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I like the bit where the Spartan dude gets his dick out and pisses all over that Elite before literally cock-slapping him to death. I totally wasn't expecting comedy codpieces to be part of the armour options.
rememberreach.com is up. Weird viral marketing site; you can watch live-action videos, and do facebook integration which allows you to "light" a constellation, apparently something will happen when they all get lit up? Weird.
Oh man, I LOVE Halo ARGs. Some of the best in the business. Do you have a link to further information about this site that isn't also full of spoilertown ending discussion?
I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?
Jurassic Park Chocolate Raptor is currently Offline
I don't think they've said anything more about it really; we knew that site was coming (it just went live yesterday or today), but I don't think we have any other details. I don't think this really qualifies as an ARG though.
I've thought about it but having an ever growing collection of Black Library books, I fear that reading about Halo would just annoy me that Spartans aren't as cool as Space Marines.
Well it's not like you should read all of them. Fall of Reach was great, First Strike was "pretty good".
The Flood is just a weak novelization of the first game, with added viewpoint of the Covenant, something that annoyed me the hell in Halo 2 already. The Covenant were such a great enemy, since you knew nothing about them, they were so fittingly alien. And then suddenly they made them talk english and tried to humanize them and crowbar in pointless Episode I politics.
Anyway, just read Fall of Reach. Great, quick, entertaining read. Sheds some nice light to the Spartan II program as well as some of the technology of the Haloverse.
In general stick with Eric Nylund's Halo books, though I've not read Contact Harvest so I don't know if that's any decent.
What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?
map car man words telling me to do things is currently Offline
Yeah, completely skip The Flood, it's just the first game and I've never really heard anything good about it.
That aside, yes you should definitely read Fall of Reach and First Strike. Beyond that you should also read Ghosts of Onyx, which is also good and written by Eric Nylund. After that there was also Contact Harvest, the Cole Protocol, and Halo Evolutions all written by different authors (and Evolutions is a collection of short stories from different characters and time periods); I've heard those 3 are all good as well, but haven't read them myself. I'll be starting to re-read all the books shortly, I'll post once I've done so with what I thought, it's been about 3-4 years since I've read any of the ones I have read.
Additional Spam:
Microsoft finally starting to talk about their marketing Campaign for Reach.
Starting in September, 300 million Mtn Dew bottles and 30 million bags of Doritos will feature "Halo" packaging and under-the-caps sweepstakes.
Finally!
Also a lot of people have been wondering where all the marketing has been for Reach, as Halo 3 marketing was non-stop for months up to release, I guess that they're going for an all-out blitz short-term prior to release instead of months and months of it for Halo 3. Maybe something to do with the fact that Master Chief was a very known character and quantity, and Reach doesn't have an identifiable character on that level or something.
FELIPE NO
Last edited by SailorDaravon; Aug 24, 2010 at 03:40 PM.
Reason: This member got a little too post happy.
They've been doing an impressive work marketing wise imo. They shifted the focus from from the characters to the Halo name itself early. The virals spots here and there never really focused on the characters, only in the later videos did they start introducing the noble 6 members.
They started doing that with halo3 if my memory serves me well, dunno if it was intentional but it was a good long term move. The logo and the halo world is all they need to sell it atm. There is still a good 3 weeks left until release and the foundation is laid already so they can pump those short term campaigns now.
After probably 40 or so total hours of work, the OP is now completely overhauled, and except for image headers (which I need to bug Philia about) is 95% complete. There are a very few minor things to be added/removed once the final game hits, mostly images of the missing maps and final playlist confirmations. It's also built in such a way that I can scrap some sections that probably won't matter a ways after release (like the game version/merchandise section) and add in new things (like new maps, playlists, DLC, etc.) Since I doubt anyone actually looks at it, I will post it here. I also added in quite a few updates and pieces of info since it was last updated, including several things that I haven't posted at all in the thread (such as the visual flair reveal) so maybe someone will actually look at it. Bwhahahaha.
Finish the Fight before the Fight was Started....wait, what?
Release Date: Y'aaaar (September 14th for the rest of us)
Platform: why is this here I don't even
I. Halo: Reach Game versions and other Merchandise II. Player Investment, or the 4 C's - Credits, Customization, Challenges, Commendations
III. General Gameplay and Changes in Halo: Reach IV. Weapons and Vehicles
V. Loadouts and Armor Abilities VI. Campaign, Forge 2.0, and Forge World
VII. Firefight 2.0 VIII. Matchmaking Playlists, Gametypes, and Maps
IX. The Arena X. Achievements
XI. The new Bungie.net and Medals XII. Videos and Trailers
XIII. Updates and Thanks
Halo: Reach Game versions and other Reach Merchandise Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Day 1/Pre-order bonus
-Spartan Recon helmet. In the US it will come "with all Day 1 copies," indicating that it will probably be a DLC card inside first run copies. Outside the US it will be a pre-order bonus from certain retailers.
Gamestop Exclusive pre-order armor
-UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark V(B) Armor (is a "chest" armor piece)
-Will not be a DLC card, the download code will be printed on your receipot, which is how Gamestop handles all DLC codes and cards now.
Standard (Lame) Edition - $59.99
-Comes with the game. Barely.
Limited So-We-Heard-You-Like-Halo Edition - $79.99
*Game Disc in custom case "modeled after a recovered ONI black box".
*Exclusive "Sangheili Officer" Elite in-game Armor (seen above).
*"Artifact Bag" containing the personal notes and documents of the creator of the SPARTAN program, Dr. Catherine Halsey. This has been worked on by Eric Nylund and Bungie for "quite some time." Stays very true to the fiction and has large amounts of previously unreleased information.
*Dr. Halsey's ONI Security Badge
*Embroidered Spartan II Patch (Click here for an official Bungie video unboxing both the Limited and Legendary Editions)
Legendary "Hyper Lethal" Edition - 1,000 J Allards ($149.99) All contents of the Limited Edition, plus:
*Noble Team statue from McFarlane Toys. Individually molded, hand-painted and individually numbered. The statue is about 10" tall and weighs about 10 pounds.
