Discuss Bungie Halo

Shit thread, stop posting.

Never had an Xbox, but I played Halo 3 and a cracked copy of Combat Evolved with friends. Great times

Back in my day, "reclaimer" meant something.

Halo went to shit when they stopped using ladders and teleporters.

I don’t understand how there’s been such a surge of classic Halo nostalgia but no indies inspired by it.
Whereas there’s a million boomer shooters off of Doom/Quake/etc nostalgia, even Half-Life inspired games.

>>716013910
Halo is hard to clone

>>716013910
For there to be a classic Halo influence indie game you need to include vehicles that feel fun to drive and shoot in. If you look at a lot of indie games there is rarely any derivable vehicles. That's not even taking into account of allied AI npcs to ride with you and shoot with you. I don't think your average indie dev could code the physics, driving mechanics, or the AI to ride/shoot with you. Also, Halo CE is 3D so that's another hurdle indies to get over.

>>716011943 (OP)
Halo was never good, it got worse after Halo CE because Bungie wanted to dumb the series down more, and went to complete shit when Microsoft fully took over it because they just went full COD on it. New era of Halo may actually be good for once since they're finally separating the campaign and multiplayer into their own separate games. This means many of Halo's cut content along with classic FPS elements will finally be added to the campaigns without needing to balance this shit for coop or multiplayer, making an actual good campaign.

>>716014350
Retarded CEbab

>>716011943 (OP)
Halo 1 had flawed multiplayer. Jumping and doing a 180 had you firing sideways until your feet hit the ground. Beyond that I can't think of many negatives.

So you beat the Halo demo. BUT ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT STEP?

>no game where you only fight in a halo and you can see in the distance your destination on the curvature of the ring

>>716011943 (OP)
I love CE’s art style so much. Any other games similar to it? The only other one I can think of is Unreal. Both have that desolate and mysterious atmosphere.

>>716013910
>Vehicles
>Weapon sandbox
>Open-ended levels
>Variation of allies/enemies with different AI routines to account for all the above
Shit's hard to replicate bro

>tfw ywn feel the same way you felt watching that 2006 E3 trailer ever again

Zoomers will never understand the hype. The sheer magnitude of it. How we felt, how excited we were for this game. I pity them. There's nothing in modern life worth getting excited about anymore, nothing that can ever bring the kind of hype that Halo 3 did. Poor fucking sods, they will never know what it was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Ezd2FqxAU&ab_channel=HaloBaseLegend

>>716014815
shooters in general used to have much cleaner environments without the visual clutter every game has now

sometimes i load up halo 3 and just stare at the sky
bungie were the best in the industry at making skyboxes

Read Spartan War Reports and Operation Mere Fallow on /qst/!!!!

>>716014815
half life opposing force

first crysis maybe (NOT remaster) and warhead

command and conquer renegade (haven't played since the early 2000's so idrr)

>>716013910
A whole generation of games that tried to be halo, and none of them succeeded. It's deceptively unique

I hope one day we get a fully explorable galaxy set in the Halo universe where we can travel via slipspace and go to different worlds.

>>716013910
spitgape unironically felt exactly like halo 3 as far as mp goes
if what you want is the soul and essence of the halo story then i'm afraid some things only happen once in a lifetime

>>716012329
Big team battle was so much fun. I miss the unserious chaotic fun of crashing warthogs with the enemy team and everyone getting kicked out and start duking it out with grenades and assault rifles. No modern game has ever scratched the same itch as Bungie era btb.

>>716011943 (OP)
I was a really dense kid so all the stuff about the forerunners went over my head and now that I do, I'm not pleased with the direction it went in

>>716016047
There's nothing to find. Just go play Starfield.

>reach elites can survive being stuck with a plasma grenade on legendary
>wont even crack elite ultra shields
people talk about halo 2 having a cheap legendary but reach is on a different level entirely. still love it, but damn

>>716013910
Helldivers 2 copied some of the aesthetics of a supersoldier in a helmet and they even use the same Pelican helicopters, but it was its own thing too. You can't copy halo exactly or MS will sue.

>>716011943 (OP)
All of CE's promo material was so cool and soul.

>>716018690
>run out of ammo and run
>Elites will rush you down and boot you dead
Good o'l Reach elites

>>716013910
Halo is an extremely complex game at a basic level. Only Jason jones could make a game like it and that guy has clearly descended into madness.

>>716013910
Halo is too complex for people to rip it off.

https://youtu.be/S2B0toDBlSI?t=1388

I happened to be on a bit of a Halo lore kick today. and watched this video
>each Halo ring has it's own unique theme
>the main theme for CE is the theme for installation 04/Alpha Halo
>installation 05/Delta Halo from Halo 2 also had it's own theme

Actually really cool.

>>716018690
Reach's elites are extremely easy to manipulate though. They have a fixed cooldown between evasive actions like sidestepping and diving. You can shoot them with plasma pistol normal fire once to force an evasive action then shoot where they're going to be at the end of their action and hit them while they're trapped in the animation.

>>716014410
Shut up, you recharging shield loving faggot. Your series is dead for a reason, and it was going to die whether or not Bungie or 343 had the damn thing. I'm glad id exists.

>Marine accidently shoots you
>"my fault.."
The marine chatter is so good

>>716020706
*recharging health

>>716013910
Halo needs a much bigger budget to replicate than doom clones do.

>>716013910
Halo inspires nothing because it's brain dead. If they would have expanded on what was done in Halo CE instead going full multiplayer while gutting the health system for retards who can't into FPS, Halo would have more copies. It's not that Halo is hard to copy, it's just that Halo fucking sucks.

Its crazy how underrated the gearbox halo 1 ce pc version maps are. Especially the btb maps. That and Half Life Opposing Force are the best things that company ever did

>>716021234
Gearbox only added BTB maps.

