Also, Buck is a Spartan 4 now and all the S2's trapped from Ghosts of Onyx are now supporting Chief?? Wtf is even happening
This is super awesome! I like Buck because Nathan Fillion, but I don't really give two shits about Locke and his team. They've got nothing on Chief and the rest of the Spartan 2's, I tell you what!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
0
Options
jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
Also, Buck is a Spartan 4 now and all the S2's trapped from Ghosts of Onyx are now supporting Chief?? Wtf is even happening
This is super awesome! I like Buck because Nathan Fillion, but I don't really give two shits about Locke and his team. They've got nothing on Chief and the rest of the Spartan 2's, I tell you what!
Everybody knows that Locke can kick the Chief's ass. Evidence below:
So is Halo 5 going to have jumping between Chiefs team and this other collection of dorks? Like Halo 2 did with Chief and the Arbiter?
Yes. Speaking of the dorks, are the third and fourth people on Locke's team established characters? If not, that makes that contest even more lopsided.
So is Halo 5 going to have jumping between Chiefs team and this other collection of dorks? Like Halo 2 did with Chief and the Arbiter?
Yes. Speaking of the dorks, are the third and fourth people on Locke's team established characters? If not, that makes that contest even more lopsided.
They're team expanded universe (from the comics).
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
0
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
So is Halo 5 going to have jumping between Chiefs team and this other collection of dorks? Like Halo 2 did with Chief and the Arbiter?
Yes. Speaking of the dorks, are the third and fourth people on Locke's team established characters? If not, that makes that contest even more lopsided.
They're team expanded universe (from the comics).
Eh, technically they're both Team Expanded Universe since they weren't in any games (besides Buck and Chief).
You have bit of alternate media to catch up on then besides nightfall
Halo: Broken Circle (Explains Buck)
and
Halo: Escalation (Comics for post Halo 4)
I sure hope they actually bother to explain this stuff in game this time around
really did not enjoy so much of halo 4's story details being reliant on some plotline covered in a book or comic that I'm never going to read
also I think I watched like one episode of nightfall and it looked awful so I stopped
Nightfall is terrible (sorry Noc). It goes nowhere and feels cheap the whole time. Which is a GREAT intro to how cool Locke must be, let me tell you (he is not a Spartan in Nightfall either, another impressively bad decision).
0
Options
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
I liked Nightfall quite a bit, to be honest. There weren't very many surprises in it at all (and some narrative tropes towards the end haha gosh) but the premise was interesting, the partial sci-fi-horror atmosphere was pretty well-executed and honestly Halo and its main characters are mostly defined by the people around them so it was fun to watch a series focused on what are technically the little guys.
The Sangheili at the beginning looked like an odd costume/CGI mix as if it was a dude in a suit, but perhaps they were going for that narmy practical-effects look ala some of Ridley Scott's early work.
My male gaze couldn't stop noticing the female lead's tank top cut getting progressively lower after each episode, but apart from that it was a pretty solid miniseries, almost as good as Forward Unto Dawn.
I liked Nightfall quite a bit, to be honest. There weren't very many surprises in it at all (and some narrative tropes towards the end haha gosh) but the premise was interesting, the partial sci-fi-horror atmosphere was pretty well-executed and honestly Halo and its main characters are mostly defined by the people around them so it was fun to watch a series focused on what are technically the little guys.
The Sangheili at the beginning looked like an odd costume/CGI mix as if it was a dude in a suit, but perhaps they were going for that narmy practical-effects look ala some of Ridley Scott's early work.
My male gaze couldn't stop noticing the female lead's tank top cut getting progressively lower after each episode, but apart from that it was a pretty solid miniseries, almost as good as Forward Unto Dawn.
Yeah I agree with almost none of that. The premise was briefly interesting in the first episode, but it is then immediately squandered for a Pitch Black knock off. The horror atmosphere is done poorly because the characters are a mix of poorly drawn ciphers and obvious traitorous jerk asses with no interesting characterization to be found in anyone. Locke has no interesting traits whatsoever and displays no extraordinary skills or leadership befitting the hero of the story. The first episode introduces a BRAND NEW alien race in the most unmotivated, idiotic way possible. It seriously seems like they repurposed a Farscape costume and then handwaved the lore questions in favor of savings. Considering the probably higher budget than FUD, the series goes out of its way to use NOTHING Haloy. The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting. The storyline means they aren't allowed to use their weapons AND they won't be facing recognizable Covenant. The so called Halo Shard only provides an interesting visual in the final episode of the series, otherwise the lore once again wipes all the interesting features they COULD have done in such a place away before we get to visit there.