*UNSC-themed custom packaging.
*Exclusive flaming helmet armor effect. It will add the flames to any helmet you have equipped, not just the one seen above. Likely falls under the Armor Effect category in the Armory, but has not been confirmed.
*Will come with a code to download some sort of exclusive making of/behind the scenes-type videos. No further information available on this yet. (Click here for an official Bungie video unboxing both the Limited and Legendary Editions)
Halo Reach Strategy Guide
-Bradygames / 352 pages / $19.99 MSRP, currently $13.49 at Amazon (US) here.
From the BradyGames description:
*Complete Campaign Coverage – We show you the best path through every mission. Valuable intel prepares you for each pivotal encounter on the planet Reach.
*Exhaustive Multiplayer Content - Our multiplayer coverage gives you the edge in competition. Learn the best ways to use Armor Abilities, pin your opponents at long range, slug it out at short range, hold important positions, rush objectives, maximize kills, and gain the upper hand online.
*Exclusive Rendered Maps! Highly detailed maps for the Campaign, Firefight, and Multiplayer modes. Discover chokepoints and defensible positions, heavy weapon locations and powerful items, spawn points, hiding spots, and sniping locations. All on our easy to use maps!
*Extensive Firefight Coverage! We reveal expert tactics to prevent your team from being overrun in the co-op Firefight mode. Create a strategic defense and hold out against wave after wave of Covenant forces.
*Detailed Scoring and Achievement Guides - Learn the intricacies of the Credit System, Ranks, Medals, Commendations, and how they affect your Armor customization options. Use our helpful guide to unlock all of the Achievements in Halo Reach!
Halo Reach Limited Edition Strategy Guide
-Bradygames / 448 pages / $29.99 MSRP, currently $23.09 at Amazon (US) here.
In addition to the the description for the regular edition guide above, the Limited Edition also contains (from BradyGames again):
*This special hardbound Legendary Edition includes everything in our Signature Series guide, plus exclusive content not available anywhere else!
*Exclusive 80-Page Concept Art Gallery! Packed with breathtaking concept art and fascinating commentary straight from Bungie Studios, this chronicle of the game’s development is a must-have for every Halo fan.
*Get One of Six Deluxe, Collectible Covers! Beneath the striking dust jacket, each volume features one of six limited-edition covers, each featuring a member of Noble Team. Deluxe print treatments highlight these dramatic cover images. These are randomly assorted so you won’t know what cover you get until you open the package at home!
McFarland Toys Halo Reach Figures
-Continuing in the fine Halo figure condition, McFarland Toys will be putting out a bajillion Halo Reach figures. In all fairness, their Halo 3 figures are actually good quality.
-Series 1 of the figures and vehicles will be hitting sometime in September 2010. Details on these and all previous and forthcoming McFarlane Halo figures can be found here.
Square-Enix Halo: Reach Play-Arts Figures
-Figures will be done for all of Noble Six released in 2 series. Series 1 will contain Noble Six, Emile, and Jun. Series 2 will contain Carter, Kat, and Jorge. No official dates yet, however online retailers seem to be indicating a $39.99 price point (per figure) with Series 1 figures being released in January.
Halo Reach Limited Edition Xbox 360
-$399.99 / Available September 14th / Comes with 2 Reach controllers and a copy of the regular edition of the game
Halo Reach Controller
-$59.99 / Available Now / Comes with exclusive Banshee "prop" for your Live avatar
Halo Reach Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
-$49.99 / Available Now / Does not come with the Banshee Avatar "prop"
Halo Fall of Reach re-release
-Re-release of the book with minor corrections and additions. A good read that is specifically relevant to the events in Halo: Reach. Can be found at Amazon for $10.19 here, MSRP $14.99. If you are interested in any of the other Halo books or expanded fiction, you can check out the Halo Wiki here for a listing of all of the Halo books and comics.
Halo: Reach Avatar Goods
-Currently available Reach goods that can be bought on in the Avatar store.
-Halo: Reach Beta tester hoodie; only available to people/accounts who participated in the Reach Beta. You need to log into Halo Waypoint to unlock it.
-Noble 6 Avatar helmet. Currently only available to attendees of Comic-Con, Gamescom, and PAX Prime. Has been confirmed that it will be available to purchase later on the normal Avatar Store however.
-These Avatar helmets will be available via Halo Waypoint rewards tied to Reach Achievements, similar to existing Avatar unlockables via Waypoint. Exact details/achievement counts not available yet.
Halo: Reach branded Mountain Dew and Doritos
-Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! Aside from that, there will apparently be some sort of codes under the cap on the Mountain Dews, unclear if it's just for some contest giveaway, or possibly something in the game, or what. Also the PR makes it sound like these will just be Halo-branded Mountain Dew, and not Game Fuel
Player Investment, or the 4 C's - Credits, Customization, Challenges, Commendations Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Credits (cR)
-Players earn Credits (cR) for taking essentially any action within Reach: playing Campaign/Firefight/Forge/Matchmaking, earning Achievements, and completing Daily and Weekly Challenges.
-You spend earned cR to customize your Spartan by purchasing Armor pieces and effects.
-Excluding your Arena Rating, in Halo: Reach there is no number ranking system like in Halo 2/3 (i.e 1-50). Your military ranking is purely determined by the number of cR you have earned. Trueskill matchmaking will still (in theory) match players of equal skill levels, but if you are so inclined you could play nothing but Campaign and Firefight and eventually reach the highest "rank" now.
Spartan Customization Gender
-You can choose between being a male or female Spartan; but unlike previous Halo games, choosing a female Spartan will actually change the character model instead of just the voice.
Spartan Armor and Accessories
-Upgrades are visual only, and have no effect on gameplay.
-Some pieces in the armory will be unlocked through Achievement progression from Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach via Halo Waypoint.