>>716021086
All shooters are brain dead. It's the most low iq genre there is. Your favorite fps isn't complex unless it's some mil sim with 100 buttons and 5 different stances just to crouch a little a bit lower.

>>716021337
Yeah and if you look at all those maps by far they are some of the greatest btb maps in halo history. Its a tradegy halo 1 btb on mcc is completely dead. Closest experience to reliving the old halo 1 pc days

>>716021381
Halo is the most brain dead. At least there was some thinking involved with CE and at least Infinite was trying and, kind of, failing at bringing old FPS elements back but the series needs to take a step back at its origins and stop dumbing the FPS genre down and stop copying FPS games for idiots (COD). Halo campaigns tend to have a lot of potential it never uses because Halo can't figure out if it wants to be a power fantasy or tactical shooter.

>>716022584
>Halo games on legendary = tactical shooter
>Halo games on any other difficulty = power fantasy

>>716022584
>Halo is the most brain dead
I fail to see how

>>716022752
Maybe, you should read my post again then.

>>716022698
Halo CE=power fantasy
Halo 2-5=tactical shooter
Halo Infinite=tactical power fantasy
That stupid regenerative health that started with Halo 2 needs to go, honestly and they need to increase Chief's shield and health strength back 100%. What was Bungie even thinking and why were 343 so incompetent that they didn't even bring it back? What's seriously wrong with these stupid devs?

>>716023678
>What was Bungie even thinking
Since health regenerated, they probably felt that players could tank too much damage only to get it all back.

>>716023678
You didn't say anything

>>716023761
Felt more like they were thinking about multiplayer over campaign. I remember they even wanted wall covers and shit.

>>716023845
I said Bungie made your serious more brain dead instead of learning from CE and fixing its problems with Halo 2 and that 343 just copied what was popular because they didn't know how to make a proper shooter.

>>716023967
*series

>>716023967
>"it's braindead because it's braindead and i say so"
isn't saying anything

You showed/were shown this to your friends in computer lab

https://youtu.be/nGQIQljaAc0?si=F-NIigo6QK69GMCA

>>716024134
Your irritating defense is why your series is dying, but it may actually heal now due to splitting off the campaign and multiplayer into their own separate games, so that's a good thing.

>>716024292
ok you have nothing

>>716024292
wait are they actually adding shit to Infinite?
or is there a new game in the works?

Every Halo thread we always get the Cheef fag crying about how much he hates Halo. He’s been shilling for Infinite since its botched release.

>>716024459
New games in UE5, they're making the campaign and multiplayer into their own separate games, which will lead to Halo campaigns no longer being treated like some add-on to the game and feel like a real singleplayer FPS game no longer bogged down by multiplayer.

>>716024589
I have very little faith in their ability to actually MAKE a good new Halo campaign, but as a campaign-only fag that's potentially great news for me

>>716024503
Who's Cheef fag, do you mean that guy that got permanently banned on /hg/ for saying someone should get d*xxed who wouldn't shut up about Master Chief thinking that was the reason the series died? Yeah, Halo's dead is far more complicated than some green guy in a suit.

>>716011943 (OP)
Can someone please explain how Bungie went from near mechanical-perfection in CE, to the absolute dogshit 1 hit KO-fest that is H2?

>>716024775
by their own admission in making-of material, they bit off more than they could chew with Halo 2 and kind of had to rush it out the door faster than they wanted
It was clearly unbalanced especially on legendary and they admit that

>>716024865
Chief's HP is a simple variable, they deliberately made the 7 foot tall supersoldier have the lowest HP in the game aside from 1 HP infection forms.

>>716011943 (OP)
>>716012329
why is the sky wearing a thong?

>>716024648
Only reason I have faith is because
>native hostile and non-hostile wildlife
>faster base movement speed
>no need to balance for MP
>larger more open-ended levels with secrets and exploration
>puzzle-solving
>unique boss fights
>Cortana may be more useful and possibly playable in some digital hacking minigame
>return to CE health system
>more unique weapons, vehicles, and grenades that wouldn't work in MP
>return of power-ups
>upgradable Chief
>can use sprint, clamber, and slide for the new kids
>more advanced enemy and ally AI
>battles against Scarabs and other giants
>return of assassinations
>makes us explore to unlock doors
>Warthog Run becomes a stable
>go crazy with Halo's sandbox
>feels like Halo for a modern era done right
They no longer have an excuse to fuck this up plus it's mainly being done by a third party. If Halo Studios can't get this right, pull the plug on the entire series.

>>716024775
Halo CE has its problems too. Anything that isn't a power weapon or the pistol has terrible spread and just isn't worth it. I think they found a good middle ground in Halo 3, even if the BR is still pretty busted. You can at least work around that by limiting how many you can find.

People don't give Reach enough shit though between the awful vehicle health and how two dudes taking potshots at you with a DMR is enough to tip a fully-loaded Warthog.

>>716024903
Why did they do this, I still don't understand it? They barely even fixed the problem with Halo 3.

>>716024589
>UE5
Dead at launch, what's the point of making games when 95% of your audience can't run the fucking thing?
This has to be some money laundering bullshit.

>>716025056
>Anything that isn't a power weapon or the pistol has terrible spread and just isn't worth
CE's plasma pistol is IMBA, and the plasma rifle is pretty good too. Even the needler can work well.
The only 'shit' CE weapon is the AR and that mulches Flood stuff pretty well.

>>716011943 (OP)
>BABIES FIRST FPS

>>716025021
Forgot, they can remove bleedthrough for a campaign-only Halo game again as well.

>>716025021
>hacking minigame
how about no
what if we just don't do that part
thanks

>>716011943 (OP)
CE's story is legitimately good. 2-Reach are pretty bad, even though I theoretically like the Arbiter's character arc absent the context of the rest of the bad writing. Trust me, everyone, if Human = Forerunners instead of them being separate, the story in Bungie's narratives makes less sense from the Covenant perspective. They'd have to both believe their religion is true while also believing that humans being related to the Forerunners isn't important.