Nightfall sucks and it contributes to the uphill battle 5 has. They ruined their online rep with MCC and the new character has nothing good to be said about him so far.
0
Options
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting.
I don't want to get too deep down this rabbit hole because a lot of that seems like pure subjectivity basedon expectations, but I just want to mention that the lore is entirely consistent with the series. Not all the early Spartans ended up as superhumans (and many of them ended up as vegetables or straight-up died).
And conversely, I'm not sure how exactly Locke being a Spartan IV would have contributed to the narrative of the story.
+3
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting.
I don't want to get too deep down this rabbit hole because a lot of that seems like pure subjectivity basedon expectations, but I just want to mention that the lore is entirely consistent with the series. Not all the early Spartans ended up as superhumans (and many of them ended up as vegetables or straight-up died).
And conversely, I'm not sure how exactly Locke being a Spartan IV would have contributed to the narrative of the story.
Actually, according the database in the series, the dude was a fully-fledged Spartan-II that actually retired and had all of his mods removed/nullified. So I wouldn't say it's entirely consistent, and they didn't really need to make him a Spartan either as it added nothing to the narrative (would have been just fine as an old soldier).
I thought that only S2's had the 'washed out' effect. They started with a couple thousand troops hand picked to be trained from a young age, pitted them through tests, surgeries and radiation to harden them. Most of them died from the exposure to the process and the only ones left were harden motherfuckers like Chief. S2's are notably bigger and stronger than 3's and 4's who weren't groomed from a young age nor put through as rigorous of training and surgery. S4's seem comparably weak next to Chief or Noble Team.
Second gens had the really nasty washouts, but the survivors had better augs seems to be the general implication. The S-III set was basically described as "basically the same concept, but cheaper and made for suicide missions" so they didn't have quite the same augmentations. There's also a weird case with Gamma Company for the 3 program, but that's another thing entirely and they're dead anyway.
Mechanical on
+2
Options
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
Oh, and imo there are worse things to knock off than Pitch Black :P
The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting.
I don't want to get too deep down this rabbit hole because a lot of that seems like pure subjectivity basedon expectations, but I just want to mention that the lore is entirely consistent with the series. Not all the early Spartans ended up as superhumans (and many of them ended up as vegetables or straight-up died).
And conversely, I'm not sure how exactly Locke being a Spartan IV would have contributed to the narrative of the story.
Actually, according the database in the series, the dude was a fully-fledged Spartan-II that actually retired and had all of his mods removed/nullified. So I wouldn't say it's entirely consistent, and they didn't really need to make him a Spartan either as it added nothing to the narrative (would have been just fine as an old soldier).
But on the whole, I agree with BB.
Oh, I guess that is a little silly then. But I suppose they tried to add another perspective on the SPARTAN project.
Weren't the very first SPARTANs technically just regular dudes?
BRIAN BLESSED on
0
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting.
I don't want to get too deep down this rabbit hole because a lot of that seems like pure subjectivity basedon expectations, but I just want to mention that the lore is entirely consistent with the series. Not all the early Spartans ended up as superhumans (and many of them ended up as vegetables or straight-up died).
And conversely, I'm not sure how exactly Locke being a Spartan IV would have contributed to the narrative of the story.
Actually, according the database in the series, the dude was a fully-fledged Spartan-II that actually retired and had all of his mods removed/nullified. So I wouldn't say it's entirely consistent, and they didn't really need to make him a Spartan either as it added nothing to the narrative (would have been just fine as an old soldier).
But on the whole, I agree with BB.
Oh, I guess that is a little silly then. But I suppose they tried to add another perspective on the SPARTAN project.
Weren't the very first SPARTANs technically just regular dudes?
Can't remember the original name, but yeah. Johnson was supposedly one of, if not the only, survivor of that program though. It was body mods without the armor.
IIRC, SPARTAN-II came about because they made kick-ass armor that elevated strength and speed, including reflexes. But when testing results in a man caving in his own chest, well, then you need to build a better man.
(Basically, dude raised his arm in the Mojliner prototype armor it it broke his arm from the torsion levels/speed, so he does the reflexive thing and attempts to bring in his arm to cradle it and puts a new hole in his chest.)
If you read the backstory, the Spartan guy basically fell from orbit during a fight and nearly died. The villagers rescued him and cared for his wounds until he fell in love with one of them, Macross Zero style. When the UNSC discovered him, they tried to force him to come back, but he refused. They then sent ONI assassins, which he killed. Finally, they relented and said they would allow his release from the military if he would undergo (risky) surgery to remove all the perks of being a Spartan II and give back all his gear. He did so.
