[360] Halo Reach: Ghosts of GFF

Finished the story

Spoiler:

Lol didnt end at all like i thought it would lol, guess 4chan didnt spoil the ending lol or maybe it is the legendary ending dunno. Dunno what it is with the bungie team but they cant make a final level that is like.. BAM if you know what i mean. Not much of an ending to speak of either haha.

loved it, best one since the first one.

no homo

Goddamn I'm terrible at multiplayer.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

Goddamn I'm terrible at multiplayer.

lol me too, i tend to do better in team slayer, but rumble pit i keep getting raped. Also jetpacks are the best addition to a mp game everrrr

no homo

Starsiege: Tribes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Old, son.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

That'll probably be easier to get going in a week or two; right now I always have a billion people on, but they're already in huge groups, or more often then not people are still doing Campaign stuff. Once people knock out the majority of the Campaign stuff (aka Achievements) it'll probably be easier to get groups together.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

Starsiege: Tribes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Old, son.

lol totally forgot about tribes, sorry!
Hit me up devo, lets get some custom on

no homo

Daravon, I wanted to make a clip of you boarding my tank and murdering me like some cold-hearted, hot-headed betrayer... but I couldn't find the game in question.

Most amazing jew boots

It was a game of Invasion (or just Slayer?) on Boneyard. It can't be that hard to find. I believe it was this one, since it's the last game we played with Daravon that day.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, I got the game now, so I guess I'll see you all in some matches soon enough. Question though: Does the armor customization affect anything or is it just for appearance?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Shake Appeal

Daravon, I wanted to make a clip of you boarding my tank and murdering me like some cold-hearted, hot-headed betrayer... but I couldn't find the game in question.

I actually didn't mean to completely kill you, but eh.

Apparently the invite system in Reach is weird. The reason that I bailed after that game was because during the game Goodhand had sent me an invite, and after you booted me it put me directly into their lobby (??).

DN, the armor stuff is purely for looks; it doesn't affect abilities or your hitbox. It does carry over into all modes though.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Reach has acknowledged that people are prone to collecting shit and thus all the armor things. "Do this and get another armor piece unlocked!"

FELIPE NO

The servers just still seem to be wonky off and on.

And yes, SWAT and Snipers need to either not be in BTB, or much less frequent. Double as much for Team Slayer, Team Swat on Paradiso is what we wind up with half the time on that. I know they're trying to keep as few playlists as possible for population purposes, but no one on either side is happy about SWAT/Snipers not having a dedicated playlist and being put heavily into others.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Seems to me like it'd be better if there was Team Slayer, which would have the off chance of having SWAT/Snipers in it, and then a "Pro" list where it's nothing but SWAT/Snipers/Pro stuff.

Was that what you were saying, Daravon, or were you just imagining SWAT/Snipers being removed completely from Team Slayer?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Covenant slayer big team on the new Blood Gulch is literally the best thing ever. There needs to be a covenant playlist.

How ya doing, buddy?

SWAT, all day, 365.

Spoiler:

But fuck Cage.

P.S. I fucking hate BTB in this. I fucking hate hemorrhage. It's too big, Bungie fucked up the scale. I hate all the btb maps/variants save Spire which is lols 24/7.

Also, is it just me, or are the forge world maps like the only maps showing up? Even in arena, it's Asylum and Cage 24/7. I've played on Reflection TWICE since release. I've played on Zealot once and that was earlier tonight. I had my first game on Swordbase last night as well (Not complaining about that one).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I played a load in Reflection on day one but since then I've not really been in the four a side playlists. Multiteam is probably my playlist of choice at the moment, you get the mentalness of BTB but only have to rely on one other person not to be hilariously retarded at the game and it plays on the normal maps so the matches are pretty manic. I got teamed up with one random, got chatting to him and we ended up not dropping below third place in a huge string of games, winning a few of them. The only bad gametype on multiteam is Headhunter which turns into pure luck as everyone is killing everyone else and you just end up with this huge collection of skulls bouncing steadily closer to the drop point until someone gets lucky and manages to score them all, thereby winning the round. My only gripe with Multiteam asides from that is there's no Rocket Race...

