it is; the bullets always shoot within the reticle, and the reticle still zooms and shrinks when you ADS on most, if not all, weapons.

No, or minimally so, and then only for autos. Precision weapons are same at hip or scope.

Yeah I remember it being a problem for the autos in the beta, hopefully its toned down from that.

 

[Outrun]

This Canadian General Election, I know who I am voting for:

A mate at EB games, gave me this sign.

 

[wesleyshark]

Which brings us to the question of how it's back in Halo 5. Was it always there and just hiding itself from the Forerunners? Did it repair itself? Did the Forerunners build a new Domain? Was the Primordial just lying about all the things?

In Human Weakness, the Gravemind shows Cortana that the domain still exists. How that's possible has not been explained yet.

 

[Black Mantis]

Halo 1's primary antagonists were silent parasites and Elites speaking gibberish, and yet they've found multiple ways to explain what both of them wanted to achieve and why. We were even told of events that transpired 100,000 years prior.
All without the use of terminals. As for scenes where the Master Chief is held captive as exposition is being thrown at him - Halo 4 has that, but instead of the Didact, you hear it from his lover, Lord Voldemort on a floating segway.

Considering in Halo 1 we had 343 Guilty Spark, is that a surprise? Halo 4 never had an equivalent to him. The only other way we found out knowledge of them, was via Cortana, who was able to access Covenant/Forerunner systems, so I do agree that they could've had her repeat those actions in Halo 4...but maybe she was being stretched too far due to rampancy!

 

[Outrun]

In Human Weakness, the Gravemind shows Cortana that the domain still exists. How that's possible has not been explained yet.

The Domain is neural physics bases (correct me if I am wrong!)

So if the Domain was based outside the Milky Way Galaxy, it could survive the firing for the Halo rings at the end of the Forerunner-Flood War.

 

[wesleyshark]

The Domain is neural physics bases (correct me if I am wrong!)

So if the Domain was based outside the Milky Way Galaxy, it could survive the firing for the Halo rings at the end of the Forerunner-Flood War.

Yep- it's neural. It's definitely possible.

 

[MaGlock]

So have we seen anything about the warzone assault maps?

 

[wesleyshark]

So have we seen anything about the warzone assault maps?

Nothing yet.

 

[...Scatter...]

It's Friday and it's been a long work week. I feel like I'm starting to suffer from rampancy.

But hey, I did beat CE last night on Heroic. Its been a long time and the game felt really dated when I started, but once I got in the swing of things it was like I never left.


Legendary single player is ridiculous. Were you guys able to solo a Legendary run?

 

[LordOfChaos]

In Human Weakness, the Gravemind shows Cortana that the domain still exists. How that's possible has not been explained yet.

Return of the domain = Floodcursors return.

Shipping it!

I want this dude to come back at some point. Don't get villians like that a lot.

 

[Black Mantis]

It's Friday and it's been a long work week. I feel like I'm starting to suffer from rampancy.

But hey, I did beat CE last night on Heroic. Its been a long time and the game felt really dated when I started, but once I got in the swing of things it was like I never left.


Legendary single player is ridiculous. Were you guys able to solo a Legendary run?

Nah. I tried and failed when Halo first came out, then tried and failed all over again with the MCC! Always give up on the Truth & Reconilliation stage after you board the ship. I was going to try the legendary playlist in MCC before H5 drops, but I don't have the time or patience! Also can't do Halo 2 on Legendary, no problem with the rest though.

 

[SmartWaffles]

It's Friday and it's been a long work week. I feel like I'm starting to suffer from rampancy.

But hey, I did beat CE last night on Heroic. Its been a long time and the game felt really dated when I started, but once I got in the swing of things it was like I never left.


Legendary single player is ridiculous. Were you guys able to solo a Legendary run?

Heroic CE difficulty is probably just slightly below 3 and 4's legendary imo. The later levels are ridiculously hard for what is supposed to be "normal" difficulty. And of course legendary is more bullshit than ever (but Halo 2 legendary is just....wow).

 

[16BitNova]

It's Friday and it's been a long work week. I feel like I'm starting to suffer from rampancy.

But hey, I did beat CE last night on Heroic. Its been a long time and the game felt really dated when I started, but once I got in the swing of things it was like I never left.


Legendary single player is ridiculous. Were you guys able to solo a Legendary run?

Yup I've done Legendary on all the Halos multiple times. If you thought CE Legendary was tough, Halo 2 is a motherfu...

 

[SmartWaffles]

Yup I've done Legendary on all the Halos multiple times. If you thought CE Legendary was tough, Halo 2 is a motherfu...

In all other games legendary can be tackled by any average player with enough patience and time, without needing to do things the unorthodox way (save for maybe Cortana in 3), but in 2 you better abuse some speedrun tactics or risk pulling your hair out in frustration.