Also, Combat Evolved's OST reigns supreme: https://youtu.be/JSpK8LxBKqQ?si=Qhm0RzGjlI07r2Ut

>>716016047
Honestly, after Halo 4 (which I love), they should have just made a Halo RPG in the style of Mass Effect.

>>716025140
>Quakebaby still seething that his series is even deader than a console shooter from 2001

>>716025078
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they don't fuck this up, I'm not optimistic and I'm only cautiously interested.

>>716011943 (OP)
>be me, 10 year old
>its the xbox launch day
>dad gets me in the car
>its late and im tired
>hes piss ass drunk
>driving all over town asking places if they have an xbox
>see some bizarre display of behavior by toys r us employees while he bangs on the door and is ignored
>get some mcdonalds
>dad shits his pants at some point
>wakes me up when we're home
>he passes out and i play halo all night

>>716025262
Anon did you see how much of a fucking mess Halo Infinite's development was?
You think turbo-jeets can do better than that?

>>716025140
Excuse me, sir, but that would be Chex Quest
https://youtu.be/pSpGQ5AVJpI?si=oQJmnfpT1E8qi93X

>>716025192
Just make it a 3D mini game where you play as Cortana, make the digital realm look like some kind of System Shock/Tron thing.

>>716025309
Halo Infinite was trying to do too damn much.

>>716021381
How do I know you like JRPGs and MMOs?

>>716025314
no, I'm 100% done with "minigames" shoved into games where they don't belong
if at any point in a Halo game you are not directly controlling Chief or watching a cutscene, then it's not Halo
We do not need a Hacking Minigame in Halo

Cortana is your advanced AI companion that automatically hacks shit FOR YOU, in the background, while YOU hold off the enemies
Let's keep it that way

>>716011943 (OP)
remember that brief period where there were a bunch of shooters trying to be pseudo-MMOs with a handful of factions all doing big territory capture shit in a shared map?
I always thought a halo ring would be a great setting for something like that.

>>716025314
Eh, I'm just not sure about that. Even Deus Ex: Human Revolution/Mankind Divided couldn't make that more than just passable, so I don't know how 2001 Xbox devs and tech could make it more interesting.

>>716014815
Something not many people know about Halo, Marcus Lehto, the Halo game's lead art director and project lead for Halo Reach was a graphic designer by trade.
So if the Halo games feel extra visually cohesive, he's a big reason why.

Personally recommend the Metroid Prime and Ace Combat games for a similar visual style.

>>716025235
Only the Prophets suspected, the rest of the Covenant had no idea about the connection between humans and Forerunners. Even if you try and use the books (which weren’t canon) it was still the same with only the Prophets knowing the connection.
The argument for why Truth went full schizo in Halo 3 could be one of two things
>he either bit off more than he could chew, kept the lie going too long and had to go through with the Great Journey, or otherwise be torn to shreds
>or he genuinely thought it was real and that Humans were deemed “failures” that were left behind, like his “gods must be strong” quote he told to Johnson

>>716025438
>watching a cutscene
Cutscenes should be a reward.
>Cortana is your advanced AI companion that automatically hacks shit FOR YOU, in the background, while YOU hold off the enemies
>defend your position
I tire of this, Halo uses this too much and it's never fun.

>>716025735
They do overuse that trope, yes, but the answer isn't to take the player out of Chief and make them play a stupid fucking minigame instead
NOBODY likes hacking minigames
They don't need to be in every single game

>>716025552
>Halo Reach
I never liked Reach's visuals. It's like they heard someone (retard) say Halo 3 had too much color so they tried to overcorrect in the worst ways with a bunch of filters and post-process. ODST was a pretty good middle ground, probably because it was built off Halo 3.

>>716026036
I liked the aesthetics of the military tech in Reach, but otherwise I agree
Halo 3 was pretty much perfect as far as the balance of brightness/color/aesthetics etc.

>>716011943 (OP)
What did Bungee have in mind when designing this tank?

>>716026316
At least this thing could be used as an AA gun or something.

>>716020706
>mindbroken retard lashing out impotently
>WAAAAAAHHH I DONT LIKE HALO
>WAAAHHHH IM GOING OUT OF MY WAY TO TELL YOU
>WAHHHHHH YOUR SERIES IS OVER FOR A REASON
sorry to tell you but any franchise from 20 years ago that is still around today is basically dead or a zombie thats just the state of the industry keep seething in 2025 about halo

>>716026036
I agree tbqh
It's not as good as Halo 3
But there are things to like about it

I also really wish they had the time to properly add wildlife.

>>716025578
>Only the Prophets suspected,
"I admit, I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest."

That seems to be confirmation. Especially when Tartarus knew that only humans could activate Delta Halo.

>the rest of the Covenant had no idea about the connection between humans and Forerunners.

They literally tell Tartarus and his troops this is the case.

>Even if you try and use the books (which weren’t canon) it was still the same with only the Prophets knowing the connection.

How? And why wouldn't they think about that connection more?

>he either bit off more than he could chew, kept the lie going too long and had to go through with the Great Journey, or otherwise be torn to shreds

He was already in the lead in terms of overwhelming power against the humans. All he needed to do was not commit to stupidest act of genocide against the Elites for basically no reason than Bungie's short-hand to get the Elites on the human's side to balance out the conflict (even though that doesn't make sense in and of itself).

>>or he genuinely thought it was real and that Humans were deemed “failures” that were left behind, like his “gods must be strong” quote he told to Johnson

"I opened the portal to this hallowed place, this shelter from Halo's fire, in the hopes that more of our Covenant would join us."

So, he literally knew Halo would kill them all (though still sent Tartarus to activate Delta Halo knowing it would kill him if he activated it at the end of Halo 2), and he just announced to all of the Covenant that Halo would be a death sentence to the galaxy to all of the other Covenant.