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by DieSeLFueLeD

The big team maps aren't that bad, but yeah the problem is that the variants chosen (Swat, Snipers) are just awful. Paradiso has the most obvious spawns for snipers/swat. On Spire it takes 10 minutes to get anywhere if you spawn in that back-watery area. Blood Gulch remake has vehicles out the ass but not enough ways to avoid them, especially if the game decides to spawn you outside of the base, which it frequently does. Would be cool to jet pack in order to avoid shitheads in the revenant that's for sure, but I have yet to play a blood gulch with the jetpack ability available .

Gulch with jetpack ability turns into a dmr/sniper fest since guys can get up to this huge cliff on the right side of the map.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Haven't really weighed in at all since the game came out, will get this out and be done with it :lol

Campaign: Overall pretty good; somewhat disappointed that there wasn't any super huge standout moments like Halo 3 had, but the game consistently is dropping you into great situations, but just none really stand out to me over the rest after going through it twice. The framerate and motion blur stuff is definitely an issue, and is largely inexcusable. I'm sure there's tech reasons (at least for the framerate), but it's really noticeable at parts, especially since I don't recall that ever being a problem in previous games. Game is gorgeous graphically though.

Going through it twice now I don't understand why some weapons are even in the game (ex. Spiker, Plasma Rifle, etc). Also the pro pipe is nowhere near as useful in either Campaign or Multiplayer as it was in the Beta, seems almost useless now.

The only particularly weak portion of the Campaign is that I don't feel that Bungie still gets how to do characterization in their games. They've built an amazing universe and back fiction, but most times when I'm watching in a cutscene in any Halo game I'm groaning (to war, monument to all your sins, etc). Reach is much better than Halo 3 in that regard, but I still feel that they didn't do a particularly great job of building up these characters or conveying what was going on. Maybe I had misconceptions here, but pre-release they seemed to be putting a lot of emphasis into being a part of this team and whatnot, but for the most part they didn't seem to build any of them up very well. Except for maybe 1 or 2 of them I wound up completely not caring about them, they were just NPCs I was rolling with on occasion. I also touch on this a bit in the spoilery section below.

Music is excellent (as always).

Plot stuff (end game spoilers):

Spoiler:

Pretty annoyed at how the events of the game completely disregard or contradict the books, which they've touted as canon for years. Also I mentioned this above, but due in part to the lack of connection with the characters, and part in due to characters/dialogue in cutscenes still being awkward, I didn't really give a shit when most characters died. Jorge's was alright (if a little heavy handed), but I outright LAUGHED at Kat's. They were obviously going for the shock value, but it was completely ridiculous. I've also done that part 3 times now, twice with other people, and we still don't understand what happens there. It looks like she gets shot with a Needle Rifle or something similar, but then when they're pulling her back, they're shooting at a SHIP, which is hilarious in of itself. I may be missing something there though. Jun winds up being a completely throwaway character (even moreso than the rest of the cast), and I would probably care more about Emile's death if they had done anything to make me care about him, or had not gone about making him MR. BADASS in an absurd over the top way (and failed at that). Honestly the only character death that I thought was actually well done was Carter's.

Also this is personal taste, but I really dislike the end; I know it's probably not meant this way, but it feels like a total MW/MW2 ripoff. On the one hand it's cool, but on the other hand it feels like I've seen that exact ending with a slight variant at least a couple of other times. I said this pre-launch, but I still think the best way to have ended the game would be to have Noble 6 either sitting down as it fades out (Glassed), or have it end with him fighting and then either end out (but not in the abrupt fashion it actually does in-game) and the go white (Glassed).