-There are 10 Armor customization options available as seen in the screenshot above (in addition to the Color and Emblem customization).
-More items become available for purchase as you increase your Rank. For Helmet attachments, you will need to own the base Helmet to see the available attachments that can be purchased for that Helmet.
-Your customized Spartan carries across all game modes, including Campaign. Will only be a "few notable exceptions" to this, such as if you have the Legendary Edition flaming helmet, which will not show in Campaign cutscenes.
-Only armor pieces that everyone has access to in-game with Credits count towards your Armory percentage completion; any pre-order or Halo Waypoint pieces do not count towards your percentage if you don't have them.
-Bungie has stated there will be armory pieces that will take "months, or longer" to acquire and implied that there will be collective community efforts required in some cases to even make pieces available.
Elite Customization
-Elite armor customization works differently than for Spartans. Elites are full-on armor sets, as opposed to Spartans' individual armor pieces.
-You unlock Elite armor sets when you hit certain officer ranks; you do not purchase them with cR like Spartan armor and accessories.
Nameplate Emblems
-In addition to the standard color and emblem options, Nameplate Emblems (aka visual flair) is now an additional option. Located in the same area that the 7th Column/Bungie emblems were in Halo 3, there are now a slew of them that are unlocked via various means.
From top to bottom (descriptions direct from Bungie):
*The Septagon – This option returns for anyone who links their LIVE account to their Bungie.net account.
*The DMR – A pro weapon for Pro members. Get Bungie Pro to bump up your File Share, render videos, and get this emblem. Active subscriptions bought in Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST carry over to Halo: Reach, of course.
*Marathon – Play the full version of Marathon: Durandal on Xbox LIVE Arcade to enable the Pfhor Terminal emblem.
*Halo 1 – Enter your Halo 1 PC/Mac product key to enable this emblem. Each key can only be used once, so you’d better stop reading this and grab that key before your brother does. Since we have no way to validate who has played the Xbox version, this emblem is reserved for that dedicated community of computer gamers, with over 50k unique users still active each month, 7 years after release. Thanks for sticking with us. It’s been quite a ride!
*Halo 2 – Automatically available if you played Halo 2 for Xbox on your LIVE account before its tearful retirement. If it’s not active for you, no amount of wheedling will change that, sorry.
*Halo 3 – Take a guess… On the plus side, there’s plenty of time to head to your local purveyor of fine, shrink-wrapped games to snag a copy if you’re the one person who actually reads the news on our site and hasn’t played this game.
*Halo 3: ODST – Ditto.
*Assault Rifle – This fine armament goes to anyone who played the Halo: Reach beta a few months ago.
*Spartan Helmet – CLASSIFIED
*HALO – Like Blamite out of a Needler, these faceplate options can supercombine. Unlock the emblems for Halo 1, Halo 2, and Halo 3 to get this special emblem.
*The Star – Who knows? We haven’t come up with a use for this yet. Maybe we will in the future.
Challenges
-There will be both daily and weekly challenges across different game modes with different difficulties and cR rewards.
-There will be Firefight Challenges that will unlock unique armor permutations.
-You can check your Challenges progress both in-game as well as bungie.net.
Commendations
-Most actions in Halo: Reach across all game modes will count towards specific Commendations reflected in your Service Record. So for example someone who spends most of their time driving would have a high level Wheelman Commendation level.
-When you advance to the next "rank" within a Commendation you will receive a cR bonus, although this is throttled to avoid exploitation and to encourage players to play as they normally would.
General Gameplay and Changes in Halo: Reach Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
General Gameplay
-No Dual Wielding of any type.
-No more Flag "juggling". There is no longer any speed boost or advantage to throwing the Flag.
-Excluding Sniper Rifle rounds, you can no longer do damage "through shields," the shield has to be completely gone before you do health damage. So things like doing a melee attack or point-blank shotgunning someone who is at 5% shields will no longer result in instant death, it will just "pop" their shields.
-To prevent people from exploiting and getting off a map in ways that were not intended, there is now a 10 second timer that counts down once you leave the map boundaries, and once it hits zero you just die. This 10 second timer does not reset, so if you leave the map for 5 seconds once then go back outside the map you only have 5 seconds left. However you can use the 10 seconds to your advantage for possible shortcuts around the map.
Spartan and Elite differences
-Most gametypes will feature Spartan vs Spartan gameplay.
-Elites are much faster than Spartans; a regular Elite running is nearly as fast as a Spartan Sprinting.
-Elites also have more health and shields, and regenerate both fully and faster than Spartans; Spartan shields fully charge as before, but Spartan health bars are now broken into three sections, and you only recharge your current section. To fully regain health Spartans must pick up health packs.
Assassinations
-Assassinations are new optional one-hit kill moves. You can still do just a regular melee attack behind an opponent to instantly kill the, however if you hold the melee button for a moment you will trigger one of these animations. Basically a humiliation move.
-Assassinations can be done ground to air, when both players are in the air, etc.
-The 3rd person animation does leave both you and the opponent vulnerable; if you are being assassinated a teammate can save you by shooting the attacker off, etc.
-There are over 40 custom assassinations in the final game, some unique to Campaign, some not.
Weapons and Vehicles Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Covenant Weaponry
Concussion Rifle (New in Reach) - Basically the Covenant equivalent of the Grenade Launcher.
Focus Rifle aka the Bacon Wave (New in Reach) - A beam weapon similar to the Sentinel Laser but much more powerful. Treated as a power weapon in-game/Matchmaking.
Plasma Launcher aka Comedy Gun, Clown Cannon (New in Reach) - Charges and fires 4 plasma grenades that track vehicles or enemies. Once the rounds "stick" to the target slight delay before exploding.
Plasma Repeater (New in Reach) - Similar to the Plasma Rifle, the Covenant equivalent of the AR. Does not have "ammo." Works on a cooldown system like the Plasma Rifle, however now instead of ceasing fire when it starts to heat up like the Plasma Rifle, the Plasma Repeater's rate of fire will slow. You can manually partially or completely "vent" it at will, and you can take other actions such as throwing a grenade or melee while it's venting.