>>716026423

>>716026423
personally i like that the halo rings dont have much wildlife on them, it adds to the atmosphere of it being a weird artificial structure which is a imitation of something real but with secrets to discover behind the surface. that entire "its too quiet here" trope.

>>716013910
Halo is controller FPS kino and any indie who would attempt to replicate it will be met with a slew of 3rd world keyboard monkies and wannabe streamer zoomers who will yell at them to take out aim assist, dooming the game.

>>716026664
The Duke remains unmatched.

>>716013910
Halo is a product of many things and trying to replicate the Old guard Bungie mindset only sets you Pathways into Darkness with trying to copy it.
There's a reason the only Halo Killer was Halo Itself

I fucking miss it so much, bros... I wish we could go back.

>>716026470
>That seems to be confirmation
That’s what I was saying, or meant anyway about Truth knowing or heavily suspecting
>he told Tartarus
That was his number 2 man. I was saying that the greater whole had no idea about the connection. Remember Tartar Sauce just watched Mercy die on Truth’s orders, so I think Truth was building that trust with him
>how and why wouldn’t they think about that connection more
Because the whole point of the Covenant was to keep the Prophets in power. If word got out humans were actually the gods, then the Prophets lose out. Or that the humans left behind were heretics. Either way, they had to go.
>he was already in the lead
Yeah, that part felt a little half baked, but I felt the Prophets were more receptive to having the Brutes take command since they were dumber and ask fewer questions. The Elites shared power on the council so maybe Regret’s death was the perfect time to resign the Elites and consolidate all that power for themselves
>shelter from Halo’s fire
I don’t remember that quote, was that from Gravemind/High Charity?

Sorry I’m phone posting so I’m slow on here.

>>716027737
>That was his number 2 man.
And his other flunkies with him didn't question it?
> Remember Tartar Sauce just watched Mercy die on Truth’s orders, so I think Truth was building that trust with him
If I was Tartarus, I would have been incredibly skeptical of this, at least in terms of not putting Mercy out of his misery.
>Yeah, that part felt a little half baked, but I felt the Prophets were more receptive to having the Brutes take command since they were dumber and ask fewer questions. The Elites shared power on the council so maybe Regret’s death was the perfect time to resign the Elites and consolidate all that power for themselves
The Elites willingly relinquished their positions and still obeyed the Hierarchs. There's literally no reason for them to kill them when they're still accepting their orders without question. If it was because of the Heretics, there were other Covenant species who also sided with the Heretic leader outside of the Elites.
>I don’t remember that quote, was that from Gravemind/High Charity? Sorry I’m phone posting so I’m slow on here.
No problem. That quote was from one of those holo-projectors from Halo 3.

>>716013910
You cannot copy the amount of passion and work that went into Halo especially in Early CE Bungie from
>Music
>Style and Tone
>Innovation
>Writing
>Planning
>Art
And so many other factors that make it obvious why so many that tried to copy it failed. Plus doing it as a Indie is legit to bug a task to do unless you're legit dedicated to doing it even if it's not 1 to 1

>>716026635
Well said
>>716027419
Focus on making the future suck less

>>716027920
>and his other flunkies didn’t question
I’m sure they muttered to themselves similar to when they were dragging Arby, but Tartarus seemed really headstrong and would quell any questions. Even when 343 told him what the rings do, he still went through with it. And since Brutes are very pack like, they probably followed him without question since he was the Chieftain
>I would have been skeptical
Yeah, but the idea of power could have been blinding him. Maybe he felt too important to cast aside. Mercy was of the same hierarchy, but Tartarus was the bodyguard/general/confidant who would rise in power but would never be a direct threat since he would serve (or so he may have thought).
>No need to kill the Elites
Again, I figured it was all about consolidation. The Elites ruled with them for a long time, the Elites and Prophets were the two founding races. I think Truth wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be an uprising after ascending. Their ascension is within grasp so better to deal with them now.
>quote was from Halo 3
Gotcha. Yeah, 3 Truth to me felt like a completely different character from 2’s, which is why I mentioned he seemed like a schizophrenic. But if he knew that the rings killed in H2, then I guess he was already ready to sacrifice Tartarus as well. I assume the firing of the rings themselves was the means of ascension if you survived it. Or I supposed he would rule whatever was left.

>>716025078
Cause it makes outsourcing ten times more effective, they dont have to waste time teaching the new staff how to use the in-house engine and can jut go to work, so the chances of the game going into development hell are much lower

>>716025021
Half of the thing you posted are in Halo:Infinite and that game is as soulless as it can get
And I tell you this as someone who wanted to like Infinite.

>>716027920
you're overlooking the politics behind the deal
The original covenant for which the covenant was named was a peace deal that ended a war between the prophets and the elites - a war that the prophets were losing
Elevating the brutes was a coup by the prophets attempting to restructure the covenant in a way that excluded the elites from their previously equal role in its governance, and the attempted genocide was nothing more than a typical pre-emptive strike.
The prophets knew that a second war with the elites was inevitable once they committed themselves to this path, so they moved quickly to try and secure as much of the covenants military infrastructure and power over the remaining subject races as possible
we actually see this play out over the events of Halo 2 and 3 - at the start of the civil war some of the grunts and hunters side with the elites, but by the time we get to the events of halo 3 the prophets have successfully asserted full political control and now everyone except the elites is fighting for them, proving that the prophets strategy worked at least for its intended goal of stripping the elites of all political power within the covenant