Which... that story is 100000000 times more interesting than Nightfall itself. Which is what I find frustrating about it. They specifically chose the least interesting portion of every element of the story. The backstory of Locke's team sounds more interesting than this mission. The Spartan's backstory sounds really good. A battle against Covenant with the weapon they use in the first episode could be thrilling. Instead we get "jerks wander around on featureless dirt until
hahaha from the campaign story bits he talked about in that preview
A cutscene begins with Chief waking up and looking around a dimly lit cave. “Chieeeff.” A hauntingly familiar voice beckons him. He searches for the source, finding Cortana’s chip. It disappears, being only a vision. “John…” Chief turns around and walks to the edge of a cliff face. In the distance on a rocky outcrop, the silhouette of Cortana struts into view. “The Domain is open. Meridian is next. You only have three days. John… The Reclamation is about to begin.” A giant creature rises from the depths as Chief falls to the floor bracing himself with his fist. “Chief, what’s wrong?” Cut to black.
Glad to see they don't seem to be backing down from the nonsense story direction
Apparently the URL tag needs the "http://" in it. Good to know!
“Flag Juggling” returns in Capture the Flag matches. By pressing the switch weapon button you drop the flag. Since carrying the flag slows your speed, it’s beneficial to continuously drop and pick up the flag over and over.
I recently bought MCC despite all the poor things I'd heard about it, since it was $20 at the time. Because I've never played Halo 2, I figured I would have something of a different perspective on it, since I would get to see the updated version and the original version together without any nostalgia goggles.
I could post a longish writeup of my thoughts, but I think the "remasterings" essentially boil down to this: 343 has no idea of subtlety.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Apparently the URL tag needs the "http://" in it. Good to know!
“Flag Juggling” returns in Capture the Flag matches. By pressing the switch weapon button you drop the flag. Since carrying the flag slows your speed, it’s beneficial to continuously drop and pick up the flag over and over.
This "feature" can go die in a fire.
But the FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
+2
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
Did you physically move slower with the flag in previous games? I know in Reach/4 you couldn't sprint with it.
Hopefully there are more enemy types and 343i's just being stingy when showing them off. Halo 4 had fewer enemy types than the original game and it got old fast. Where are the brutes, skirmishers, drones, engineers?
I'd be okay with drones and knights simply disappearing due to (plot reason here) just because I hated fighting them.
+1
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
Well, story wise, we're not dealing with the real Convient anymore, just a splinter faction that was able to keep some grunts in line and pay off some jackels.
The skirmishers are all dead or got rolled into the normal jackel troops, drones I have no idea, and the brutes have such bad blood between the elites I don't think they'll ever work together and engineers were noncombatants anyway.
War zone looks fun but maybe a little too chaotic for me.
I am so unbelievably upset right now. I have been playing ODST with my friends and we were going for all the audio logs. We both got booted when we collected the 27th audio log out of 30.. turns out if you exit the game at all it resets all your audio log progress. Once again 343 Studios has managed to make me hate them.
Posts
DLC co-op campaign? MP maps are free but the Spartan Ops/Horde modes will need a season pass.
Also eSports.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Halo: Broken Circle (Explains Buck)
and
Halo: Escalation (Comics for post Halo 4)
Hell when I played Halo 4, even after rebuying the GoTY, I think I played the DLC maps about 10 times total.
If anything it would be due to the population fragmentation that results from some people buying it and others not.
ME3 had outright free co-op content (with micros) so it's hard to compare that one.
GoW: Judgment's new multiplayer content was early access iirc (hard to say if it really helped it) since many were down on it anyway.
But there was a game with free multiplayer maps... arg.
This is super awesome! I like Buck because Nathan Fillion, but I don't really give two shits about Locke and his team. They've got nothing on Chief and the rest of the Spartan 2's, I tell you what!
I sure hope they don't have the super uninspired Forerunner Knight bullet sponges.
Everybody knows that Locke can kick the Chief's ass. Evidence below:
Yes. Speaking of the dorks, are the third and fourth people on Locke's team established characters? If not, that makes that contest even more lopsided.
They're team expanded universe (from the comics).
Eh, technically they're both Team Expanded Universe since they weren't in any games (besides Buck and Chief).
I sure hope they actually bother to explain this stuff in game this time around
really did not enjoy so much of halo 4's story details being reliant on some plotline covered in a book or comic that I'm never going to read
also I think I watched like one episode of nightfall and it looked awful so I stopped
I suppose it's only 5 episodes or something
Nightfall is terrible (sorry Noc). It goes nowhere and feels cheap the whole time. Which is a GREAT intro to how cool Locke must be, let me tell you (he is not a Spartan in Nightfall either, another impressively bad decision).