Needle Rifle (New in Reach) - A mix of a Carbine and Needler, excels at mid-to-long range; accurate enough to score headshots, but a super-combine Needle explosion can still be triggered just like the Needler. You can hold down the trigger to fire quicker, and this will cause super-combine explosions faster on unshielded opponents but causes significant reticule "bloom".
Needler (Returning) - Needles no longer home in if your reticule isn't red, and no super-combine until their shields have dropped. Even with this I thought it was much better in the Beta than in Halo 3 due to the improved homing.
Plasma Pistol (Returning) - It's overcharge shot now has a EMP burst effect, so you can potentially pop several shields at once, etc.
Gravity Hammer (Returning) - Yo, it's the hammer. No real changes here. Parachute pants.
Plasma Sword (Returning) - The only big difference in Reach is that if someone hits you with a sword melee or lunge, if you melee back at the same time you can "block" the sword and it will deplete your shields but it is not a one-hit kill.
Fuel Rod Cannon (Returning) - Appears to operate the same.
Plasma Rifle (Returning) - Appears to have been completely removed from Matchmaking, but it has now shown up in Firefight and Campaign. Likely operates the same as before.
Spiker (Returning) - Like the Plasma Rifle, appears to have been completely gone in Matchmaking but has returned in Firefight and Campaign.
-The Covenant Sniper Rifle, Carbine, and Mauler appear to be completely gone from Halo: Reach.
Spartan Weapons
Target Locator (New in Reach) - Used to call in an airstrike on a targeted location.
Grenade Launcher aka Pro Pipe (New in Reach) - Has two modes of fire. Firing a round normally will cause the round to detonate on impact (automatic), or you can hold the trigger and it will detonate when you release it (manual). Allows you to do things like set traps, or aim specifically at mid-air targets and detonate at will. The round explosion also creates an EMP effect. Not considered a "power" weapon.
DMR aka "Deemer" (New in Reach) - Designated Marksman Rifle, replaces the BR from Halo 3. Medium to long-range weapon similar to the BR but single-shot fire. The DMR will require more precision than the BR due to the reticule "bloom" after every shot.
Spartan Laser (Returning) - Holds 4 shots now instead of 5, virtually identical otherwise.
Shotgun (Returning) - Only fires inside the cross-hair now, and it's blast/projectile radius is a little tighter (requires a bit more aiming) but the range on it is slightly longer as well.
Magnum (Returning) - Much improved, will take down an enemy from full shields to death twice as fast as a DMR, but it takes a much bigger hit on accuracy when fired quickly, and is much closer range than the DMR.
Sniper Rifle aka Long Rifle (Returning) - Sniper Rifle Headshots will still bypass shields and be a one-hit kill (unlike other weapons). Also affected heavily by reticule "bloom" like the DMR.
Rocket Launcher (Returning) - Operates largely the same, however the vehicle lock-on from Halo 2 has returned.
Assault Rifle (Returning) - Has seen improvements to accuracy and damage, should (hopefully) be much more viable now.
-The SMG and Battle Rifle are both confirmed gone in Reach.
Covenant Vehicles
Revenant (New in Reach) - A bit of a glass cannon; it is very maneuverable, and it's cannon fires shots comparable to a Wraith. However it can only carry one passenger (with no turret), and it very susceptible to taking damage.
Ghost / Banshee / Wraith (Returning) - All are basically unchanged.
Spartan Vehicles
Rocket Warthog (New in Reach) - Fairly self-explanatory. It apparently will lock-on to targets if you keep a bead on the target for some time; details still not available yet.
Sabre (New in Reach) - Playable spacefighter. Only in one mission in Campaign, and is not in multiplayer at all.
Civilian Vehicles (New in Reach as playable) - In Campaign you will be able to use some civilian vehicles, the forklift and flatbed truck at least or known. According to urk, the forklift does not even achieve enough speed to splatter enemies.
Falcon (New in Reach) - Appears to be the replacement for the Hornet in Reach; the pilot does not have access to any weapons, but each side has a turret that can be manned by another player.
Mongoose / Warthog / Gauss Warthog / Scorpion (Returning) - All returning and operate largely the same, except the Warthog (and possibly the Gauss Warthog) now has a cooldown on the turret fire.
-The Hornet appears to be gone in Halo: Reach.
Loadouts and Armor Abilities Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Loadouts
-Loadouts let players pick from a set of weapons and armor abilities to spawn with; on every re-spawn the player can change their loadout if they choose.
-The available Loadouts will depending on the gametype you are playing, there is no need to unlock Loadouts through XP rank or anything similar. You can create custom Loadouts in Custom games.
Armor Abilities (AA)
-Armor Abilities give your character a unique ability; you can only carry one at a time and there are 7 AA's in total.
-All Armor Abilities re-charge automatically after use, indicated by a circle that fills up around the AA icon on the bottom left of your HUD.
-You cannot pick up or carry a flag while using an Armor Ability. If you activate an Armor Ability while already carrying a flag, it is immediately dropped.
-I'm not currently clear on whether or not all AA's are used by both Spartans and Elites. I believe they initially said that only Elites had Evade, but apparently from the Leaks there are shots and confirmation that Spartans can Evade as well.
Drop Shield
-A "medic" ability; drops a protective bubble shield that will also heal players within it.
-Will disappear once the charge expires or if it the shield takes too much damage as indicated by the color of the shield.
Armor Lock
-When you engage Armor Lock, you become temporarily invincible, but you cannot move or shoot. The camera pans out to 3rd person view which you can rotate.
-You can engage Armor Lock up to 3 times on one "charge", or you can hold one sustained lock for a few seconds.