>>716028923
>I’m sure they muttered to themselves similar to when they were dragging Arby
Even when they're letting a filthy human touch their God's sacred machines?
>Even when 343 told him what the rings do, he still went through with it.
Yeah, that just makes me think the writers wanted stupid characters to progress the story, which is kind of a cop-out.
>Yeah, but the idea of power could have been blinding him.
Even when the leader of your religion is suffering and dying to the demon zombie spore sucking the life out of him? It's either they believed in the religion, or they didn't. I think it's the former because Tartarus dismisses Spark and believes the Great Journey will begin. Honestly, I think it was done in Halo 2/3 for a really quick and really poorly set-up "organized religion is bad" theme.
>I think Truth wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be an uprising after ascending.
Why the HELL would they risk that? The Elites are a significant force in the society and killing them because "maybe they'll be a problem in the future" is just limp as an excuse. If they believe all those who genuinely believe will be saved, then why just kill off the Elites who also believe? And then they have the balls to have Truth say in Halo 3 "No, Arbiter, the Elites didn't believe hard enough and didn't clap for Tinkerbell to come back".
>Yeah, 3 Truth to me felt like a completely different character from 2’s,
Yes, he felt more like Regret with no bridge to how he would change.
>But if he knew that the rings killed in H2, then I guess he was already ready to sacrifice Tartarus as well.
But that would kill Truth as well, because once one Halo is activated, the others would and he'd be dead even if he made it to Earth.
(End of Part 1)

>>716028923
(Part 2)
>I assume the firing of the rings themselves was the means of ascension if you survived it. Or I supposed he would rule whatever was left.
He knew the Halo rings would kill them, but wanted Tartarus to immediately activate Delta Halo even though he'd be in the line of fire?

>>716029354
>The original covenant for which the covenant was named was a peace deal that ended a war between the prophets and the elites - a war that the prophets were losing
Before I analyze anything else, that's not in the games, and Bungie has said their game canon means more than book canon. And even if they did believe in book canon, there's too many retcon and contradictions to believe it matches up, and it also makes no sense in the games.
>Elevating the brutes was a coup by the prophets attempting to restructure the covenant in a way that excluded the elites from their previously equal role in its governance
Why? The Elites willingly stepped down and STILL followed the Hierarchs decisions because they believed in the religion.
>and the attempted genocide was nothing more than a typical pre-emptive strike.
What?! There's no reason for the Elites to strike when they still believe in the religion who the Hierarchs are the head of.
>The prophets knew that a second war with the elites was inevitable once they committed themselves to this path
No. That's not clear anywhere.
>but by the time we get to the events of halo 3 the prophets have successfully asserted full political control and now everyone except the elites is fighting for them, proving that the prophets strategy worked at least for its intended goal of stripping the elites of all political power within the covenant
Why in the world would the Grunts and Hunters fight the Covenant in Halo 2 believing that the Hierarchs were wrong, there was a civil war, the Flood was spreading everywhere, and the blame for killing the Elites was "they failed to protect us" and then suddenly be on their side shortly after the events of Halo 2?

>>716026010
Okay, they could make you find some kind key to unlock doors, hell they could make Cortana more helpful from a gameplay standpoint since they can now do that.

>humanity is still fighting the covenant races all over just cause
>the flood gets released and contained again just cause
>a new ring/forerunner thing gets found again
How the fuck do you keep this plot going on for...how many games? 5? 6? how is humanity still able to get so many forces to keep fighting or is chief some ultimate doom guy they send solo on a single ship everytime like in halo 2?

>>716030401
halo shouldn't be about puzzle solving like that at all
it does not belong in the game

>>716030763
>humanity is still fighting the covenant races all over just cause
>the flood gets released and contained again just cause
>a new ring/forerunner thing gets found again
Halo 4: Covnenant remnants are trying to find a Forerunner, Flood are not in the game, and the big issue is a weapon that the Forerunner uses against humans. If you're going to troll, don't make it so obvious.

>>716030127
Delta Halo is out of range from Earth, he was going there with the fastest ship possible. Activating Delta would've wiped out all of his closest rivals (most of the Elite leadership including the Arbiter, and Master Chief who however managed to get on the Dreadnaught).
Going to Earth he could reach the Ark and fire the full array simultaneously from there after it was set in firing mode by the activation of Delta.

>>716030950
>Delta Halo is out of range from Earth
The point of the Halo rings is that they activate the other Halo rings which triggers across the galaxy. That's the point of the rings - to make sure that there's no sentient life for the Flood to infect. It's not isolated, which is even weirder in the game when a Halo turned on and then off somehow causes the other Halo rings to be deactivated, but not a completely destroyed Halo, as was the case in Halo:CE.

>>716030859
never playde halo 4, but i knew about the forerunners being there, odd to make a main halo without the flood, but i posted it because i saw some stuff from infinity and is still the same covenant against the same marines.

>>716013910
halo is too big for an indie studio
they'd just be a studio if they could pull it off

BOO!
Bunch of autist niggas who haven't grown up here lol

The quality of each Halo title is directly proportional to the amount of blood in it.

>>716031551
Might be time to replay the Halo series with my boy that still looks like fun

>>716030071
>even if they were letting filthy humans touch sacred machines
For all they knew, the humans knew how to hack them. The Covenant at the beginning of Halo 2 only knew what Arby told them, which probably covered that humans were somehow able to access the Control Room when they couldn’t
>writers wanted stupid characters
I think it’s in part for a few reasons
>Halo was always intended as a one and done game
>Halo 2 was pushed by Microsoft and this was intended to be the only sequel
>Halo 2 gets scrapped a year before launch and the entire new campaign was done in the 8 months before launch
>This was supposed to wrap it up and like you said, maybe Tartar fully believed in it
>organized religion is bad theme
I felt that was sort of the point since the War on Terror was so topical during then.
>corrupt leaders making you partake in a war with some “Holy” ties (the ME being mostly Muslim) vs the West (Christian/secular)
>Truth said the Elites didn’t believe hard enough
>Yeah he felt like Regret
I think both of those are because 2 and 3 had different writers. Staten wrote 2 where as he had some partial input during 3, but was primarily working on the Halo movie that fell through, then his book he released and Halo 3: ODST while Halo 3 had multiple writers, including Marty who isn’t a writer. From what I’ve been reading online, a lot of people think Truth didn’t know that the rings were lethal in 2, while knowing they were in 3 which feels really disjointed. Apparently one of the books retcons that and he knew in 2, but since games are the primary canon, we can only say he didn’t know and then knew because new writers.
>the other rings would activate and kill them anyway
They didn’t know about the other rings, did they? I thought Delta Halo was a “happy accident” or second chance they stumbled upon thanks to the Oracle. Granted it’s been a while but we don’t see the other installations until the the very end.

