Halo 5: Guardians

[cmdrdredd]

How come? ODST was easily the worst halo game.

Not by a long shot. Many fanboys of master chief say this because he wasn't the main character. It was a side story with little side stories tucked inside if you find the recordings. The story of the people who got stuck in new Mombasa when the covenant attacked. I enjoyed seeing another side of the story, the story of regular people.

 

[Anubis]

How come? ODST was easily the worst halo game.

 

[Batmeat]

How come? ODST was easily the worst halo game.

with the visuals anad slight highlighting of enemies when you pop your reticule over them.

 

[Batmeat]

Really? I thought it was a breeze. Having the A.I. able to help you makes it even easier, in my book.

My AI characters are morons, they run around and shoot, will come up to me when I'm down and shoot enemies. They don't rez me very often.

 

[jdoggg12]

Well, I've got a couple hours into the game and I'm really divided on it. The mechanics feel sharp, chrisp, and precise... but... it doesn't have what I'd call a "Halo" feel to it. That's just my opinion, not a bash on the game.

I like the new weapons. Everything feels like its got some power and balance to it... there's no best or worst gun so far. (Well, except maybe the pistol... I miss the H1 pistol cannon, haha)

I don't want to like Locke but I also can't fault him too much either. He's a soldier following orders. It's very obvious that SII's are bonded like family while the SIV's are purely elite soldiers with Spartan augmentations. Personally, I'm viewing things as though it's a juxtoposition of Chief desperately trying to reclaim his humanity via Cortana while Locke is robotic in his pursuit of Blue Team.

Spoiler

SPOILER - The first meeting/fight between MC and Locke confused me. As a squad on a mission, how the rest of Osiris just sat by and watched Locke and MC duke it out was confusing. Yes, I know it was respect on their part for the grudge match between the 2 most badass spartans of their respective generations, however, for them to abandon protocol seemed... off.

 

[EightySix Four]

Really enjoyed it so far, made it to the beginning of Mission #6 on Legendary with 3 friends last night and we're going to attempt to wrap it tonight, although we probably won't actually finish until tomorrow.

Disappointed in how much Locke vs. Master Chief was played up prior to this and I'm a little unclear as to the timing of the game thus far as it related to the Hunt the Truth podcast (spoiler from the podcast)

Spoiler

like is Chief "dead" as it relates to the podcast when he goes off the grid

? This story definitely requires more understanding of the background lore than any previous ones though. Like the fact that the (spoiler from between Halo 4 and 5 from the comics)

Spoiler

Didact was alive and had continued the fight

.

Redacted

"[ spoiler ]" tags work on this forum.

In regards to your question,

Spoiler

I think they did a bad job of showing it but it appears the platforms were a bit too far apart for a jump to make it to the next one. Before Osiris jumped over after the fight, we can see the platforms moving closer together.

I also don't know how much of a "grudge" match it was, it sure feels like Locke is primarily following orders. That's what has been most disappointing to me so far, there was an opportunity for Locke's character to build it up quite a bit during the cut scenes, but he has fallen flat and just seems to be doing his job instead of making it personal. The scene with Fillion telling him everyone is going to hate him could have easily turned into a "he abandoned his duty, he's no hero" type moment.

My AI characters are morons, they run around and shoot, will come up to me when I'm down and shoot enemies. They don't rez me very often.

They really need you to guide them. Use the D-Pad to give them targets (that are reasonable, they will run across an entire battlefield to kill someone you mark) don't use "X" to call them over to you while you're down unless you're willing for them to sacrifice themselves. They'll ignore enemies to revive you if you call for help.

 

[jdoggg12]

Spoiler tagged the whole thing b/c I just learned a new thing, haha

Spoiler

Yea, I figured that was a possible reason for their not participating... but the camera angles made it seem like it wasn't that far, especially with thrusters.

As for it being a grudge match - I only called it so b/c of the way they're being portrayed. All the marketing material thus far is "Locke vs MC"... Locke seems so passionate about it while MC seems disinterested in Locke, further fueling Locke's firey 'retribution'. And that comment, about everyone hating them, seemed to convey that Buck didn't want to do the mission. Locke on the other hand seems to have a passion for tearing down MC's image (albeit based on the facts he's been presented with which paints MC as a traitor... at the end of the war. [wtf?])

 

[EightySix Four]

Spoiler tagged the whole thing b/c I just learned a new thing, haha

Spoiler

Yea, I figured that was a possible reason for their not participating... but the camera angles made it seem like it wasn't that far, especially with thrusters.

As for it being a grudge match - I only called it so b/c of the way they're being portrayed. All the marketing material thus far is "Locke vs MC"... Locke seems so passionate about it while MC seems disinterested in Locke, further fueling Locke's firey 'retribution'. And that comment, about everyone hating them, seemed to convey that Buck didn't want to do the mission. Locke on the other hand seems to have a passion for tearing down MC's image (albeit based on the facts he's been presented with which paints MC as a traitor... at the end of the war. [wtf?])

