If you want to talk about versus multiplayer and things related to it, go to Badman's thread.
The Reach Campaign, Lore, and Campaign Co-Op thread
(also Forge)
Rules of Campaign Thread
* Use the spoiler tags! We have people reading this thread that have already played the game. Don't play dumb. Spoil that shit.
* What is a considered a spoiler?
- Every storyline event in the game. (duh)
- Anything that happens to a character ( for the smartasses out there)
- Campaign mission names before 9/14. Please put these behind spoilers until then, thanks!
* What is not a spoiler?
- The number of missions
- Firefight map names
* Forging discussion is in this thread, for the actual act of Forging and help with it or 'special' non-competitive maps. If you want to invite people to playtest a map, use the multiplayer thread.
* When sending a Friend Request to people, mention in text or voice (text is better) that you're from PA. You can even just type "PA". Otherwise you run a high chance of people ignoring the request or deleting it.
Credits (cR) System
Credits, or "cR", is the new experience/currency/ranking system of Reach. You've probably seen it hanging around the bottom of most Reach screenshots. cR is earned in all game modes: Campaign, Customs, Firefight, Multiplayer.. you name it. As you gain more cR, you can spend it on things like armor, effects, Firefight voices, kneepads, helmets.. the list goes on. You'll also go up in military rank as you gain CR. Spending cR does not drop your rank.
Since Trueskill ranks are no longer visible, they also no longer play into your unlockable items or rank. This means everyone will have to go up through the same ranks!
Encrypted Transmission
---FILE I/O DETECTED---
DIR 334.56/tsettings/RAMDUMP.CONF
#
@)32904i.3r#
@%;#AF4WETRWEFDS43t4wSS
VahavirefrjevgvatolF043vapbzvatsbeguvffcbg
---ATTEMPT STOP ESSOFORTREE---
---ATTEMPT STOP RETRY 32/3
---ATTEMPT STOP DENIED, NOBLE ACTUAL ONLINE (6/CLASSIFIED)
---STAND BY FOR TRANSMISSION
The Fairer Sex
Finally making their debut in Reach is female Spartans! Your female Spartan will show up in every game mode.
Instead of just being a different voice like in Halo 3, female characters actually look female now. The female Spartan also has full voice acting in Campaign, so there's full recorded lines for both male and female players throughout the story. Huzzah!
Armor
Reach will have a plethora of armor options to choose from for your character. All armor details and options will also be reflected in campaign, so your character will be the same across all game modes. The only change is that the Flaming Helmet effect for multiplayer will be turned off for cutscenes.
2 limited you to either Spartan or Elite. 3 had Chest, Shoulders, and Helmet. Reach will have Firefight Voice, Helmet, Shoulders, Kneepads, Chest, Gender, Visor Color and a few more options they have not shown yet.
Some armor pieces will only be unlockable through combined community effort. All armor is purchased via the cR system, and only cR-bought armor counts towards 100% completion (the bonus armors do not count towards completion)
Note that none of the armor grants you any traits. It's all just for show.
More details will come as Bungie reveals them.
AbilitiesSprint - Allows a player to increase their maximum speed for a short duration. A cooldown is required before it can be used again. Sprinting into someone and meleeing them will throw them back farther.
Jetpack - It's a jetpack! What more can I say? You can either use it all up in one go for verticality or feather it to clear large gaps. Go too high though, and you'll die when you hit the ground.
Armor Lock - When activated, your spartan punches the ground and becomes invincible. And is stationary. And makes a loud sound and has a shield over him. The longer you hold the lock, the bigger your EMP blast when you come out of it.
Heal Bubble - Basically the Bubble Shield and Regen from Halo 3 combined. When activated, your spartan will drop a bubble shield that quickly heals anyone who steps inside of it. Once the haven deactivates, you can redeploy it.
Evade - aka the roll ability. Allows players to quickly dodge incoming fire and players. In the beta, you could roll 2 times before having to wait for the short cooldown. You stay in the first person view when using this.
