Halo 3

[Sandman]

Ok here is a real Halo 3 thread... what i want to know is

1. Did you get it at 12:01am 09/25/07?
2. Did you stand in line for a long time?
3. Are you done playing it?
4. What did you think?
5. Would you buy Halo4?

Here are my answers: I did purchase it at 12:01am but didnt have to stand in line... it was amazing that in a small bush Alaska town would have a 12:01am release I was really happy... I beat the game on system link with my brother in law on normal in about 8 hours, now for the heroic advanture by my self ... oh and I have the legendary edition on the way will post pics and shit when It gets here

And fuck yeah I would buy halo4 in a heart beat... and watch after the credits it gives you more closure...

One thing I didnt like about it was the storyline was a little hard to follow, first they are on earth then they are in another dimention with a halo ring I dont get it can someone enlighten me??

[LordMune]

Motherfuckin' credits *shakes fist*
I never got to watch them, will re-play the last level later.

(Real men beat it on Heroic first.)

[Grahf]

Yeah I did Heroic on single player. Then Legendary on Coop. I was content with the ending, I'm sure Bungie will release some sort of literature to further explain it.

[Tempest]

Finally got a chance to play this damn game. (I don't own a 360 and friend with one has had work all week). In no particular order:

What I Like
1.) The armor customizations (I'm tired of being "the red guy" or "the blue guy")
2.) The new stages
3.) The fact that you can apparently download Halo 2 maps ("Lockout" and "Midship" were always favorites in my crew's Halo 2 days)
4.) The equipment (Especially the now infamous "Radar-Fucker-Upper-Thing")
5.) The Hammer (Complete with the bad "STOP! Hammer time!" joke whenever I kill someone with it)

Things I'm Not Sure About
1.) The User Interface is not at all intuitive. (Maybe it was just because the guy who had it only played it for like an hour before our multiplayer, but we could not figure out how to make custom profiles, and were forced to fight as the Pick Up Game character names of "Kitty", "Thug", and "Milo")
2.) When the fuck did the Needler decide to become a real weapon?
3.) The new reload/pick up controls (I know in the long run it'll be for the best and it is more intuitive, but that doesn't make me any less pissed when I accidentally fry my own shields when I try to reload )

What I Don't Like
1.) WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY SHOTGUN?!?! I was excited to hear that the shotgun was getting an tweak so that it didn't have the Godly range it did in Halo 1 or the fuck load of ammo and piss poor range it had in Halo 2, but I was sorely surprised to see:

1a.) I didn't notice any difference in the shotgun's range. I only used it once but it seemed to have the exact same range as Halo 2's. I'm not asking for a one hit kill at ten feet away, I just want it to take more than 5 shots to kill someone who's like 4 feet away. Again, maybe it's because I only got one good trial with it and maybe my victim had an over shield, but I doubt it.

1b.) Six shells....really? You give us 4 rockets with a Rocket Launcher, 5 shots with the Spartan Laser, and 6 shotgun shells? What happened to the 12 shells I heard about during development? That was a good number, not so many you can afford to buck shot your name into the wall between waiting for people to come find you, and not to few you have to horde each one like a precious treasure.

I guess all and all if my only complaint is about one weapon that's pretty damn good, except it was the weapons I was (in)famous for using in my group of friends. Ah well, it still makes me want to go buy a 360 right now, so I guess it is mission accomplished on Microsoft's part.

[Loeviz]

I didnt buy it when it came out, Im not such a huge fan boy of Halo, wasnt supposed to buy it at first actually. My brother and a friend talked me into it cause they needed one more to play the game on Co-op
So the answer is that I bought it during the day the same night it was released.

We played through the game on Legendary right away to get a few more hours of gameplay, and well I thought that it would be a real pain in the ass, we only got "stuck" a few times and the longest was the last thing you play in the end of the game [spoiler]The last "road" after the very last checkpoint, just right before you jump into your ship was a little hard, mostly cause only one car could drive over the right way, then it collapsed so the car behind couldnt get over, the lead car could have waited but we made a little race about it And I think its the same way on Normal, right?[/spoiler]and that was like 20-30 minutes or so until we made it. And well if its Legendary difficulty then isnt it supposed to be so hard that you really have to take it easy every step of the way?