 

[soulassssns]

This way you establish Didact was a Forerunner.

How do you not know he is a Forerunner? He literally says the "Forerunners have returned".

 

[op_ivy]

I'm not too far into it. But I noticed the game added iron sights, and everything is much... faster? I guess it's all of the extra additions, which I totally see as a step forward for the genre so it makes sense that Halo would follow.

There was just something so simple and tight about the first three games, but mostly Halo 3. Nothing was awfully gimmicky.

Will report back when I can about final thoughts/multiplayer.

Playing the beta, I felt all of that as well but it always felt like a natural progression of halo. The core experience felt the same only improved.

How about engagements, combat flow, and level design? Do those feel like halo to you? I think these were halo 4s largest flaws and its rough to see just how much better halo 5 is from videos (its obviously better, but just how much won't be determined till I get plenty of time with it).

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

I'm not too far into it. But I noticed the game added iron sights, and everything is much... faster? I guess it's all of the extra additions, which I totally see as a step forward for the genre so it makes sense that Halo would follow.

There was just something so simple and tight about the first three games, but mostly Halo 3. Nothing was awfully gimmicky.

Will report back when I can about final thoughts/multiplayer.

Halo 3
Tight

That game was molasses

 

[NMFried]

Playing the beta, I felt all of that as well but it always felt like a natural progression of halo. The core experience felt the same only improved.

How about engagements, combat flow, and level design? Do those feel like halo to you? I think these were halo 4s largest flaws and its rough to see just how much better halo 5 is from videos (its obviously better, but just how much won't be determined till I get plenty of time with it).

Same here in terms of getting more time with the game.

Level design has definitely been improved ten-fold from 4. Combat flow seems more fast-paced like I had said, so it may take some getting used to.

But yes, it does feel like a natural progression. Maybe the closed-minded Halo fan in me is just taking control.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Welp. I'm in. Pre-ordered H5 this morning.

Ditto

 

[Leyasu]

I'm not too far into it. But I noticed the game added iron sights, and everything is much... faster? I guess it's all of the extra additions, which I totally see as a step forward for the genre so it makes sense that Halo would follow.

There was just something so simple and tight about the first three games, but mostly Halo 3. Nothing was awfully gimmicky.

Will report back when I can about final thoughts/multiplayer.

Everything that i have seen looks far from gimmicky. To be honest, some of the abilities worked pretty well in 4s campaign, and it looks even better in 5.

Faster. If you are comparing to halo 3. Then yeah, anything other than running through treacle would be faster.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

So have we seen anything about the warzone assault maps?

I would say maybe Wednesday or Thursday?

 

[op_ivy]

Heroic CE difficulty is probably just slightly below 3 and 4's legendary imo. The later levels are ridiculously hard for what is supposed to be "normal" difficulty. And of course legendary is more bullshit than ever (but Halo 2 legendary is just....wow).

It's been a while but I don't recall halo 2 legendary to be all that difficult, snipers and all. From my memory, halo ce was always tougher.

 

[Sai]

ADS is fine in Halo 5, I'm happy for it and it looks cool. I still think it's funny how 343 worded it when it was revealed: "There is no penalty to hip-fire", yet ADS is more accurate. Sorry dudes, it don't work that way.

I think they meant that hip-fire is no worse than it's ever been despite the inclusion of ADS. Completely understandable that everybody took that as meaning the values were the same between them, besides the magnification.

 

[16BitNova]

In all other games legendary can be tackled by any average player with enough patience and time, without needing to do things the unorthodox way (save for maybe Cortana in 3), but in 2 you better abuse some speedrun tactics or risk pulling your hair out in frustration.

Ah yes. The level Cortana in Halo 3 on legendary. How could I forget. I literally felt legendary after finally making it through that hell.

 

[shinnn]

 

[...Scatter...]

Yup I've done Legendary on all the Halos multiple times. If you thought CE Legendary was tough, Halo 2 is a motherfu...

I honor your patience. I just can't. Heroic is firm and fair. Legendary is...well.. Legendary.

Jesus, that FOV transition. Sexual.

 

[SamastahSukhino]

Halo 3
Tight

That game was molasses

I was going to say the same thing. I was playing through the the campaign this week and it was sluggish as shit. And not gimmicky? What do you call the green shit, blue shit, flares, bubbles, and the shield. To me that's gimmicky as hell. The ar in that game feels like I'm firing a wet fart.

 

[Jolkien]

Really nice assassination animation, love the fact that you see thruster firing to help him jump and they also fire to make him fall on the enemy quicker.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Halo 3
Tight

That game was molasses

Yep. Also has the worst campaign in the franchise.

 

[ironcreed]

So very nice.

 

[watership]

Worst. Game. Ever. Bought the LE.

 

[Ramirez]

Yep. Also has the worst campaign in the franchise.

I'm sorry, wat?