Spoiler from the cutscene with Locke and Buck -

Spoiler

that scene was an honest opportunity to show where Locke is coming from and as well as flesh out the story that, frankly, doesn't feel that strong. Locke's response really took away the "edge" I felt like he was supposed to have based on the advertising.

Spoilers from Hunt the Truth and other lore:

Spoiler

Also I may have missed some cutscenes due to my loud squad mates, but there are three pieces of information that seemed necessary that I either missed, or weren't there. The Raid on Biko, MC being blamed for the Forerunner attacks on colonies, and MC's "death".

 

[cmdrdredd]

Honestly I think once Bungie split the team and some went independent and some stayed and formed up with 343, the storytelling went way downhill. I liked Halo 4 as a game but it was clear that it wasn't the same as we were used to.

 

[KentState]

Played for a couple hours last night. Completely lost on the story so just playing for the action.

 

[EightySix Four]

I could do a quick and dirty catch-up on the story if anyone wants it.

 

[jdoggg12]

I could do a quick and dirty catch-up on the story if anyone wants it.

I'd be interested in this! I haven't really payed much attention to canonical lore since H4/Spartan Ops.


Honestly, I feel like this is what's going on:

Spoiler

At the end of H4 Chief was having an existential crisis... who was more human - Chief or Cortana? In hopes of redemption (& b/c Spartans are insanely loyal to their own, which Cortana basically was, in software form) Chief sets out to find/rescue Cortana.

Meanwhile Cortana has been given a new lease on life. Along with it she's now either corrupted by the Didact or has been elevated by nearly infinite knowledge, thanks to her integration with the Composer. Her plan is to fix/perfect the Forerunner's quest to digitize sentient life, basically granting immortality... this is why Sloan aided MC/Cortana; the composer could somehow cure human Smart-AI's from their 7-year shelf life... possibly granting a physical body.

... something, lots of fighting and other filler, something...

Fast forward to the next game ---> Chief was right all along: Cortana was humanities salvation - though she caused lots of chaos and damage by activating the guardians, there was a greater threat looming that necessitated shady/evil/unethical means to avoid humanities end. (Circling back to mirror the BS hunt for Halsey's actions in creating the Spartans, humanities saviors against the covenant)

Halo 6 ends with an ascended/digitized Chief winding up with bio-version of Cortana. They have a flood of kids. Halo 7 is released 2 years later and it's a prequel.


....wow, I really went on a tangent

 

[SlitheryDee]

Got my copy in. Not looking forward to waiting for the day one patch to download

Quick question:

Will the mods be angry if I give away the 14 day xbox gold trial I got with the game here? I bought a couple of years worth of xbox live gold at a discount some time ago and I'll probably lose this card before I get to use it anyway. Any takers?

 

[EightySix Four]

Short version of the some of the information that is necessary to catch-up, I'll do more later:

Didact

Spoiler

The Didact survived and fell into a slipstream which transported him to Halo Installation 03 where he killed Spartan Team Black, met 859 (like 343 Guilty Spark) who normally resides at the Composer's Forge. He asked to be transported to the Composer's Forge and eventually Chief and Blue Team find their way to the Composer's Abyss (where all of the digitized people are stored). A whole bunch of fighting occurs and the Didact eventually tries to use a Halo ring against earth. 859 is frustrated that the Didact keeps using unwilling humans to make Prometheans and, after the Didact kicked the shit out of blue team, 859 attacked him and transported him to 03's control room. Master Chief debated between firing off the ring to kill him but chose not to so as not to destroy the life within 25,000 light years of the ring (more humanizing of Chief). 859 deactivated 03's fail safes and dropped the section of 03 with the Didact and composer in it onto the planet below. Killing the Didact.

The UNSC never disclosed that a live Forerunner had been encountered.

Master Chief:

Spoiler

Chief was told to take a break but took on a number of his own "operations" and led to one of the most important things I feel like hasn't been mentioned in Halo 5: the Raid on Biko. Biko was where peace talks between Humans and the Covenant were finally happening. Master Chief and Blue Team show up, attacked the embassy, wiped out the security guards, and abducted the human ambassador, who was later found dead.

At least that's what was released to the public by the Unified Earth Government.

In actuality, Chief and Blue Team had learned that there was to be an attack, he killed a bunch of Sapien Sunrise members (terrorist, anti-alien organization), and evacuated the human ambassador who had already been mortally wounded. The cover-up was nearly exposed by a journalist (who was the protagonist of Hunt the Truth Season 1) but the UEG undercut him by radically reversing their claims, and admitted the involvement of Sapien Sunrise in the attack. While the information had been corrected, many people were deeply concerned about Master Chief.

Halo 5 opens after these events, explaining some of the character's reactions to events of the game.