Will play it on multiplayer a bit, team slayer with sniper rifles rock
Rainbow six will have to get put aside now

What did I think of the game?
Ok Halo 1 had a great story, Halo 3 had a real shitty story. After all the money they´ve made from previous game titles of Halo was it so expensive to actually get someone to write/come up with a story thats ok and not just something they came up with after playing a round of laserdome?
The beginning of the game was the best part and after that it went downhill. If it wasnt for the Co-op option I wonder if I would have played it through on my own.
When the characters was talking in the game it was sometimes hard to hear what they was saying do to the high volume of the music. I looked for some option to lower the music or up the voices, might have missed that option but i didnt find it

Would you buy halo 4?
Honestly I dont know, if the story is the same piece of crap then I guess I wont, haha

[Grahf]

If they come out with a fourth story they would have alot of problems plotwise.

[spoiler]The world at the end of that extra ending is obviously onyx. Meaning that there will be another reunion of the remaining Spartan II's. So they will have to explain to people that there are other spartans. Plus the fact that not everyone loved the spartans and Dr. Hansley.[/spoiler]

I would find it hard to believe that Microsoft would put down something that is sure to make them money.

[LordMune]

We played through the game on Legendary right away to get a few more hours of gameplay, and well I thought that it would be a real pain in the ass, we only got "stuck" a few times and the longest was the last thing you play in the end of the game [spoiler]The last "road" after the very last checkpoint, just right before you jump into your ship was a little hard, mostly cause only one car could drive over the right way, then it collapsed so the car behind couldnt get over, the lead car could have waited but we made a little race about it And I think its the same way on Normal, right?[/spoiler]and that was like 20-30 minutes or so until we made it. And well if its Legendary difficulty then isnt it supposed to be so hard that you really have to take it easy every step of the way?

2-player co-op on Legendary is a piece of cake.
Singleplayer on Heroic is a bitch.

The gold skulls are in there for customizable difficulty. 4-player on Legendary would simply be easy to the point of not being fun at all.

As for story, bah. I gave up on the storyline after the Halo 2 trainwreck, but they did manage to tie things up nicely. It's not like they bring up any themes or plot devices that haven't already been dealt with in Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

Fun fact; this is the first third game in Bungie's three trilogies that is actually Bungie-made. Marathon Infinity was a collection of Bungie's map-making tools coupled with the Blood Tides of Lh'owon story scenario that was contributed by a third party (a studio consisting primarily of former Bungie employees), and Myth III was developed by some other company as the publisher owned the rights to the Myth property.

As for Halo 4, if Bungie has any artistic intergrity left they're not going to do it, at least not as their very next project. As for the plot issues and the [spoiler]planet being Onyx, I think that particular bit will probably be ignored or retconned in a possible sequel. Bungie has so far shown a very strict policy of not mixing extraenous fiction and in-game lore beyond throwaway mentions of names of places and events in dialogue (Keyes only mentions the fall of Reach in passing at the very beginning of Halo 1, and that's a pretty huge-ass event that ties directly into the games).[/spoiler]

I'd like to see a remake of Marathon right about now.

The bottom line is this; Now we can finally lay Halo 2 to rest right next to DMC2 in the tomb of games that never were. Halo 3 is Halo 2 done right- and they managed this by making the game not very Halo 2-ish. Halo 3 is at its best when it harkens back to its roots- giant-yet-manageable (keyword manageable) vehicle battles were more or less absent from Halo 2, and the indoor levels were terrible. In truth, when I got to drive vehicles for anything but short measures of transportation and Guilty Spark started humming along in those forerunner corridors on The Ark, it felt like coming home.

And the first level with the Flood is second only to the Library on the Flood Awesome scale. Cortana was horrible though.

[Grahf]

The bottom line is this; Now we can finally lay Halo 2 to rest right next to DMC2 in the tomb of games that never were. Halo 3 is Halo 2 done right- and they managed this by making the game not very Halo 2-ish. Halo 3 is at its best when it harkens back to its roots- giant-yet-manageable (keyword manageable) vehicle battles were more or less absent from Halo 2, and the indoor levels were terrible. In truth, when I got to drive vehicles for anything but short measures of transportation and Guilty Spark started humming along in those forerunner corridors on The Ark, it felt like coming home.

And the first level with the Flood is second only to the Library on the Flood Awesome scale. Cortana was horrible though.

Halo 2 was the worse of the three but it wasn't DMC 2. Just thought I'd Lay that out there. Also I thought Cortana was well done up to the point of her being rescued. The messages that flashed up were refreshing mixing the cortana letters along with some of the lines from "The Fall of Reach". It showed the effect of the gravemind/flood had on an AI and set up the flood stages (in a sense).

Also I remember Lord Hood briefly mentioning Reach when Regret had jumped in (beginning of Halo 2). Where do I get a name like Lord Hood?