-There is both a knockback and EMP area of effect; if you do the single "Lock" it has a small area of effect and duration, but if you do the full charge it has a much larger knockback and EMP blast
-If you have Needles or Sticky grenades on you when you do Armor Lock it will knock them off you.
Jetpack
-Can fire multiple short bursts or one long burst. You can take fall damage if you fall from too high.
Sprint
-Your weapon is lowered while running so you cannot fire, but you can apparently (?) throw grenades while sprinting.
Evade
-Rolling will break weapon lock-ons.
-Can be used twice before needing to reacharge.
Active Camo
-The slower you're moving while it's active, the slower it drains the charge, while moving faster will cause it to drain faster as well as make you more visible.
-It will also jam all nearby radar (including your own) when active.
-All sound is "muffled" when active.
Hologram
-Create a duplicate image of yourself by aiming your reticule where you want the Hologram to go to, and it will run in a straight line to that point.
-Will last 10 seconds, or until it is "killed."
-In Campaign you can use it to fool Covenant AI, provided that they don't see you trigger it.
-Your Hologram can use Mancannons, but you can't put one "into" a vehicle.
Campaign, Forge 2.0, and Forge World Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Campaign
Quote:
Halo: Reach takes place in late 2552, during the Covenant invasion of the Human colony world Reach, which also serves as the main military center of the UNSC. The game follows Noble Team, a six-man special operations unit of SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III commandos. The player assumes the role of the team's newest member, SPARTAN-B312 or "Noble Six" and will be defending Reach from its ultimate downfall at the hands of the Covenant.
-Your character (Noble Six) is a completely new character; they are given no personality or image as you can completely customize both their armor and their gender.
-Bungie has said that Legendary difficulty in Campaign will have "more than a few Elites armed with Active Camo and Sniper Rifles."
-Names have now been assigned to NPC Marines, Troopers, and ODST's in the game, so now you can see their name, rank, and service tag in-game so as to encourage keeping them alive (presumably).
-When playing Campaign in Co-op, the difficulty will now scale up in terms of difficulty and number of enemies if there are more players (which none of the previous Halo games have done).
-There is now Campaign Matchmaking.
Forge 2.0
-Forge returns with a multitude of new additions and options. To avoid going into a huge amount of minutia I don't think anyone here cares about, if you're interested in the finer details and options check out the Halo wiki page here on Forge and it's options.
-While you will earn cR for time spent in Forge, it is not very much, and Bungie says that the game can tell if you're being active or not (i.e. you won't get cR just for sitting in Forge for 8 hours).
-You are not able to Forge Firefight maps.
Forge World
-Forge World initially began as 5 different maps being created by Bungie to be set up as Forge variants for users. The maps were then combined into one super-huge level that can be transversed as a whole or segmented off as desired. The 5 maps within Forge World are the Canyon, Island, Quarry, Coliseum, and the Pillar, and four new areas were added between the original spaces: the Coastline, the Lagoon, Alaska and Montana.
-Within these spaces, Bungie has created maps completely within these areas, some of which will full-on be in Matchmaking:
*Asylum - A remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2 located in the Quarry area. Expected (but not confirmed) to be in Matchmaking.
*Grifball Court - The new Grifball court map is set up in the Coliseum area. Not in regular matchmaking, but should show up in whatever form Grifball comes up in Matchmaking.
*Hemorrhage - A remake of Blood Gulch and Coagulation set up in the Canyon. Confirmed to be in Matchmaking.
*Paradiso - A new map that takes place in the Island area; no word at all if this will be in Matchmaking or not.
*Pinnacle - Remake of Ascension from Halo 2 set in the Pillar area. Expected (but not confirmed) to be in Matchmaking.
*Cage - A map reminiscent of Lockout from Halo 2 and Blackout from Halo 3 set in the Lagoon area. Not a direct remake of either map, but obviously inspired from. Confirmed to be in Matchmaking.
Firefight 2.0 Last updated August 25th, 2010
Spoiler:
Matchmaking and Modes
-Firefight is still only up to 4 players, however it now has Matchmaking.
-Just like Campaign and Multiplayer, there will be daily and weekly Challenges for Firefight. Additionally however, there are armor permutations that can only be unlocked through completing Firefight Challenges.
-urk has confirmed that Drones are not in Firefight this time around neither is the Black Eye Skull, which were pretty much the two things that everyone absolutely hated in ODST Firefight.
-These are the standard Firefight Gametypes; I'm not clear if all of these are in Matchmaking or not.
Classic Mode - Comparable to Firefight in ODST; doesn't end until you die, standard setup, etc. Standard - Standard setup, but only lasts for 1 round. Generator Defense - Same as in the Beta, defend the Generators against the Covenant trying to destroy them. Rocket Fight - You have infinite Rockets, go! Gruntocalypse - aka the best gametype to ever exist in any game. Plays like the Bonus Rounds in ODST where it's just waves of suicidal Grunts, except ALL THE TIME. Supposedly all Skulls are activated for this mode, but videos I've watched of it seem to conflict with that, so I'm not sure. Score Attack - The only mode that is not customizable by the player at all; all waves and drops are standardized. Set up this way so it's the same for all players across the board, so it encourages high score runs. There will be in-game and bungie.net leaderboards for this mode.
Firefight Customization
-You can set up custom Firefight settings, just like other Custom games.
-Customization options are completely insane; you can create custom skulls, set up enemy waves how you want them, starting weapons and Loadouts, if you want damage or physics modifiers on, and I could go on and on. If you want 2000% health in 3x gravity with infinite rockets and nothing but suicidal Grunts, go for it.
-urk posted a mostly complete listing of the Firefight customization settings. It is incredibly long and wouldn't format correctly for a copy/paste here, and I'm not spending hours formatting it. Go check it out here.
Final Shipping Firefight Maps
Beachhead
Waterfront
Overlook
Corvette
Courtyard
Outpost
Glacier No official media yet, unable to find good pics from the leak
Holdout No official media yet, unable to find good pics from the leak
Matchmaking Playlists, Settings, Gametypes, and Maps Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Currently Known Gametypes
Returning gametypes with little to no changes
Oddball, 1/2 Flag CTF, King of the Hill, Crazy King, Slayer, SWAT.