Active Camo - A retooling of the classic cloaking ability. Activing this ability will cloak you (duh). It's drain speed increases the faster you move, and your visiblity increases the faster you move. Standing still = almost perfectly cloaked. Running = poor camo from Halo 3. As an added bonus, you'll also jam the radar of any nearby enemies and yourself. Be warned that all your fake dots will show up on the same elevation as you.
Hologram - A fake version of you, demonstrated in the Deja View video. Works by pointing at where you want it to go. When activated, your fake self will walk to that spot and stop. It appears that it can take a few hits before being destroyed.
Your available abilities are dependent on the gametype. You can only "carry" one at a time, and they are not dropped when you die, although this may be avaiable as a custom games option in retail.
Campaign
When
Halo: Reach takes place right before Halo 1. Your current Halo game timeline:
Halo Wars -> Halo: Reach -> Halo 1 -> Halo 2 -> ODST -> Halo 2 -> Halo 3
Got it?
Where
Halo: Reach takes place on the human colony planet Reach. The game's story is NOT based on the Fall of Reach book by Eric Nylund, although it will probably have references to it. You saw Reach in the opening cutscene of Halo 2 (as the Pillar of Autumn is jumping away from it), and has been referenced by both Elites and Marines in 2 and 3.
Achievements
Bungie has decided to get out ahead of the modders and Microsoft's inability to keep achievements under wraps by showing all 49 of them in icon form:
They have also revealed the names of some of them:
* A Monument to All Your Sins – Complete each Campaign Mission on Legendary – alone.
* Banshees, Fast and Low – Hijack a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.
* Yes, Sensei – Earn a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.
* A New Challenger – Complete all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.
* Make It Rain – Purchase an item from the Armory that requires the rank of Lt. Colonel.
"Twenty-three of them are Campaign-specific Achievements. We set out to make sure that each Campaign mission has its own ‘special’ Achievement, like:
If They Came to Hear Me Beg – Perform an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would’ve been fatal."
Retail
EditionsLegendary Edition - 150$ US
Microsoft has claimed that they learned their lesson from Halo 3 and will only produce enough Reach Legendaries to cover preorders. If you are considering getting it, I'd at least put down the minimum reserve. You can always drop your reserve down to a different edition.
The Legendary Edition comes with all the bonus content of the Limited Edition, plus the Flaming Head armor effect for multiplayer spartans, and a statue of Noble Team made by McFarlane Toys.
Limited Edition - 80$ US
The Limited Edition is probably going to be the more popular "extras" edition for people, and there certainly is no problem with not making the jump for Legendary. Included with the Limited Edition is a book presented in the format of Dr. Halsey's journal, written via a collaboration with Bungie and Eric Nylund. It also includes an exclusive Elite Officer armor for multiplayer Elites. Other real-world items include a patch and some stickers.
Normal Edition - 60$ US
Those who don't want to spend more money on Halo than they have to don't have to miss out on bonus content. All launch day new copies in North America will include the Recon Armor! And if you preorder at Gamestop, they'll give you a belt of grenades and a blastplate for your chest. If you're not in North America, you have to preorder to get the Recon armor.
Bonuses
Still confused? Here's a matrix to inform your decisions.
Posts
THIS INFORMATION IS PROTECTED BY THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT OF 2550
--
FROM: Admiral Roland Freemont
TO: UNSC SPECWAR/groupTHREE/TANGOBRAVOKILO
SUBJECT: WINTER CONTINGENCY
As of 0900 hours on August 30, 2552, the Covenant are confirmed on the surface of REACH. All UNSC personnel are to enact planetary directive 'WINTER CONTINGENCY' immediately, and begin evacuation of all major city centers, hospitals, schools and military installations. Units from the 405th, 101st, 209th and 11th ODST are being scrambled from the UNSC Aegis Fate, UNSC Pillar of Autumn, UNSC Dawn Under Heaven and UNSC Savannah.
ORDERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
WINTER CONTINGENCY DECLARATION SUPPLEMENTAL ORDERS
1. The following identified officers, Headquarters: United Nations Space Command. Reach, Epsilon Eridani System, will execute the following orders before evacuation of system according to Cole Protocol structures.