>>716030071
Anyway it’s almost 3 here so I need to head to bed. If the thread is still up tomorrow, I’ll try and post from work. Cheers.

>>716029105
Infinite needed to be an open world Breath of the Wild/Far Cry with a live service multiplayer with a full story with cutscenes while also trying to add a battle royale. It was too many games in one, those guys were retarded to even remotely think that would work. It makes me happy that AAA is falling apart because when you can't realize that you should make these things separate games, you really shouldn't be making games.

>>716030831
It needs to be well worth the $70 or $80 I'm putting in it. If it's going to be a singleplayer-only Halo game, it better be a REAL FPS game then.

>>716031843
>For all they knew, the humans knew how to hack them.
Wouldn't it IMMEDIATELY raise red flags that they could and the Covenant couldn't?
>I felt that was sort of the point since the War on Terror was so topical during then.
I'm not talking about the politics of the time or sequels they never thought they would get. I'm talking about how the writing in these games make no sense.
>They didn’t know about the other rings, did they?
How would Truth know about the Ark, how the rings would kill everything, know how the Halos worked, but didn't know they worked together?

Why would Truth even go to the Ark to activate ALL of the Halos together after a fail-safe protocol that he didn't even know would happen would kick in when he told Tartarus activated Delta Halo was the start of the Great Journey?

>>716030343
My source for the war thing is if I remember right a cutscene that didn't make it into the final game, you see a bit of it in a video on the halo 2 limited collectors edition disc
The prophets essentially turned on the for more power and chose to kill them rather than use them because of the threat they posed in a similar way to how they chose to genocide humanity for political purposes
Truth may have chosen to act immediately rather than waiting out of desperation given the encroaching threat of the flood, or perhaps he thought it would give him better odds through the element of surprise
perhaps he harboured some sort of historical grudge against them for their actions in the first war and acted in part on that

>>716013910
Story/setting was a huge part of the appeal, unfortunately most indie shooter devs drink the Carmack koolaid and think story is unimportant, so they make soulless slop like Carmack did.

>>716032045
I don't see how a hacking minigames or making the player search around for fucking door keys is a "REAL FPS"
All I want from a standalone Halo single player game is a very long, very well-crafted campaign with lots of interesting levels and encounters that are fun, well designed, and are highly replayable

Literally just a regular good halo campaign, but a lot longer
that simple

Keep the scavenging to optional stuff like skull hunting

>>716015165
you just described the sandbox and tried to list the "weapons sandbox" separately
why you newfags from the bungie forums fuckup the concept I will never understand.

>>716032261
>All I want from a standalone Halo single player game is a very long, very well-crafted campaign with lots of interesting levels and encounters that are fun, well designed, and are highly replayable
Problem is, Halo is repetitive. Bungie knew this which is why they called it "30 seconds of fun" Infinite is a primary example of what happens when you extend that beyond its limits and it's one of the least replayable campaigns in the series.

>>716032401
That's because Infinite went for "open world"
And it's just one big same-looking biome, with only same-looking interior sections for variety

They must just not have any imaginative or creative people left if they aren't absolutely bursting at the seams with enough ideas for interesting, unique campaign levels that could be designed
Just don't make it open world
because that 30 seconds of Fun loop is PROVEN to WORK and be FUN as long as you keep throwing new challenges and setpieces at the player

>>716032532
If it had variety in biomes it would have still sucked. Anything that could have saved it got cut before release. The problem is the game got rushed to completion. You can tell because it ran into the same exact problems that Bungie ran into, when everything starts repeating and looking the same. I also feel like Halo CE was the only game with an underwater like section with Covenant green juice coming from their ship in that Flood level. Halo never did that again. This is why I'm so disappointed with Halo, the first game still carried many elements from that era of shooters and right after that, Bungie just stop putting those in the games and 343 just wanted to make CODshit.

>>716032757
>not only a fan of hacking minigames and useless item hunting
>but also a fan of UNDERWATER SEGMENTS
I guess we just have completely opposite taste

>>716032894
Master Chief's a supersoldier, dammit, I want to feel like one. Take risks but don't be Call of Duty, that's not a risk, that's just copying someone else's homework and hoping it works out for you.

>>716033227
yeah nothing makes me feel more like a supersoldier than forced minigames and having the action paused every now and then because I have to look around the room for the key to the door
that's riveting supersoldier gameplay right there

>>716013910
metal garden kinda felt like playing a shittier version of halo ce

>>716011943 (OP)
I played the master collection, or whatever the fuck it's called, multiplayer earlier today for the first time in years.
It was actually pretty fun. I don't really play anything online, but I can see me returning to this every once in a while.

>>716033797
Worked for every other shooter before it, can work with Halo if done right but the minigame can be axed but you should still be forced to at times find some power source to get to the next area, something they can put it in some high area where you get to explore in different ways to get it. Halo Infinite tried this a little but got lazy with it as time went on.

>>716034487
>you should still be forced to at times find some power source to get to the next area
Halo Infinite literally did this with the Power Cells and it fucking sucked
I don't know why you think that's good gameplay or belongs in Halo at all

>>716035435
It was fun at first and then the clearly rushed game parts came in. It was fine at first and then it became rushed. They can make it more complexed in the future. They can even add the cut puzzles that never made it into Infinite.

