HALO

For the discussion of video games not produced by, or related to, Toho and their films.
Post Reply
User avatar
Noble Saber
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5310
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:38 pm
Location: Doom Hunter Base
Contact:

Re: HALO

Post by Noble Saber »

Joe Staten is returning to Halo to work on Infinite's campaign!

Image

Image

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

2004Zilla wrote:Joe Staten is returning to Halo to work on Infinite's campaign!

Image
AMEN!

This is a huge sign that the delay is something meaningful. I see it being more likely that this is going to be a delay to November of 2021, for the 20 year anniversary. Hopefully that will give them time to comfortably get the entire game to a very satisfying place.

I'm not someone who was throwing a fit over "OMG these graphics don't look good"....like, as long as the visual presentation is to a certain standard, I just want excellent gameplay and more importantly an excellent storyline. Halo 3 never got an Anniversary edition and I still find it just as exciting and compelling to play as I did back in 2007.

If Martin O'Donnell came back for the score, I would be over the moon.
Last edited by Chrispy_G on Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
Destoroyah of Worlds
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1775
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:11 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Destoroyah of Worlds »

2004Zilla wrote:Joe Staten is returning to Halo to work on Infinite's campaign!

Image
Don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing so late in development. You might see this game having too many cooks in the kitchen.

Seems like they completely redid the story of this game after they fired Brian Reed, the lead writer for Halo 5 and person in charge of the story for the franchise, several years ago. Then you have Chris Lee, a creative director, walking away last year.
Come fourth, Ghidorah! Great Golden Winged Destroyer; deliver onto us a beautiful demise!

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

It is troubling for sure. I think turning to Staten is very much an attempt to 'right the ship'

If they announce this is coming in March or something, I'll be skeptical of how much meaningful change actually occurred.

But if they lean into it, and really just kinda hit the reset button to a degree....and say "November 2021 for the 20 year anniversary", then I'll buy that we'll be getting something pretty special.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
Destoroyah of Worlds
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1775
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:11 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Destoroyah of Worlds »

Chrispy_G wrote:It is troubling for sure. I think turning to Staten is very much an attempt to 'right the ship'

If they announce this is coming in March or something, I'll be skeptical of how much meaningful change actually occurred.

But if they lean into it, and really just kinda hit the reset button to a degree....and say "November 2021 for the 20 year anniversary", then I'll buy that we'll be getting something pretty special.
This late in development, there really isn't anything he can do besides script doctor stuff they've already written and programmed. Unless they have plans for some story driven DLC, like Halo 3 ODST..
Come fourth, Ghidorah! Great Golden Winged Destroyer; deliver onto us a beautiful demise!

User avatar
JAGzilla
Sazer
Posts: 11818
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:45 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: HALO

Post by JAGzilla »

There was no way they weren't going to have problems with the story. They have to resolve H5's cliffhanger and somehow turn it into a story people want and care about. That's a serious challenge.
"Stop wars and no more accidents. I guess that's all I can ask." -Akio

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

I don't think anyone would care if they just declared Halo 5 non-canon or basically ignored it completely.

Like I said, unless Infinite REALLY delivers in the narrative department....Halo 4 is the conclusion of the story for me.

Also...depending on HOW 'open world' a lot of stuff was prepared to be....well, you could be keeping level/area design, and just crafting entirely new cut-scenes and cinematic moments within it.

You might not be able to re-work environments and geography and overall structure....BUT dialogue, and maybe some of the events and character actions/movements/dialogue that plays out in those environments.

Sure, there might not be a total night-and-day difference....but I doubt very much they are bringing Staten on with a lofty title like "Project lead for the Campaign" to just have him massage a few lines here and there.

Again....if this thing is announced for a March release, then yeah...not much beyond tweaks. If they put this thing out in November or even December...that is a lot of time to make some pretty meaningful changes.

There is that rumor that the campaign/story was going to be released in "parts" anyways...so by potentially adding on an extra year, and bringing Staten on board....they will deliver something more robust and complete right out of the gate.

Remember....this is somehow supposed to be a Halo title with one of those illustrious "10 year plans" for content and life and etc.
Last edited by Chrispy_G on Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
LegendZilla
Sazer
Posts: 10355
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:57 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: HALO

Post by LegendZilla »

I think this franchise is to thank for the FPS genre dominating video games ever since the 21st century began. For better or worse.
Last edited by LegendZilla on Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
UltramanGoji
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 17720
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:40 am

Re: HALO

Post by UltramanGoji »

LegendZilla wrote:I think this franchise is to thank for the FPS genre dominating video games ever since the 21st century began. For better or worse.
Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake predated Halo by a little over half a decade and are far, far more appropriate for that description.
Image

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

Possibly....but didn't Halo essentially define the 'two joystick' and/or now "standard" move/aim method for console FPS games? I'm no game history expert....but I seem to remember reading and hearing that the way Halo handled FPS mechanics was a pretty big deal at the time.

I mean, Goldeneye was mega-popular too(in my circle of friends/family, much more than Doom, Quake, or Wolfenstein)

Regardless...back to the 'delay will hopefully be a good thing' in terms of Joe Staten being brought on board....