ORDERS FOR FIELD AGENTS FOLLOW:
- Redact all NAV data at sites 128a-316d.
- Defend sites, as listed:
1. 128a. CODENAME WATERFRONT
2. 138c. CODENAME COURTYARD
3. 298b. CODENAME OVERLOOK
4. 284c. CODENAME BEACHHEAD
5. 316d. CODENAME OUTPOST
//ORDERS FOR FIELD AGENTS TERMINATES
A subsection of GROUPTHREE/TANGOBRAVOKILO will be selected for EVA deployment from UNSC Savannah, to SITE 914e. CODENAME CORVETTE. This group will be notified before launch and given secondary orders.
Give 'em hell, boys.
Nothing can stop me.
So whats everyones plan with campaign. Legendary off the bat solo, for all the campaign achievements at once, or do it normal and work on legendary down the road?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
That's because everyone involved at Gamestop would get fired immediately.
And I plan on finishing the midnight release, co-oping my way through with a co-worker, breaking for Firefight if necessary and then jumping straight into multiplayer. I'm off work Tuesday and Wednesday.
edit: Sweet, it's there.
Microsoft is pretty damn strict with their embargos unsurprisingly. Normally a broken street date would allow everyone to sell it, but in my experience stores that break street dates of AAA Microsoft games get in big trouble and the embargo still isn't lifted.
As for campaign, I'll probably do it on either Normal or Heroic, that's typically how I roll with these kind of games. In the event I really enjoy the campaign (and can pull myself away from MP) I'll probably do a Legendary run with friends.
Heroic. I'm holding Legendary for pro Bee fuck around party time.
Hoping this game does a little better with it.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
So question.... Can I safely mainline energy drinks to stay awake and play?
You can, but anytime I've ever done that I never enjoy the game as much as I would if I played it well rested and with actual energy, not crap from a drink or whatever.
But everyone is effected by that stuff differently. energy drinks make me feel like shit. They keep me awake, for the most part, but I better be doing something really fucking important to do it.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
also i was stupidly reading the comments on a review for the game and nearly got spoiled for some stuff so probably not clicking anymore links now. i've been doing so good so far... only 2 days...
The journal continues to be amazing, complete with a few REALLY big points about Halsey. I can't wait until everyone gets it and reads it, or I'm cleared to post the biggest stuff on the boards themselves.
PSN: JPBrowncoat Xbox: BamSaidTheLaday Also on Steam! Streaming games!
I look forward to reading it. I'm very glad I managed to secure myself a copy of limited before they went out of stock here.
PSN: JPBrowncoat Xbox: BamSaidTheLaday Also on Steam! Streaming games!
PSN: JPBrowncoat Xbox: BamSaidTheLaday Also on Steam! Streaming games!
PSN: JPBrowncoat Xbox: BamSaidTheLaday Also on Steam! Streaming games!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
PSN: JPBrowncoat Xbox: BamSaidTheLaday Also on Steam! Streaming games!
Anything worse the two's jackals?
I played Halo3 solo first run just like I'm going to with Reach. Granted it was a mission a day. How long comparable is Reach to H3?
Twitch Wed-Sun, 2-5pm CST
I am certainly going to try. Sounds to me like it's just not something you try to do for prolonged periods of time. Do a couple of checkpoints, play some FF/MP, eat a sandwich, do some more checkpoints.
One level at a time. Checkpoint by checkpoint. Hopefully it's not Halo 2 all over again.
Some people may regard that as a spoiler. I think its great but one of my friends got pretty annoyed when I "spoiled" it for him.
Halo 3's legendary was quite doable, so I imagine Reach won't be too bad.
Unless they do a repeat of Halo 2's first mission. That shit was ridiculous.
It's a spoiler for anyone who doesn't know Halo cannon.
Edit: Yes, I spelled it with an extra n. Use the context of the sentence to decipher what I meant. It's a goddamn mystery only you can solve.
What does Halo cannon have to do with anything? I mean, this cannon here from Halo... it's pretty powerful. It fires rounds really fast. But I'm not sure what it has to do with this discussion.
Spoilered my original post.