Firefight: Awesome, and the number of options are great. I am proud to say post-release I stand by Gruntocalypse being the greatest thing ever. I do wish that you could do it with 4 people in Matchmaking though.

Multi: Getting increasingly sick of Matchmaking; people I play with keep getting completely lagged/dropped out of games where they've never had any problems with any other games (including Halo 3). Aside from that though, really sick of the current playlist setup, at least for BTB and Invasion. Incredibly disappointed to learn that there apparently won't be any updates for at least 2 weeks, I honestly don't think I have it in me to continue playing it like I am now until they make some fixes. I don't like Snipers, and when I'm playing BTB/Invasion the group is large enough where there's usually several people who are only casual Halo players, and they never like and/or get dominated on these gametypes. Because of there not currently being any split, almost every lobby turns into a For/Against for the Sniper/SWAT gametype so usually half of the lobby is not happy, and honestly I have no idea why either of these would really be in BTB to begin with.

Also I wish Rally showed up in any other playlist but FFA as I haven't had the chance to play it yet; even if it was just in multi-team that'd be great. Also I thought Invasion was going to be in as a regular gametype but it's not on any of the current matchmaking lists; is that just going to be a weekend-type thing like it was in Halo 3? I remember some talk about Save Haven mode and all that and wanted to check it out

Also starting to realize that it doesn't seem like there's enough big maps in the game for BTB; Countdown for example comes up frequently and is a complete clusterfuck. If they're going to toss a map of that size in there, they could at least throw in some others of similar size to at least get some variety going if nothing else (like Pinnacle or Asylum). Also I agree with the sentiment that while the official Forge World maps are good (or at least interesting) to play, visually they're very very boring. Hopefully DLC maps come sooner rather than later.

Boneyard has spawns that are hilariously broken in any sort of Slayer gametype; for whatever reason they apparently decided to not use half of the map (where the Elites start in normal Invasion) at all. It will always spawn one side by where you take the core to on the cliff edge, and that team always gets completely clown shoe'd by spawn killing. I honestly don't think I've played a Slayer match on that map that has not been a complete domination by the team who doesn't spawn there. Generally speaking that entire Elite starting side of the map seems completely unused.

Hemorrhage is fine, but the gametypes that frequently come up on it are ridiculous (4v4 SWAT, really?), and in "standard" BTB matches on it it seems like it needs another power weapon. More often than not it seems like one team will get the upper hand with vehicles, then completely dominate the rest of the match. Unless I'm retarded the only anti-vehicle weapon on the map (aside other vehicles) is the Plasma Launcher in the middle; which seems a bit nerfed, and is basically impossible to get to if your team is getting dominated. Maybe either tweaking vehicle placements/respawns or getting rid of the Scorpions would also resolve it.

I like Asylum, Reflection, Boardwalk and Countdown, although Countdown is a completely clusterfuck in any type of BTB game. I've only played Swordbase once or twice in the retail release, also like it and the little graphical touches they've made are good. Haven't played any objective games on it though, can't recall if they said they were changing the flag issues people had in the Beta or not. Zealot is fine, but the top portion is completely broken as has been already mentioned; a team will take the lead, go up top, and camp the lifts. I haven't seen Pinnacle yet (have been doing mostly BTB/Invasion, only done 5-8 TS matches and it hasn't come up).

I'm actually not a huge fan of Spire; it seems to suffer from the same problem as Boneyard in that it seems to have good chunks of the map that are not used at all, and the map just doesn't seem to flow very well at all. It's interesting though. On the other hand any gametype on it where Falcons get going seems to be completely jacked, as if the Falcon pilot is at all decent is becomes extraordinarily difficult to take it out with the weapons on the map; definitely wish there was a laser on there.