New or significantly changed gametypes
3 Plots - A return from Halo 2, there are three territories, teams score points as they hold territories. Main difference as opposed to Land Grab is the game is not round based, and the territories can be taken and re-taken. First to a score limit wins.
Covy Slayer - Regular Team Slayer, but with all Elites.
SvE Slayer - Slayer with one team of Elites versus one team of Spartans. Was put into the Beta late for general testing purposes; as the Elite team has a significant natural advantage, seems unlikely this will be in the final release.
Stockpile - Two teams fight over 4 neutral flags. Flags are scored by bringing them into your team's territory and protecting them until the timer reaches zero. Flags are collected every 60 seconds. Flags will not count if they are outside the territory, even if someone on your team is holding them. First to a score limit (10 in the Beta) wins.
Slayer Pro - Slayer with different Loadouts and no motion tracker.
Slayer Classic - Slayer with Loadouts disabled, everyone has Sprint.
Juggernaut - Juggernaut is now temporarily invincible upon become the Juggernaut, and being the Juggernaut "wears off." You score points for killing the Juggernaut or getting kills as the Juggernaut.
Headhunter - Whenever someone is killed, they drop a Skull that can be collected. You can cash in skulls at territories that randomly move through the match; if you die you all of your skulls are dropped. All players can see how many skulls other players have by a number above the player's head (even with Active Camo), which makes players with large numbers of skulls moving targets. Match will immediately end if someone scores 10 skulls at once (Skullmanjaro). In the Beta this seemed like kind of a mess since everyone would just camp the return areas; could potentially be cool in Team versions.
Invasion
-8 vs 8 Spartan vs Elite teams. Teams will change sides at the end of a round. Game takes place across 3 phases each with a 4 minute timer; if the Elites fail to succeed at a Phase objective at the end of the 4 minutes, the round immediately ends.
-In any Phase, if the Elites are in control of the current objective, the game will go into Sudden Death.
-You can either spawn at designated locations, or you can spawn on your Fireteam member aka Battle Bro that is assigned to you pre-game (you are unable to choose). If you re-spawn on your teammate they can't be in combat, just like co-op spawning in past Halo Campaigns. You can spawn in vehicles if your Battle Bro is in them.
Phase 1: Elites must gain control of one of two specific territories to open the shield doors locking off the back half of the map. Only two Loadouts and no vehicles available in this Phase. Phase 2: With the doors now open, the Elites must get into the Vault and take possession of the Core by taking one of two new territories. At the start of Phase 2 more Loadouts are available and the Ghost, Wraith, and Warthog are now available. Phase 3: Elites must carry the Core to a waiting Phantom that has now arrived. Spartans are forced to retreat, but in the final phase there are now 4 high-level Loadouts for each side, and the Wraith and Scorpion are now available.
Invasion Slayer
-Slayer-based variant of Invasion. Goes to 100 kills, and at 25 and 50 points Tier 2 and Tier 3 Loadouts and reinforcements are unlocked, offering similar escalation to regular Invasion as the game progresses. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are unlocked at the 4 and 8 minute markers respectively if the game kill count has not already been reached.
-Also in Invasion Slayer there are randomly positioned territories; capture them, and 10 seconds later an airdrop containing either weapons or vehicles will arrive.
Infection
-Officially confirmed as returning.
-New Infection mode called "Safe Havens." Survivors in this mode are very fragile; can be killed in one hit and do little damage. However, if they are standing in a Safe Haven, the Survivors are immortal and can kill zombies with on shot. The catch is that every time a Survivor steps into a Haven, a 15-second timer counts down. Once the timer hits zero the Haven moves to a different random location, leaving Survivors vulnerable again until they can reach the next Haven.
Currently Known Playlists for Launch (Still awaiting final confirmation and details, may change)
"Competitive" Playlist
-The final name of the "Standard" Playlist from the Beta. Will contain 6 hoppers at launch:
-8-man FFA
-4v4 Slayer
-4v4 Objective
-2v2v2v2v2v2 (yes 6 teams) Multi-team
-8v8 Big Team
-6v6 Invasion
-Also confirmed that both SWAT and Snipers are included in Team Slayer variants, but they will not have unique hoppers, at least at launch.
Arena Playlist
-See the Arena section for details.
Final Shipping Matchmaking Maps
-The final shipping game will have 9 Matchmaking Maps, with one of those 9 being a listing for "Forge World," where all maps created within Forge World will fall under. Below are all 8 of the final maps (confirmed from the game leak), as well as the ones from Forge World that have either been confirmed or are highly likely to be officially in Matchmaking.
Boardwalk No official media yet, unable to find good pics from the leak yet
Countdown No official media yet, unable to find good pics from the leak yet
Sword Base
Powerhouse
Boneyard
Reflection
-Remake of Ivory Tower
Zealot
-Inspired by Midship but not a direct remake, has an outside area with different gravity.
Spire
-Focus on aerial combat, plenty of mancannons and elevators.
Forge World - Hemorrhage
-Remake of Blood Gulch/Coagulation created in Forge World by Bungie, confirmed to be in Matchmaking.
Forge World - Asylum
-Remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2. Expected but not yet confirmed for Matchmaking.
Forge World - Pinnacle
-Remake of Ascension from Halo 2. Also expected but not yet confirmed for Matchmaking.
Forge World - The Cage
-Heavily inspired by (but is not a remake of) Guardian and Lockout/Backout. Confirmed for Matchmaking.
Settings and Options in Matchmaking
-"Active Roster" is now always on as soon as you boot Halo: Reach. Allows you to see everyone on your Friends List and Party Chat members (if they are not on your FL) and what they are doing in Reach. From here you can Queue to join, and as soon as their status becomes joinable (their match finishes, etc.) you will automatically join their group.
