Thread 718250357

never played the saga before,is CE>2>3>3ODST>Reach>4 a good order to play the games in?
also, Classic or Anniversary graphics/soundtrack?

>>718250357 (OP)
That's a fine order. Classic for CE, either is fine for H2, though I like classic more for that as well.

>>718250357 (OP)
You can change the graphics on the fly using a single button, I guarantee you'll be switching graphics during every scene and in every room/map.

>>718250357 (OP)
that's the correct order... classic graphics are better both artistically & gameplay wise (clearer enemies & projectiles). If you aren't a pleb you'll appreciate the artistic direction & mood of the original design. This is especially clear on the CE level 343 Guilty Spark. Try toggling the graphics on that level to understand the difference between them.

>>718250357 (OP)
CE, 2, 3 is the original trilogy.
Classic graphics/audio is the only way to play them.
ODST was released after 3.
Reach was released after ODST.
Trilogy is best. ODST and Reach are pretty good.

To be quite honest, skip 4.
Or if at any point during Halo 4 you think to yourself "man this is kinda lame compared to the others" immediately stop playing because it won't get better.

>>718250357 (OP)
yes play in launch order. and 4 is buns

Dmr is shit
reach is shit

>>718253610
>reach is shit

shut up fag

>>718250357 (OP)
I would play CE, Reach, 2, ODST, 3, and then 4.

That's out of chronological order, but it also doesn't spoil anything, and you get a fuller understanding of how important Master Chief is.

>>718250357 (OP)
>is CE>2>3>3ODST>Reach>4 a good order to play the games in?

Yes, it is what I would recommend.

Some people play Reach before CE as a chronological order (tho few people play ODST midway through or before 3), but I'd advise against it because I think Reach's more grounded tone (closer to other FPS's) works better as a contrast to the other games in the series and might come off as more generic if it's your first experience with the franchise, and more importantly because your multiplayer customization stuff carries over to the campaign for Reach, and you'll want to have points saved up from playing the other campaigns first so you can go into Reach with customized armor

>Classic or Anniversary graphics/soundtrack?

You don't have to commit to one or the other, you can swap between them in real time. That said, I would advise on generally sticking to Classic graphics for CE. For Halo 2, I'd say generally stick to anniversary, certainly for the cutscenes: If you load into one with classic graphics immediately hit the graphics swap button, and then don't touch it: the cutscenes have slightly different timing so the more you swap mid cutscene the more of it you'll end up skipping/getting dysnced with.

Be also aware that Classic vs Anniversary visuals is NOT the same thing as the enhanced graphical options in the settings menu, which just enable thing like further out LOD loading and other stuff, you want all that stuff maxed out.

I'd also suggest not watching the Halo CE and H2 terminals as you play: It will have slight spoilers and they're only in anniversary visuals so you'll probably miss some and miss context by not having seem some of them anyways, I'd just binge CE's terminals after you beat CE and 2's terminals after you binge H2. Use the video player in in the in game extras menus so you don't deal with bad youtube quality and because a lot of Youtube compilations miss a few hidden ones.

ran out of space

>>718254780
>>718250357 (OP)
cont:

Halo 3's terminals also have different content based on difficulty and are text based, but are also partially on a timer so it's easy to mix specific parts of the text. I'd also not try to read them as you find them and would instead consume them via this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aNnRSuQAps which also adds voice acting from some of the official voice actors.

Nobody gives a shit about Reach's datapads so do whatever with them, and I forget what the deal is with Halo 4's terminals, but they're worth watching.

For ODST's audio logs, I DO suggest listening to them (rather, watching them: if you open up your intel menu in game it adds some static images which change from scene to scene) as you collect them, both because the act of finding them via the city's street signs and other in universe cues is fun; because you always get them in the correct order regardless of which ones you find in the hub; and because the more audio logs you find the more weapon caches you unlock in the hub. It's unlikely you'll find all of them though, so once you beat ODST, find the remainder on youtube and also look up what happens with the cop on Data Hive if you had collected all of them.

I forgot to mention this, but re: the soundtracks/audio effects and classic vs anniversary, you can change the audio (I forget if it's just the music, just audio effects, or both) indepedently of the graphics in CE, and that's fixed based on what you select before starting and won't change in real time like the graphics do. In H2A, the audio swaps alongside the visuals. You can do classic or anniversary sounds for CE, both are good, it's kinda a sidegrade. Same is mostly true of H2A's audio, the caveat is Halo 2 had some licensed Incbus and Breaking Bejamin tracks that in anniversary are switched out for different tracks. If you want to hear the original tracks, you need to just swap back to classic graphics in that moment

ran out of space again

>>718250357 (OP)
3 and Reach are the only ones worth investing time into the multiplayer (and the only ones you will find games in anymore)

>>718250357 (OP)
>never played the saga before,is (RELEASE ORDER) a good order to play-
yes
don't play 4, its the dmc2/DmC of halo, except they made 2 sequels of that thing

If you are a giga zoomer, you could start with Reach and its fine enough, as you can too play ODST in between 2 and 3 if you want the pseudo chronological lore order.

Halo Wars is okay-ish if you like RTS unless you are a mega autist that only likes Starcraft, but fine if you like AoE/AoM, HW2 seems to be different but about as good, but haven't played them, they are even more fun with 1 or 2 more friends to play with.

also TL;DR to what >>718254780 said on classic/anni, CEA is shit so play in classic, CE's kinda timeless even if it looks like a N64/PS1 game it has a great artstyle.
2 is a a toss up, I'm not a purist so even if 2 is my favorite campaign, I can say classic is too dark/bright in some areas, but its the same in 2A, so either way is fine, 2A to this day is the most graphically intense/best looking game in the franchise to this day, somehow.