Misc: I really love the Armory, as well as the Challenges. I like waking up in the mornings and seeing on bnet what the Challenges are for that day. As soon as I hit a day where I don't get all the challenges I'll probably stop being quite so OCD about it, but it is a good initiative to get people on and playing, and it seems to be working to that end with casual players I play with talking about doing some modes to get Challenges done. I also really like how you just have the universal rank across everything; you always feel like you're building towards something (like in say, CoD). I still think that the upgrades being visual only is a bit disappointing though; I don't know that I would want them to be tied to anything relevant in-game (like weapons), but I also don't find much point in pimping out your Spartan as far as multiplayer/Firefight goes since the only time you see yourself is when you're dead, and in combat no one's armor looks so dramatically different that it's really noteworthy, or even noticing at all. I'm still glad it's there, but it feels like they should have gone more in one direction or the other.

Overall I really love the game, and it has a huge amount of options and playstyles that you could play it forever. I do have some issues with the Campaign (framerate and characters/plot) but is overall put together very well. Multiplayer is great, but they really need to address some current issues ASAP, as well as get some more visually distinctive maps out ASAP (the Forge World maps are good, but visually very bland).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

I still think that the upgrades being visual only is a bit disappointing though;

Fuck. That. If Halo gets perks ever, EVER, I'm going to drown myself in the toilet. This is an awful fucking idea; go to hell please.

Everything else I agree with almost word for word though. The matchmaking overhead that's causing some retarded lag situations is absolutely inexcusable though, and is by far a bigger problem than any of the other ridiculous shit like ugly motion blur/bland visuals/bad characters/strangely biased hoppers/weird map quirks and imbalances. I would be more angry at it but it's so awful it's become the funniest shit in months.

IMAGINARY GRENADES

The lag is so bonkers. Custom games of 4 in firefight? Infinite Rockets? Not an iota of lag, but get just two of those same people into a matchmaking game of the same and all the sudden I'm drowning in a sea of scrotums while pretending I'm on Skating with the Stars and eating dud missiles like week old slimy hotdogs. Fucking awful.

It's really odd but with so many niggling problems it drives me mad sometimes. I sort of disagree re: the whole campaign though. No really interesting or memorable setpieces or individual fights like the dual scarabs from H3 or the entire last stage of ODST. In fact while I was playing it I was never really angry at it, I was never totally going "holy shit" either. The best part was probably the turret defense underground thing. Everything else was just 'meh' at the elite waves that made it feel like THEY JUST COULDN'T PAD IT ENOUGH. BAM DROPSHIP. AGAIN. Kinda disappointed there actually now that I think about it some more.

FELIPE NO

I noticed when playing with my brother (who is across seas) that both on campaign co-op and firefight, there's always someone with bad lag, and even glitching a few times. Is this an isolated thing, or have other people had trouble with it?

Calling down an airstrike on a convanant drop-ship is very awesome though. I don't think I'd ever get tired of hearing KILLPOCALYPSE

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I have that issue too, DN. I'm in Korea and my friends I play with are back in the states, and I always have a lag problem except for normal matchmaking games like Slayer. I can aim just fine, but moving around and shooting is delayed for about a second. I scheduled my internet to be upgraded to 10mb on tuesday (I'm running on 5 right now), thinking that might help, but I guess it's a pretty common problem.

How ya doing, buddy?

I hate countdown... with a passion.
Invasion is fun fun, a bit unbalanced though, or maybe it was the people i played with.
Agree with daravon about the characters

Spoiler:

Emilie was just retarded, almost like they forgot about him and threw him in at the end. Carters death was good, made sense and wasn't full of lols.
And about the Kat thing, if you look again you see a Elite standing in the dropship while it's flying away... super retarded though and how one shot kills her like that is a mystery lol.

no homo

Spoiler:

I definitely agree about Jun being a throwaway character. Almost like his only purpose was to fill a space so your character would be number six, if that makes any sense. Did he even die? I remember him going off with someone, but that's it.