-In Reach there is no Ranked or Social Matchmaking split; the Arena loosely replaces Ranked Matchmaking. Everything else falls under the Competitive Playlist. Bungie has stated that the Matchmaking machine is smart enough to match players up fairly based on ranks, skill, matchmaking preference settings, etc. So there is no further split needed between Social and Ranked, individual Ranks per Playlist (a la Halo 3), etc. Will also make it easier to get into matches since there will be not Playlist splits like in Halo 3.
-The Matchmaking system will also be smart enough to know whether or not to keep a group of players together after a match or not; so for example if it was a close match, the system can determine it is a fair matchup and just automatically roll both teams directly into the next pre-game lobby.
-There is no push to talk chat in any game modes like there was in Halo 3. Additionally, there is no ban on Party Chat in Halo: Reach (unlike most modes in MW2). If you do not have a headset plugged in at all, the Matchmaking system will attempt to put you into games with other people with no headsets, to try to avoid pairings where half of a team may not have mics.
-You can set Matchmaking preference settings; these settings will not override all Matchmaking criteria, but if you set that you are a Chatty player who wants to Have Fun, the system will attempt to match you with similar players if at all possible.
-Vetoing has now been changed; in the pre-game Lobby the teams will be given 4 map/gametype options to choose from. This avoids scenarios like Halo 3 where everyone would veto a map, only to get a more undesirable map/gametype since you don't know what it is beforehand. In a change from the Beta, it no longer defaults to everyone voting for the first option unless they indicate otherwise. Now there are 0 votes placed, so if only one person votes that choice will win. The game will only default to the first choice if no one votes.
The Arena Last updated August 25th, 2010
Spoiler:
-Slayer and Team Slayer playlists entirely geared toward the "hardcore." Could be considered Reach's "ranked" matchmaking.
-You can bring a party into Arena, but only up to the max teamsize for the playlist.
-In each game you play in the Arena you are rated individually, not as a team. The game will also reward you not only for kills, but Assists and other team actions. Your score will be penalized for deaths and betrayals.
Arena Ratings and Seasons
-The Arena is broken up into month-long "Seasons."
-At the start of every Season, you will need to play a certain number of games in a given day to qualify for a Daily Ranking (in the Beta it was 3). When earning your Daily Rankings, the game only counts your 3 best games for that day, so at this point one bad game will not hurt your ranking.
-Then once you have a certain number of Daily Rankings (in the Beta it was 5) you are placed into one of 5 divisions. From highest to lowest it is Onyx (top 5%) -> Gold -> Silver -> Bronze -> Steel.
-Your rating will range from 0-2000, with most players placing between 1000 and 1500. This is relative to your division, so a 1500 player in Onyx is not the same as a 1500 player in Silver.
-Once placed in a division, you move up and down in your division for the duration of the Season based on your performance. It is possible to move up and down divisions in a single season. And since you are placed relative to everyone else you can be moved up or down a division even if you are not playing (ex. you barely make Onyx and then don't play for two weeks, and enough people "pass" you, pushing you out of the top 5%).
-Your rating is completely reset every season. This is done partly in hopes of avoiding account smurfing and duplicate accounts being created like in Halo 3.
Arena Playlists
-At launch, the Arena Playlist will consist of:
-7-man FFA
-2v2 (slayer)
-4v4 (slayer)
Achievements Last updated August 25th, 2010
Spoiler:
Achievements
-There are a total of 49 Achievements, the split works to:
Campaign - 23
Firefight - 7
Multiplayer - 4
Training - 6
Player Experience - 9
All achievements with descriptions (below):
1. Completed the Campaign on Normal difficulty.
2. Completed the Campaign on Heroic difficulty.
3. Completed the Campaign on Legendary difficulty.
4. Completed every mission in Halo: Reach alone, on Legendary.
5. Completed the 2nd mission on Normal or harder.
6. Completed the 3rd mission on Normal or harder.
7. Completed the 4th mission on Normal or harder.
8. Completed the 5th mission on Normal or harder.
9. Completed the 6th mission on Normal or harder.
10. Completed the 7th mission on Normal or harder.
11. Completed the 8th mission on Normal or harder.
12. Completed the 9th mission on Normal or harder.
13. Completed the 10th mission on Normal or harder.
14. Cleared the 2nd mission without setting foot in a drivable vehicle.
15. Killed 2 vehicles at once with the Target Locator in the 3rd mission.
16. Hijacked a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.
17. Killed the Elite Zealot before he escaped during the 5th mission.
18. Performed an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would've been fatal.
19. Destroyed the Corvette's engines & escort in under 3 minutes in the 6th mission on Heroic or harder.
20. Finished the 9th mission on Legendary with the Scorpion intact.
21. Earned a Triple Kill while Jetpacking in Campaign, Firefight or Matchmaking.
22. Killed 7 Moa during the 2nd mission of the Campaign.
23. Killed 3 of the anti-aircraft batteries during the 8th mission.
24. Used a Health Pack to replenish life after taking body damage.
25. Performed an Assassination on an enemy.
26. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the M6G pistol.
27. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the DMR.
28. Traded weapons with an AI ally in Campaign.
29. Killed 10 enemies in Firefight or Campaign with a supercombine explosion.
30. Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.