I am thinking more and more that this thing is going to drop in the holidays of 2021....maybe even late November just before Black Friday, or even December just in time to capitalize on Christmas(I'm sure there will be Series X+Halo Infinite Bundles)

Some people say 'Oh well this thing was supposed to be ready, adding a year doesn't give them that much time'

Well...it isn't like they waited until the day before its release and THEN decided to say "Hey, lets add an extra year"

They made the decision to delay the game in what, late July/early August? For all we know, internally the decision might have been made quite a long while before that. If they do plan to not release this thing until November/December 2021....that gives them well over a year to do additional work and finishing of the game.

If they have a lot of cut-scenes and missions playing out in a number of very large, open maps/locations....well, that gives more flexibility than some would think.

I'm not talking about the graphics engine or anything like that. They can take whatever geography/mission lay-outs they are already working with, and do a TON of work to adjust and alter them without requiring an intense amount of 'building' work.

This engine is essentially built, most of the assets have been designed.

But lets say you take an area like The Silent Cartographer from the original Halo. You can create any number of cut-scenes to lead into that mission, play around with dialogue in the cut-scene, and during the mission to a great extent. Where enemies are, what dialogue and story info get presented as you progress through that mission....how and where you progress through that geography and what enemies you encounter. A lot of that can be rather 'easily' manipulated.

And then the 'exit cut-scene' of that mission could be completely overhauled as well. I'm not saying this applies to modern games, but all of the cut-scenes(not the missions, just the cut-scenes) for Halo: CE were done in September of 2001, just a few months prior to the release date of the game.

In terms of crafting, editing, re-adjusting, subtracting from and adding to the story-line of the campaign and the cut-scenes....there are a lot of ways someone can work with what has been built already and still make some big, meaningful adjustments.

And remember the report that they considered releasing the game in 'chunks' so that SOMETHING could launch with the Series X. Meaning they might have made a certain 'progress' within the campaign, with an intent to do a big update/expansion/conclusion to the campaign at a later point. Apparently there was maybe even talk of launching the game with a MP component but perhaps no campaign at launch.

So either way....maybe they have X amount of work on the campaign done. Maybe as of July/August they were satisfied with the first 30-50%....and now they want to take a good long time to fully develop the story-line all the way through.

Heck, they probably didn't bring Joe Staten on board because they needed him for 'minor tweaks', they brought him on board and gave him the title 'campaign project lead' because he is probably going to keep what is absolutely necessary and 'immovable' about the campaign while thoroughly overhauling about anything that CAN be easily changed and altered.

They turned to someone like him, who has a history with the franchise, likely BECAUSE there is so much work that he's needed for.

And depending on exactly when they internally made this decision and exactly when this game is set for release....he might have nearly a year and a half to do it, crunching every step of the way.
Last edited by Chrispy_G on Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:03 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
G2000
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5463
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:34 pm

Re: HALO

Post by G2000 »

Replaying Combat Evolved on Heroic again

You know it's a solid game, I love it, but even still The Library is a fucking slog like no other. Finished it last night and even though I didn't die anywhere near as much as I did on my first playthrough it just gets so old so fast. You could cut the level in half and you'd lose nothing.

And I'm definitely not looking forward to the ending Warthog run again.
gerdzerl wrote:DONT STOP G2000 YOU SEXY BEAST

User avatar
Destoroyah of Worlds
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1775
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:11 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Destoroyah of Worlds »

G2000 wrote:Replaying Combat Evolved on Heroic again

You know it's a solid game, I love it, but even still The Library is a skreeonking slog like no other. Finished it last night and even though I didn't die anywhere near as much as I did on my first playthrough it just gets so old so fast. You could cut the level in half and you'd lose nothing.

And I'm definitely not looking forward to the ending Warthog run again.
I finished my LASO run of Halo 1 and 2 not too long ago. The library was a nightmare. I could not beat it without glitching and exploits lol
Come fourth, Ghidorah! Great Golden Winged Destroyer; deliver onto us a beautiful demise!

User avatar
Godzilla165
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 6059
Joined: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:37 am

Re: HALO

Post by Godzilla165 »

The library is a pain in the ass even when you do cheese it, but I still personally find myself enjoying the slog whenever I'm in the mood to play through CE Legendary; I guess I'm a masochist in that regard, lol. Halo 2 is a different beast, though; it's not even overwhelmingly difficult once you nail the little quirks and mechanics, but you'll never outmatch the MLG Jackal snipers in basically anything.
Image

#BotM

User avatar
Noble Saber
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5310
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:38 pm
Location: Doom Hunter Base
Contact:

Re: HALO

Post by Noble Saber »

I would argue that CE has the best level design out of all the games that is severely hampered by how often late-game levels are reuses of prior levels. Truth and Reconciliation, Assault on the Control Room, etc. are all amazing open-combat levels. Having to replay them backwards against the flood... is not so amazing.

Made a Halo level tier list awhile ago, my rankings have pretty much remained the same.