I felt a bit sad during Jorge's death scene, but that's about the only one. Thought it was kind of funny how he just picks up Noble Six and tosses him into space, though. Kat went too suddenly to really affect me at all, and she sort of annoyed me anyway. Typical emotionless but kind of bitchy tech expert. I was kinda pissed at first at the start of the last mission, because I thought Carter was just going to fly into the distance and his Pelican would explode, but I was glad when they brought him back just long enough to jihad that Scarab. Emile sort of confused me in the end. Did anyone else think he sounded latino in the beginning, in what few lines he spoke? In the end, he was suddenly black and wouldn't shut the hell up. Saw his death coming a mile away.

Playing through Noble Six's death was kinda cool; sort of reminded me of the end of Crisis Core. The cracks showing up in your helmet was a nice touch. I think it would've been a cooler scene, though, if it was just a normal scene and we saw him battling off waves of enemies until they finally overtake him, or one of the alternatives that SailorDaravon suggested. Gripes aside, it's a fun campaign, and I've already started my Legendary run. I'm just glad that the god damn Flood isn't in this one. Worst enemies ever.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I finished this game last night on Legendary with a couple of my friends. Shit was a lot easier with 4 people than just on your own. It's an amazing game but I still consider ODST to be the best game in the series. About the one gripe I had with the game were the Sabre dogfighting stages. They were ridiculously intense battles but lacked an epic soundtrack to make them FEEL climactic. It was pretty nostalgic overall, really. Covenant ship interiors look straight up AMAZING on the 360 hardware and the sound design is as good, if not better than Dead Space. (a game which I consider to have some of the best sound design in this generation of games) The game totally didn't end like I thought it would either but it was consistently white knuckle for us. I'm gonna go through it by myself on Normal just to unlock leftover achievements.

I also spent a good chunk of time playing multiplayer with a couple of my coworkers. Firefight is, by far, our favorite mode. I can easily see us spending as much, if not more, time as we did on ODST's mode and this one is just chock full of a great variety of game modes, not to mention all the stuff you can customize on your own. Does anyone know if we can play Forge-made maps in that? Because that would be RAD~

I like SWAT too but, man, that's a game type that's best kept in tight corridors or small maps and I fucking HATE being dropped into, say, Hemorrhage for that. I agree with Toku; that shit is criminally oversized. I really did miss that map as it was my favorite in the first Halo but it's just way too big in this game.

Did anyone else get the Limited Edition?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by WolfDemon

Spoiler:

I definitely agree about Jun being a throwaway character. Almost like his only purpose was to fill a space so your character would be number six, if that makes any sense. Did he even die? I remember him going off with someone, but that's it.

I felt a bit sad during Jorge's death scene, but that's about the only one. Thought it was kind of funny how he just picks up Noble Six and tosses him into space, though. Kat went too suddenly to really affect me at all, and she sort of annoyed me anyway. Typical emotionless but kind of bitchy tech expert. I was kinda pissed at first at the start of the last mission, because I thought Carter was just going to fly into the distance and his Pelican would explode, but I was glad when they brought him back just long enough to jihad that Scarab. Emile sort of confused me in the end. Did anyone else think he sounded latino in the beginning, in what few lines he spoke? In the end, he was suddenly black and wouldn't shut the hell up. Saw his death coming a mile away.

Playing through Noble Six's death was kinda cool; sort of reminded me of the end of Crisis Core. The cracks showing up in your helmet was a nice touch. I think it would've been a cooler scene, though, if it was just a normal scene and we saw him battling off waves of enemies until they finally overtake him, or one of the alternatives that SailorDaravon suggested. Gripes aside, it's a fun campaign, and I've already started my Legendary run. I'm just glad that the god damn Flood isn't in this one. Worst enemies ever.

Spoiler:

Well we know Halsey made it off Reach alive so he either died protecting/getting her off Reach or made it out with her to later die on Onyx or maybe he's still alive too.

And to Encephalon, I got the Legendary Edition.

I was speaking idiomatically.