>>716025012
To protect its modesty, of course

>>716026316
"Aw shit the main gun is disabled"
"Just replace it with a headlight or something until we can get back to HQ, will reduce the weight"

>>716035923
>It was fun at first
no, it wasn't
it was tedious and pointless every single time

if you want to encourage players to explore and go on unusual routes, then make them pathways to vantage points or alternate ways to approach combat situations

>>716031123
>The point of the Halo rings is that they activate the other Halo rings
No, a ring firing on its own is a measure in case of a localized Flood outbreak. To wipe the galaxy, one would need to activate all 7, but it's not something that can be done lightly.

just beat both the spartan assault twin stick shooter games for the first time, couldnt give a shit about the fanfic non-john halo story but i had fun playing them

also to the retard that demands minigames in halo, that shit doesnt belong in the games

>>716026316
Maybe they thought you'd be fighting vampires or some shit and rolled up with the UV lights just in case

>>716036181
Don't have a campaign if you're gonna keep making shitty straight lines. FPS games weren't meant to be shitty linear hallways with Hollywood set pieces.

>>716026423
>>716026471
The rings being completely empty adds to the mystery. Makes it feel more alien as well.

>>716037040
they don't have to
They've made good campaigns before
Halo 3 is pretty much perfect
just do more of that

>>716037124
Halo 3 had some damn good spectacle though some of the level flow/atmosphere could use a bit of work.

>>716026470
>"I opened the portal to this hallowed place, this shelter from Halo's fire, in the hopes that more of our Covenant would join us."
This I don't understand. If he knew that the rings were a death sentence and was banking on his small force being the only survivors, he would've ran into the issue of the lack of females.
His force was a military unit, the Covenant had a gender segregated military for the races that mattered. How do you think the Brutes would react about the lack of poontang?

>>716037317
yeah and it didn't have any minigames or mcguffin key hunting and it was a great Halo game
that's my point

>>716037124
Halo CE was near perfect, every Halo after that sucked from them. Infinite is only decent, could have been better but it's a rushed job that falls off the moment it keeps repeating the same biome with nothing interesting happening in it. You're praising Halo 3 like it was special but all I remember was the game constantly stopping me with those retarded Cortana and Gravemind moments bringing gameplay to a screeching halt.

>>716038090
the covenant carbine is basically the perfect weapon

Bit of a shot in the dark, but does anyone have this mod saved on their hard drive? Was hoping to have this funny thing in my playthrough but the mod creator purged this and the Halo 1 version last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIPLL7SbmRc
worth a watch if anyone wants to drown in nostalgia

what's the best way to play halo 1 on pc

>>716038268
Looks cute! I like little mods like this even if I've never been one to use them. Also she looks like that one character in Monster Girl Dreams.

>>716038916
Yeah, it's cute! Fortunately someone did upload the Halo 1 version, but no dice with the Halo 2 one so far. The expressions are what really impressed me.

>>716013910
Devs have lost the skills necessary to ripoff Halo.

>>716016047
Mass Halo Effect

>>716038517
The original Gearbox port lmao

>>716038268
>>716039093
Ah shit, now I want it too. Seconding this request.

>>716014280
This guy gets it.

>>716040419
Man as a youngin playing Halo, I always dreamed of large scale CTF maps where you get to drive/fly shit like this on massive maps with loads of players for whatever reason. Bombing runs, dogfighting, ferrying troops, whatever. I'm sure there were maps doing that on Custom Edition but I never got into it like that.

>>716014280
There is no hurdle given that Halo CE already did all that without the shitty AAA budget Bungie started getting by Halo 2 in which the quality dropped right at that moment. Indies simply choose not to copy Halo because it offers nothing.

>>716011943 (OP)
I enjoy how much Halo makes /vr/ seethe.

>>716040701
Are you me?

>>716040939
That's not good, if Halo's hated by retro gamers and current gamers, it means it was never liked and has no audience thus why Halo needs to change or die and that means taking from Boomer and Half-Life shooters going forward.

>>716040939
If you really want to make fuckers seethe, break the news that Halo (CE - 3) is an arena shooter. Sure it doesn't have the insane movement tech and uber fast pace that's typical of PC arena action but that isn't what defines arena.

The foundation of arena is that you spawn into the level on equal terms with your opponent. Same health, same weapons, same abilities, etc. Any additional weapons or power-ups to be gained are solely based on whatever map you're playing on. Victory at higher levels is less about execution and more about imposing map control. Halo is no different in this regard. It's the purest form of First-Person combat.

Random side-thought. I think Halo has a pretty good non-deathmatch name for "Deathmatch." Slayer is a pretty solid name.

>>716041149
Someone rape this faggot.

>>716037841
>>716038061

I replayed Reach's campaign not long ago and I was impressed at how doomy and gloomy the later levels were, particularly the level where you mainly fly around the ruined city with helicopter. Multiple times during that level you'd have Covenant ships fly in low orbit over and start glassing the city, with appropriately impressive audiovisual effects. You saved a group or civilians/soldiers etc. from that building's top floor? While you were doing that another city district just got glassed, fuck you.

>>716014410
He's right you fag.

>>716041260
That's the biggest red-pill nobody wants to accept. In fact it's such solid multiplayer that even Halo 5, as shit as it is, still had fun multiplayer despite the stupid movement mechanics.

>>716017172
The only game that's come remotely close for me is Battlefront 2 and even then it's only a fraction of bungie btb

>>716025021
>can use sprint, clamber, and slide for the new kids
GTF outta here with that trash it doesn't belong in Halo, period.

>>716042195
reach-era sprint can stay

>>716026217
No. H3 was too brown and gray. Too visually cluttered. CE had the perfect look.

>SHITfinite

>>716042418
>Halo 3
>Brown and gray
Halo 3 is like the most neutral-toned and colorful out of all of them. Maybe I can see where you're coming from on some of the campaign levels, but CE's campaign has a heavy use of blue and cold tones too.