31. Earned a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.
32. Won a game of Invasion in the 1st phase.
33. Earned a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking.
34. Earned a Killionaire medal in Firefight.
35. As an Elite, killed 5 Spartan players in Matchmaking.
36. Scored 15,000 points in Score Attack Firefight Matchmaking.
37. Scored 50,000 points in a Firefight game.
38. Scored 200,000 points in a Firefight game.
39. Scored 1,000,000 points in a Firefight game.
40. Completed a Firefight set on Legendary without dying.
41. Purchased an item from the Armory that required the rank of Lt. Colonel.
42. Reached the rank of Corporal in the UNSC.
43. Reached the rank of Captain in the UNSC.
44. Used the File Browser to upload a file to your File Share.
45. Completed all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.
46. Purchased an item from the Armory.
47. Recommended a file to someone.
48. Advanced a Commendation to a Silver state.
49. Completed a Weekly Challenge.
The new Bungie.net and Medals Last updated August 25th, 2010
Spoiler:
-Bungie.net has far more exhaustive options for Halo: Reach. You're now able to do things like:
*Filter K/D and other stats by Gametype (no more Griffball games wrecking Havoc on your Foundry map stats)
*View your progress on your Commendations, as well as the Daily and Weekly Challenges
*When you take screenshots, bnet is now able to identify every player that is in the screenshot, tag them Facebook style, and link you to their profile
*Will now only show medals in the medal chest that are available in that Gametype (i.e. no more Firefight-exclusive medals showing up in the Matchmaking medals area).
-A Medal Chest can be seen above, but Bungie has not yet revealed all of the Medals/descriptions.
Videos and Trailers Last updated August 25th, 2010
3/3 - Added actual info outside of some shitty Korean leaked video 5 minutes before leaving the house this morning.
3/7 - Added awesome trailer analysis video.
3/18 - Added articles about Matchmaking details
3/19 - More matchmaking details
3/21 - Update with Bungie Weekly update and Q&A tidbits
3/25 - Resembling an actual thread, also made a sandwich
3/28 - Small update based on this week's BWU
3/31 - Update from GI reveal on specifics regarding Load-outs, weapons and some gameplay changes.
4/17 - Massively updated OP through the G4TV Invasion reveal, segmented OP which allows for more info and pics without being a huge post.
4/18 - Massively updated OP again, resized pics, added categories; essentially everything we know to date is more or less in.
4/20 - Added Bnet stuff.
4/21 - Overhauled OP again based on huge embargo lifting, removed and condensed some things for much easier reading.
4/23 - Condensed OP further, added details on editions, added new ViDoc trailer and other info from 4/23 BWU
5/7 - Several updates with Beta impressions, added section for things Bungie has confirmed have/will be addressed for retail.
5/14 - General impressions and updates.
5/20 - Updated, largely removing things that were only Beta specific.
5/21 - Updated with some more particulars from BWU regarding Swordbase changes that will be made.
5/23 - Added release date.
5/25 - Added day 1/pre-order bonus.
6/3 - Updated Commendations and large list of Beta to Final changes
6/5 - Updated with new Commendations/Armory screens from BWU.
6/11 - Updated with pre-order helmet change, Elite customization options, confirmation of Infection/Safe Havens, added Last updated dates in categories.
6/19 - Complete overhaul of OP, Firefight added, Campaign added, Enemies added, most categories updated with new information.
7/2 - Added info from BWU regarding Visor Color, Medal Count, Launch Playlist details, Strategy guides
7/9 - Added info on Blood Gulch remake reveal, Hologram AA, Gamestop exclusive pre-order bonus, McFarland toys
7/13 - Added Achievement section and info, some minor toys and armory updates
7/17 - Added full armory details, more Achievements, Avatar Awards, Hologram image.
8/25 - Massive overhaul and update, OP setup and layout more or less final, only pending minor information and confirmations pending release of final game.
Thanks to Dani over on GAF for .gifs and other good summaries of information!
I dunno, I guess it could still come up? The back-end logic is sound as far as lumping everything non-Arena into one bucket so you don't have long wait times to find games (which happens fairly often in Halo 3), but then you'll have issues like that. I'm 99% sure that we're going to get final Playlist/gametype breakdowns just prior to launch, I'll make sure to get that posted in here as I'm curious as well how that's going to go down.
Also I surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) don't disapprove of the title change.
HOLY SHIT at that video. Expand upon that with a 2 hour film and I will lose it totally. =p
This game can't come sooner. The depth of this game is going to be astounding with every thing Sailor posted. Bungie is going all out with their last hurrah.
Expanding on the "Playlists" thing. I've never really found it a bit deal. I do remember sometimes in Halo 3 where the wait times were pretty horrendous, but all I really care about is if I can find three game types fairly easily.
1. Big Team Battle(Biggest teams)
2. Social Slayer
3. Lonewolf Slayer.
I don't think I played very much playlists other than those in Halo 3, but I will be enjoying myself quite a bit of "Invasion".
They had already confirmed while the Beta was still going that was a glitch and had already been fixed by that point, but just not in the Beta build (which there wasn't really any way to patch in).
Nice. Not the biggest news or anything, but in the GTTV show(hosted on Gametrailers) it was confirmed that users are able to customize their Spartan with a robotic arm, just like Kat.
No mention if it's limited to the right arm, or also possible for the left arm or maybe both arms at once.
Nice. Not the biggest news or anything, but in the GTTV show(hosted on Gametrailers) it was confirmed that users are able to customize their Spartan with a robotic arm, just like Kat.
No mention if it's limited to the right arm, or also possible for the left arm or maybe both arms at once.
There's a picture from 4chan apparently, showing the robotic (right) arm on a player's Spartan.
I'm really enjoying people LOSING THEIR FUCKING MINDS over a $10 increase on something that has cost the exact same amount since 2003. I'm hardly defending it and sure it sucks, but people claiming that they won't buy the next xbox or re-up their subscription because of a $10 yearly increase are either lying, or weren't going to anyway. Bunch of fucking babies, Christ.
Also if you have paid full price for a XBL subscription in the last 2 or 3 years you're doing it wrong anyway.
If you re-up directly through MS or buy a XBL 12+1 month subscription card full price, that's currently the $49.99. However at any given time you can usually find the cards for sale online somewhere for $40ish, and if you keep an eye out you can not infrequently find cards on sale for $30. Then there's also stuff like picking up the vision camera bundles when they get clearanced out for cheap because those also include cards ranging from 3 to 12 months, etc.
Basically if you shop around you should never pay $50 for XBL. You can also stack memberships up to 3 years in advance IIRC.
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