Image

Image

User avatar
CrimsonBloodX
JXSDF Technician
Posts: 968
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 8:41 pm
Location: The Rings of Saturn

Re: HALO

Post by CrimsonBloodX »

For me, The Library is only a difficult level when you play it on Heroic or Legendary. It's fine when you play it on Easy or Normal. However, I do agree that it's the worst level in the game.
"You are the Arbiter. The will of the Prophets. But these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me. Yours does not."

"That makes two of us."

My YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaJhff ... 7ZcLGnZkaA?
My Twitter - https://twitter.com/Nintendozilla98

RELEASE THE AYER CUT!

2A, Shall Not Be Infringed

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - Howard Phillips Lovecraft

User avatar
ROMG4
G-Grasper
Posts: 1213
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:23 am
Location: Monster Island

Re: HALO

Post by ROMG4 »

I can't wait until the original version of Halo CE is fixed in the MCC and the game gets updated to have the full level of mod support and dev tools that the original PC port had
Image

Never forget tadpole :g2k:
Cinematic Kaiju wrote:"...And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Godzilla. You stare at him, and he just stares right back."
SoggyNoodles2016 wrote: Sun May 16, 2021 6:00 amI'm sowey, I didn't mean it uMu

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

My appreciation of Halo has 2 sides. The narrative/cinematic aspect and the gameplay aspect. I became a fan by watching my older brother play the game as if I were watching a movie. I was absolutely captivated by the story. Halo 2 is where I really started to play for myself and so I know that campaign like the back of my hand.

ANYWAYS....yes, levels like The Library and Keyes are tough....but for me the most absolutely flustering level is Two Betrayals.

The Library is more of a slog because it is repetitive. I think Two Betrayals is more enraging because of the scope, and the 'reverse of assault on the control room' nature of it all.

Two Betrayals is a reverse level that ultimately serves no purpose. You battle around to disrupt some generators IN CASE Spark can find an alternate way to activate the ring....which he doesn't attempt to do, and no indication is given that there even IS an alternate way for him to do it without the Index. It is a big, insane "just in case" mission that is ultimately pointless....only for Cortana to zap you to find Keyes.

At least with the Library, Chief's retrieval of the Index is a paramount aspect of the story.

I've beaten the games on higher difficulty for the challenge, but when I do a marathon for the story I always turn it to easy because I just want to experience it on a more cinematic level.

If you were to turn the first Halo into a film.....some elements you HAVE to maintain. Other elements are simply a little repetitive or non-essential for a movie. A film can't be a 3 hour non-stop shoot 'em up with brief moments of dialogue and exposition.

I think for a 3 act structure in a film.....it would have to be
Pillar of Autumn - Big opening action sequence to launch the first act
Landing on Halo and regrouping with UNSC forces and preparing a battle plan
Assault on the Control Room - 3rd act finale
343 Guilty Spark and The Library - 2nd act transformation from war film to horror film
2nd act climax/beginning of the 3rd act - finding out what Halo's true purpose is and the realization that it needs to be destroyed
3rd act - Retrieving Keyes' neural lace and The Maw

A lot of the guts of certain levels like Halo, Truth and Reconciliation, The Silent Cartographer and Two Betrayals is exactly the kind of material that would fall by the wayside in a 2 to 2.5 hour film.
Last edited by Chrispy_G on Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
Destoroyah of Worlds
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1775
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:11 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Destoroyah of Worlds »

Godzilla165 wrote:The library is a pain in the ass even when you do cheese it, but I still personally find myself enjoying the slog whenever I'm in the mood to play through CE Legendary; I guess I'm a masochist in that regard, lol. Halo 2 is a different beast, though; it's not even overwhelmingly difficult once you nail the little quirks and mechanics, but you'll never outmatch the MLG Jackal snipers in basically anything.
Maybe it's just me, but i never had a serious problem with the jackal snipers.

It might be the way i play. Always inching out just barely to get a good view. I take my time and am very cover oriented.
Come fourth, Ghidorah! Great Golden Winged Destroyer; deliver onto us a beautiful demise!

User avatar
Chrispy_G
Gotengo Officer
Posts: 1830
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 11:02 pm

Re: HALO

Post by Chrispy_G »

I will NEVER play Halo 2 on Legendary ever again. I got that achievement, I don't care about the LASO stuff. Those Jackal snipers can go to hell.
"I'm saying a prayer, George. A prayer for the whole world."

User avatar
Godzilla165
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 6059
Joined: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:37 am

Re: HALO

Post by Godzilla165 »

Destoroyah of Worlds wrote:
Godzilla165 wrote:The library is a pain in the ass even when you do cheese it, but I still personally find myself enjoying the slog whenever I'm in the mood to play through CE Legendary; I guess I'm a masochist in that regard, lol. Halo 2 is a different beast, though; it's not even overwhelmingly difficult once you nail the little quirks and mechanics, but you'll never outmatch the MLG Jackal snipers in basically anything.
Maybe it's just me, but i never had a serious problem with the jackal snipers.

It might be the way i play. Always inching out just barely to get a good view. I take my time and am very cover oriented.
Yeah, and that’s the thing, because even when I do what you’re doing, I’m never fast enough on the draw to nail them with the first shot. Then, they no scope embarrass me, lol.
Image

#BotM

Post Reply