>>716042473
>Infinite
>Sweet a sniper rifle, now I can get tactical and pick off the big cheese from a distance before I make my entrance
>HEADSHOT
>Only his helmet falls off
>Barely any ammo left
What in the fuck were they thinking with this horse shit.

>People STILL Think Not 343 is not gonna fuck it up like always
Lol lmao even

>>716042704
Sorry, not just the big cheese. And dipshit Brute with a helmet. Even without shields. All of them. What in the fuck, man? There's not a damn reason to carry anything but a BR and a Pistol unless you're particularly bored.

Always been a playstation guy myself, but got MCC on steam

With no rose-tinted glasses i can confidently say halo 1 has not held up. That first open world warthog driving section is the most obvious "hey look how powerful our shit is" moment. At the time it was mind blowing but now its a big empty space with like 5 terrible combat encounters. Its really obviously shoehorned into a game that proved its at its best in tight, intense firefights in small spaces based off the whole pillar of autumn escape prologue

>>716043090
>At the time it was mind blowing but now its a big empty space with like 5 terrible combat encounters. Its really obviously shoehorned into a game that proved its at its best in tight, intense firefights in small spaces based off the whole pillar of autumn escape prologue
the idea was to show that the game could do both

>>716043136
Shame it can't though

>>716011943 (OP)
the warthog should have stayed invincible

>>716043236
It can, it does
CE holds up

>>716011943 (OP)
Halo was never good. Boring as fuck from day one.
Xbox was, is, and will always be complete shit.

>>716014350
Except if infinite is anything to go by it's just so middle of the road. Story wise it tries to reset things, new cortana, new ring with some new enemies being teased but we fight 1 flying mook and a giant sentinel boss twice and then the alien chick everything else is teasing there is more but then the game ends, new gameplay with the suit abilities and open map. But it all goes nowhere, it's half a game compared to every past halo with no variety beyond forest biome, banished/covenant structures and ships and then ancient alien structures with 0 unique traits, just reused ideas like gondola fights and find the power seed to open a door. The bases and open world content might have some slight tweaks but they all play out the same, save some marines, capture the same landing pad for fast travel, clear banished base, killed a banished elite and his goons, find audio log #117 about how tough banished are or how fuck some random human is. And with coop being a late addition to the story it breaks the friendly marine AI so they only want to ride in 1 vehicle in coop to this day. The one cool battle is those sorta banished battlegrounds of captured human tech the MC gets to go wild with and it's just before the game wraps up.

>>716043236
The vehicle parts were definitely weaker than the on-/foot parts. I don't mind if it's a shorter segment like driving the Scorpion in the snow level. Makes for a nice change of pace.

>>716011943 (OP)
>Grew up playing PC games
>Never got into Halo
>Played it recently and thought the first game was alright but the others have been shit
Was this a "you had to be there" thing?

>>716044028
1 and 2 are the only Halos worth playing.

>>716011943 (OP)
Playing Halo CE on Legendary.
I FUCKING HATE JACKALS.

Give me a halo game with Halo 1's gameplay, Halo 2's story, and Halo 3's set pieces and it will be the best game ever made.

>>716044334
>ze fack-eeeenng snaaaii-pur jaaaa-ckaaaals
>they push my shit in almost every tiiiiime

Dumb Koalaniggers in this thread, Halo 1 is GOAT

>>716043920
>Scorpion in the snow level
TANK BEATS HUNTERS

>>716044712
2's story was kind of a mess though

>>716045763
Not really

Broots

>>716046545
His shirt says he's the guy, but..

I WANNA BE THE GUY TOO!

>>716047048
Surprised this wasn't the first post. How things have changed around here.

>>716011943 (OP)
You ever wonder why we're here?

>>716032094
Alright, I’m at work now so I’ll try and post when I can. Sorry if slow. Anyway,
>wouldn’t that raise red flags?
Maybe, but the Covenant know about humans using AI. They may have thought the AI gave them access. As for Tartarus knowing, we already knew he was blinded by the words of Truth. And the only other time you see them trying to use a human is 3 and Truth was with them. They were probably questioning it then but since they were minutes away from the Great Journey, they most likely casted aside their doubts.
>I’m saying the writing in these games make no sense
Again, I feel it’s because of different writers. 2 on its own is fine, but 3’s retcons add some plot holes to 2 retroactively. But if we assume they know humans are connected and believe in the Great Journey, then it works, I think.
>How would Truth know about the Ark
He wouldn’t unless that was told offscreen from 343 or the Dreadnaught taking him to Earth displayed the data. Again, different writers and Truth being a completely different character made 3 feel disjointed narratively.

>>716050747
It's important to note that Joseph Staten wasn't as hands-on for Halo 3, when he was the sole writer for 2.

>>716013910
Halo's gameplay is very basic but relies a lot on subtle mechanics and nuances that if you don't get right, feels like a snore to play. Also classic halo was a lot of little things done right, from the music to the ambiance to the military sci-fi setting. You can't just replicate that on a budget

The combat chatter, effects, the guns, the music...it's all wonderful

https://files.catbox.moe/cwbtre.mp4

>chatter
I wish there more levels with allied grunts. There aren't enough occasions to hear their lines.
Fuck those Halo 3 playtesters.

>>716053965
I think it's cute when the grunts thank you as the arbirter and call jackals stupid

>>716053965
Halo 3 potentially gutting half of the enemy roster would have been retarded. You'd miss out on the bulk of the enemies in every encounter, too. They made the right call.

>>716054437
>gutting half of the enemy roster
No need to do that. It could have worked like the heretic levels in Halo 2.

>>716054673
Having a distinct silhouette for enemies is important, and the Heretics don't change enough for that. You also only see them alongside allies for one level.

>>716031551
this

A good Halo game has a pistol with both a scope and 12-round magazine.