The Sangheili at the beginning looked like an odd costume/CGI mix as if it was a dude in a suit, but perhaps they were going for that narmy practical-effects look ala some of Ridley Scott's early work.
My male gaze couldn't stop noticing the female lead's tank top cut getting progressively lower after each episode, but apart from that it was a pretty solid miniseries, almost as good as Forward Unto Dawn.
Yeah I agree with almost none of that. The premise was briefly interesting in the first episode, but it is then immediately squandered for a Pitch Black knock off. The horror atmosphere is done poorly because the characters are a mix of poorly drawn ciphers and obvious traitorous jerk asses with no interesting characterization to be found in anyone. Locke has no interesting traits whatsoever and displays no extraordinary skills or leadership befitting the hero of the story. The first episode introduces a BRAND NEW alien race in the most unmotivated, idiotic way possible. It seriously seems like they repurposed a Farscape costume and then handwaved the lore questions in favor of savings. Considering the probably higher budget than FUD, the series goes out of its way to use NOTHING Haloy. The Spartan character is no longer a Spartan and the database insists that he has no special strength or abilities because all that interesting stuff happened before they started the series. Locke isn't a Spartan IV yet because again, that would be more interesting. The storyline means they aren't allowed to use their weapons AND they won't be facing recognizable Covenant. The so called Halo Shard only provides an interesting visual in the final episode of the series, otherwise the lore once again wipes all the interesting features they COULD have done in such a place away before we get to visit there.
Nightfall sucks and it contributes to the uphill battle 5 has. They ruined their online rep with MCC and the new character has nothing good to be said about him so far.
I don't want to get too deep down this rabbit hole because a lot of that seems like pure subjectivity basedon expectations, but I just want to mention that the lore is entirely consistent with the series. Not all the early Spartans ended up as superhumans (and many of them ended up as vegetables or straight-up died).
And conversely, I'm not sure how exactly Locke being a Spartan IV would have contributed to the narrative of the story.
Actually, according the database in the series, the dude was a fully-fledged Spartan-II that actually retired and had all of his mods removed/nullified. So I wouldn't say it's entirely consistent, and they didn't really need to make him a Spartan either as it added nothing to the narrative (would have been just fine as an old soldier).
But on the whole, I agree with BB.
The Spartan wasn't a Spartan anymore because he had his augmentations reversed in exchange for his freedom or something.
Other than him going after the Chief and being a spook, what specifically is negative about Locke anyway?
edit: other than, like Palmer, he's not the Chief.
Oh, I guess that is a little silly then. But I suppose they tried to add another perspective on the SPARTAN project.
Weren't the very first SPARTANs technically just regular dudes?
Can't remember the original name, but yeah. Johnson was supposedly one of, if not the only, survivor of that program though. It was body mods without the armor.
IIRC, SPARTAN-II came about because they made kick-ass armor that elevated strength and speed, including reflexes. But when testing results in a man caving in his own chest, well, then you need to build a better man.
(Basically, dude raised his arm in the Mojliner prototype armor it it broke his arm from the torsion levels/speed, so he does the reflexive thing and attempts to bring in his arm to cradle it and puts a new hole in his chest.)
Which... that story is 100000000 times more interesting than Nightfall itself. Which is what I find frustrating about it. They specifically chose the least interesting portion of every element of the story. The backstory of Locke's team sounds more interesting than this mission. The Spartan's backstory sounds really good. A battle against Covenant with the weapon they use in the first episode could be thrilling. Instead we get "jerks wander around on featureless dirt until
Red Team Fireteam Osiris preview
Some lucky soul got to play some of the campaign!
Lots of screenshots!
The gender equality and racial diversity in the Spartan teams is awesome to see.
I don't like everything I hear in the gameplay impressions, but overall it sounds pretty great.
Second,
EDIT: Ok, I like that Squad AI feature from Republic Commando making a return.
Glad to see they don't seem to be backing down from the nonsense story direction
This "feature" can go die in a fire.
I could post a longish writeup of my thoughts, but I think the "remasterings" essentially boil down to this: 343 has no idea of subtlety.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
But the FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN FLAG DROPPED FLAG TAKEN
Warzone seems like just the thing for a Firefight/BTB/Invasion player like me.
Hopefully there are more enemy types and 343i's just being stingy when showing them off. Halo 4 had fewer enemy types than the original game and it got old fast. Where are the brutes, skirmishers, drones, engineers?
The skirmishers are all dead or got rolled into the normal jackel troops, drones I have no idea, and the brutes have such bad blood between the elites I don't think they'll ever work together and engineers were noncombatants anyway.
War zone looks fun but maybe a little too chaotic for me.