I thought the story of reach takes place right before Halo 1

>>718256276
Just play what you like bro and buy the books or something as an alternative.

>>718256276
Yes, but you need context of who/what/where the story is currently at and why the planet Reach is important in Halo.

Never playing any prior games and jumping straight into Halo with Reach is a bad place to start IMO

>>718256276
It does, but it also assumes you're already familiar with the universe. Let alone how jarring it would be going back to Halo 1 right after Reach.

>>718255330
>>718250357 (OP)
cont:

Those two licensed music moments are the bansee section on "The Arbiter" mission, and when you enter the mausoleum on the "Gravemind" mission, which will have Cortana say "you might wanna sit this one out", after fighting the Hunters on the bridge.

For unlocking and customizing Reach armor, you'll want to go to Options and Career > Catalog, and then go to Series/Season 1 (Noble), which is the main suite of armor for Reach. You can spend your points on any item on each page within a series (don't get the different series mixed up with pages within each one: You navigate between series with A and D keys, and between pages with the Q and E keys), but need to unlock all items on the page before advancing to the next. To actually apply the armor, you go to Options and Career > Customization > Reach, and you can slso change your emblem and colors there.

There's probably other stuff worth noting but off the top of my head I think that's everything

CE (classic visuals obviously) > 2 > 3 > ODST > Reach. Done. That's it.
Anybody who says otherwise is lying or has extremely shit taste and can be ignored.

>>718256867
ODST could be played before 3 if you really want.

>>718256557
>>718250357 (OP)
Oh, two more things

- I would advise setting your crosshair position (in gameplay settings) to "lowered" for all games but CE, which is how they were originally: That will show more of the horizon and space above you, which will give you a better view of a lot of franchise's gorgous skyboxes and verticality in the level design.

- On that note, while the Halo games are generally linear, ODST aside (I would also suggest you not rely on the in game map and waypoints, let the actual city signs and organic diegetic elements direct your path), there's a lot of environmental storytelling cues and optional dialog if you look around and linger in specific areas, especially for Halo 2. Take your time, take in the vibes, etc.

>>718250357 (OP)
Order is as intended, but I recommend not playing 4 unless you want to finish with the rape of the series.
>Classic or Anniversary graphics/soundtrack?
Classic all the way. CE Anniversary is a lazy asset-swap that largely ruins everything that was so good about the original game. I feel the same about 2, though it's slightly more passable.
If you want to do anniversary graphics at all, I'd recommend doing a playthrough of CE and 2 that way after finishing Reach, because the anniversary graphics for both forsake a lot of the original artstyles (and lighting, there's one particular mission in CE Anniversary that completely fucks up the lighting and ruins the experience) for Reach's artstyle.

damn is 4 really that bad?

>>718258472
Campaign wise I actually didn't mind it. Yes it takes Halo in a new direction but it was at least interesting (at least to me a huge Halo book lorefag). Halo 5, though, now that was an absolute rape of lore. Halo 4's story has a lot of issues, but isn't complete trash whereas Halo 5 completely fucks everything up

I don’t remember much about Reach’s campaign besides people dying

>>718258472
343i Halo (4, 5, Infinite) does this stupid fucking shit where it basically requires you to read 10+ fucking books just to understand who any of these characters are or even what the fuck is happening. Bungie Halo (1, 2, 3, ODST, Reach) treated the books as optional content and in no way is required for playing the games

>>718250357 (OP)
Listen to: >>718253064
The only two times I really enjoyed 4 were the first level where the novelty handn't worn off and one of the Mantis sections because I'm a giant robot fanboy.

By the way unless you're actually looking for an ass beating (not the fun kind) don't play on Legendary anything beyond the first game. 3 and ODST aren't so bad, but if you just play Heroic start to end it'll be a more level experience. Legendary for most of the game turns into an exercise in weapon combo autism where you're keeping track of where plasma pistols and carbines drop and going back for them when the ammo runs out. That and jackal sniper spawn memorization.

>>718250357 (OP)
These games are great (minus Halo 4) but I would argue you should pirate and don't give Microsoft a single fucking cent for the bullshit that they continue to do in this industry.

>>718256276
Correct, and that's why this book was released a few weeks before Halo 1 so if you're playing in release order then start here

Reminder Bungie treats all the Halo books as non-canon. Death to bookfags

>>718259776
Heroic is the intended experience i assume?
cause usually Normal is the most well-balanced difficulty, but ive seen Heroic being canon whenever ive seen people talk about Halo difficulty.

>>718250357 (OP)
Play the OG trilogy. Halo Combat Evolved, 2, and 3. ODST and Reach were contractual obligations, but they are decent spinoffs especially ODST (great soundtrack and unique design). Ignore 4, I still regret paying full price for that absolute trash. The chief's canon ending is in 3. Anything made by 343 is dogshit and they could not remake the programming that bungie had done.

>>718260334
NTA but heroic is a good balance of challenge but not onesided. Legendary benefits from your knowledge of the levels, but you will find yourself cheesing for the next checkpoint instead of enjoying the story and playing.

>>718250357 (OP)
Play CE > 2 > 3 > ODST > Reach
4 is not Halo. Classic graphics only, "remasters" are not Halo.