[LordMune]

Oh man, the Cortana messages were awesome. I love the way they were completely sane flashbacks to the Master Chief's training until the elevator crashes down and Tsavo Highway starts... this will be your tomb.

I do wish they'd have gone with more of the Cortana Letters though, as they are easily the best and most interesting canon Halo fiction written to date. And it really is too bad she turns out to be absolutely fine in the end, I had been eagerly anticipating Cortana going through all the stages of Rampancy, the path she first started on in Halo 1.

I had been hoping for less "omg u savd me" and more
Everything is not as it seems{}. seems{}. seems{}.

i did it i did it i brought all this here all them here. our
friends with three eyes and their toys and their cyborg pets
and their computers. i did it i did it. i saw them i saw
them far away not looking our way and i called them here i
called them here.

EDIT: I'm thinking Lord Hood must be a code name of some sort. It's just too ridiculous.

[Grahf]

Perhaps he is British? I completely agree with the Cortana angle. Though I'm sure if they fully explained Smart AIs they could have really shown her break down. She already was having problems after the first book you think that this would eat at more of her "lifespan". This should have had a book release almost to date for those of us that want more of an explaination.

[halfnhalf]

BAH WTF IS GOING ON WHEN I DO CO-OP and get those fucking black bars???


seriously, this game is a bleh. Everyone rated the trilogy, not the game. ooo new shield drops, makes dual welding pointless. OH and why the fuck dont the brutes have and actual guns? I mean you are a giant BRUTE! makes some guns that actually can be awsome to use, rather than a bouncing grenade that can kill yourself.


Singleplayer- nothing special.
Multiplayer- redone maps and no BXR or Double Shot, means all those halo2 players suck now. woooo.




oh btw, since when is a xbox game ported to the 360 suppose to be 60 bucks?

[LordMune]

I dunno man, sounds like you played through the Halo 2 campaign again by accident.

[Buzkashi]

Hahah. For real. Calm down man. Its been out what 6 days? You'll get your fare share of exploitable glitches my friend. Trust me.

[LordMune]

I'm not really sure what to feel about these Bungie-Microsoft separation rumors...

On one hand, it gets Bungie out of the Halo loop, which is a good thing; all new IPs or revisited ones (oh god Marathon please please please) would either never happen, or strictly be side projects to Halo 4, 5, and 6. Microsoft will apparently keep the rights.

On the other hand, few studios are as financially 'safe' as ones of Bungie's calibre in Microsoft's pocket.

On the first hand, the pressure from being in Microsoft's pocket brought us Halo 2.

On the second hand, it seems they will keep close ties with Microsoft. Halo 4 may not be secured by a 'finish the fight' guarantee, but it is likely rather than unlikely to be developed.

I am... conflicted. Assuming the rumors are true.

[Grahf]

What more and Bungie do for Microsoft? When its all said and done by this time next year we will have 4 total Halo titles on the xbox. Bungie has been the reason for xbox to be where it is now. If Bungie goes elsewhere that just opens up the can of worms. Perhaps Sony will try to tap into the minds at Bungie and release something that will equally draw us in. I think eitherway it will turn out fine.

Or perhaps after Halo Wars comes out there will be no more Halo videogames. Thats not entirely a bad thing.

[Tempest]

Zero Punctuation reviews Halo 3 HERE. I can't say I disagree about him with the campaign issues, but if you're not buying Halo 3 without even the slightest interest in multiplayer you need to be bludgeoned with one of those Legendary Box Set Spartan helmets until you find yourself buying a game in which the single player is not essentially a glorified practice run to get all the armor and pass time until your friends and/or the rest of the world gets off work and onto Xbox Live.

[LordMune]

Buying Halo 3 without having played either Halo 1 or Halo 2 is even more retarded. Bungie's vision for Halo 3 wasn't about "being a good shooter" or "doing new things" or even "being a good game", it was about "being the best goddamn Halo it can be because jesus christ we're sorry about Halo 2".

Comparing Bioshock and Halo 3 is stupid beyond belief. I don't value Halo 3 as an FPS, I value Halo 3 as a Halo game, which by now is an almost entirely separate strain of the Action genre. Halo is awesome, and no other games but Halo 1 and 3 come close to being, well, Halo. There may or may not be better FPSes out there (on consoles? Actually, that's not even a topic of debate until the release of the Orange Box), but none of them are very Halo. Hell, I doubt even Bungie know what made Halo 1 great- what made Halo Halo. Halo 2 is not a bad game, not a bad shooter, not a bad action title, an excellent multiplayer game, but goddamn it's a terrible Halo game.[/RANT]

[Grahf]

That was quite refreshing. Lordmune has said everything I wanted to say.

[Tempest]

Comparing Bioshock and Halo 3 is stupid beyond belief.

Can't argue with that.

I don't value Halo 3 as an FPS, I value Halo 3 as a Halo game, which by now is an almost entirely separate strain of the Action genre.

What exactly qualifies it as a new sub-genre? The multiplayer? I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but there is nothing in Halo that I haven't seen in other FPS's. Halo just put certain facets of them together in a marginally good manner.

Hell, I doubt even Bungie know what made Halo 1 great- what made Halo Halo.

I can tell you exactly what made Halo 1 Halo. It was a decent looking console FPS with good controls and good multiplayer. It suffered from a rare condition called "Final Fantasy VII Syndrome". It is an above-average game that was released under the right conditions and receives much more praise than it deserves.

[LordMune]

I don't value Halo 3 as an FPS, I value Halo 3 as a Halo game, which by now is an almost entirely separate strain of the Action genre.

What exactly qualifies it as a new sub-genre? The multiplayer? I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but there is nothing in Halo that I haven't seen in other FPS's. Halo just put certain facets of them together in a marginally good manner.

You know what? You're kinda right. Halo brought vehicles and open spaces into the mainstream, as well as micro-tactical decisions (stay in the 'hog, or go on foot? Keep the sniper rifle, or pick up the rocket launcher?) and the fairly unique ebb-and-flow of battles caused by the player's and the Elite's recharging shields. The individual components are nothing new (player shielding), but their implementation and interaction (a recharging dual-layered (later single-layered) health system for both the player and the enemies) broke the new ground that Halo 2 and 3 continued to cultivate. It's this particular plot of land that I hold dear.

Hell, I doubt even Bungie know what made Halo 1 great- what made Halo Halo.

I can tell you exactly what made Halo 1 Halo. It was a decent looking console FPS with good controls and good multiplayer. It suffered from a rare condition called "Final Fantasy VII Syndrome". It is an above-average game that was released under the right conditions and receives much more praise than it deserves.

That, I don't agree with. Can Halo's popularity be attributed to the FFVII syndrome? Certainly. However, that does not hinder the original game from remaining, to this day, one of the best games ever. Many aspects of Halo are timeless; the graphics are crude by today's standards, but serviceable. The physics, likewise. The story, elegant in the simplicity of its telling (unlike FFVII).

Halo is fucking awesome. And that's just the singleplayer. Multiplayer in Halo, as a series, has always been more (r)evolutionary than fun in my eyes.

[Femto]

Halo single-handedly turned the FPS genre on it's head.

Recharging shields? Weapon management? Vehicles? Checkpoint system? Grenades at the touch of a button?

There are many things that are unremarkable about Halo but as the sum of its parts it's quite a remarkable game.

Playing it is just, simply put, exciting.

I personally love the Halo 3 campaign.

It's short but Ikaruga can be beaten in 30 minutes and that doesn't make it any less of an amazing game either.

And 4-player co-op?

The meta-game?

The game has legs.

[Grahf]

Final Fantasy VII syndrome there is something you don't hear too often. Halo did really do anything revolutionary, I agree. Though it was just simplicity of it all that made it successful. I remember when I decided to get an xbox originally and everyone told me to get Halo along with it. I wasn't convinced about it until I played it. Then I played the Co-op with a friend on the different difficulty levels. They did just enough to keep us entertained until the following year more people got xbox and brought them to the dorms.

I really don't know what really sets Halo apart from games like Killzone etc. Is it another chapter of Final Fantasy VII syndrome? Perhaps but really there aren't too many FPS better on the market(Call of Duty 4).

[Buzkashi]

The original Halo's co op definatley coaxed me into buying an xbox and halo in general. But playing it online via gamespy or xboxconnect is what made me keep playing halo up till the day halo 2 came out.

[Tempest]

I really don't know what really sets Halo apart from games like Killzone etc. Is it another chapter of Final Fantasy VII syndrome? Perhaps but really there aren't too many FPS better on the market(Call of Duty 4).

That's the second symptom of Final Fantasy VII syndrome. Due to a games popularity, it is usually the first experience the average gamer has in that genre. As such, the gamer will always hold every other game in that genre in comparison to the specific game, usually ignorant of earlier games in the genre which are more worthy of praise. I can't really say if that is 100% true for Halo, but I know for a fact it is with FFVII. Although on that note, I do know plenty of people who refuse to play any FPS that doesn't have Halo in the title.

[Femto]

is what made me keep playing halo 2 up till the day halo 2 came out.

*head explodes*