 

[Lil Frier]

Were both of those stories from Hunt the Truth?

 

[EightySix Four]

Were both of those stories from Hunt the Truth?

Second is, the first is from the comics.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Lesson for all video game devs. Do not require your audience to read comics, watch Tv series, or consume any other media to get the story you're telling in the games. Bungie kind of did this with Destiny where they have a Grimoire that holds all the lore in the game and most people never read it and thus have no clue what the story is in the game's content. That's always a bad idea.

It's no wonder so many people are saying they are lost in the Halo 5 story.

 

[EightySix Four]

To be honest, it doesn't need these things and the story makes sense on its own but the additional info helps.

 

[Lil Frier]

I agree.

Spoiler

I had no idea that the Didact was dead was fully expecting him to return down the road, perhaps in a massive-scale battle to end the Reclaimer trilogy. Knowing a cool villain (at least, cool-looking, not exactly the most intriguing character ever) is just gone without an explanation in the games disappoints me.

I didn't even know that there were comics. This is part of why I never bothered with the lore of WoW, too many prequel games and other media for me to EVER hope to catch up. There are now a bunch of books in the Halo canon, and IDK if I'll ever read another (I read the first and liked it, started the second, didn't like it, and left it). If you're going to do things like alter the fates of major characters, do it where the series' main focus is. I don't mind if they do comics and books and such, but use that stuff for side stories whose absence won't affect the franchise. They could have instead used the comics for backgrounds on Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris, since their origin isn't a big deal. Tell the story of the Warden Eternal and Governor Sloan or something. The fates of Cortana and the Didact are a pretty freaking big deal.

 

[slag]

Lesson for all video game devs. Do not require your audience to read comics, watch Tv series, or consume any other media to get the story you're telling in the games. Bungie kind of did this with Destiny where they have a Grimoire that holds all the lore in the game and most people never read it and thus have no clue what the story is in the game's content. That's always a bad idea.

It's no wonder so many people are saying they are lost in the Halo 5 story.

AMEN. Each incarnation of the HALO video game should pick up where the other video game left off, not from some hokey pokey comic book crap (who reads this stuff anyway), or from a book some random author chose to draft up. Barring that, there needs to be a separate disk or url that the game owner can watch that will fully explain what is going on, why its going on, and from what the story line came from.

 

[EightySix Four]

The fates of Cortana and the Didact are a pretty freaking big deal.

I 100% agree about creating a video to fill users in on the background leading up to the game, and it needs to play at the beginning of the game too, not just some link you can visit on the web (then you're just filling users in on out of game content with more out of game content). That said, I disagree a little bit on Halo 5 about the Didact and Cortana.

Halo 4 Spoilers:

Spoiler

For all intents and purposes a player who never looks at the external lore assumes the Didact is dead at the end of 4 (grenade to the chest, falling into a void) and nothing about the story line is changed because he wasn't dead and ended up being hunted down and killed in a comic book.

Halo 5 Spoilers:

Spoiler

Cortana's story is covered by Halo 5, nothing interesting is happening to her in the lore.

All that said, I finished last night and am pretty disappointed with the way things went. I kind of wonder if, in the near future, we'll hear some Destiny-esque rumblings over whether the story was changed at the last minute. There are some plot holes, some things missing from trailers, and an overall feel that something is unfinished.

Mildly spoiler-y. No direct information but didn't want to make anyone angry.

Spoiler

I'm annoyed at how Man vs Machine the series has become over 4 and 5, and I'm starting to get a strong Mass Effect vibe from everything. I kind of wish this had been used as an opportunity to reintroduce the nightmare that is the flood and bring the story back in line with the original antagonists. It seems like they're looking for ways to add enemies but have some great ones at their disposal from Halo's past that they aren't really leveraging.

Halo 6 better be spot on to keep the story from falling out from beneath them.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Lesson for all video game devs. Do not require your audience to read comics, watch Tv series, or consume any other media to get the story you're telling in the games. Bungie kind of did this with Destiny where they have a Grimoire that holds all the lore in the game and most people never read it and thus have no clue what the story is in the game's content. That's always a bad idea.

It's no wonder so many people are saying they are lost in the Halo 5 story.

I was wondering if it was just me that was hazy on exactly what was going on at the start of the game. There's a relatively short story primer on the halo channel that I found very helpful though. It mostly goes over the pertinent events of the previous halo games along with identifying who the main characters are and how they came to be where they were at the start of the game. I recommend it if you haven't found it yet.

 

[Beer4Me]

I was wondering if it was just me that was hazy on exactly what was going on at the start of the game. There's a relatively short story primer on the halo channel that I found very helpful though. It mostly goes over the pertinent events of the previous halo games along with identifying who the main characters are and how they came to be where they were at the start of the game. I recommend it if you haven't found it yet.

Link?

Also, any one else not used to the controls for this game? I haven't played Halo since 1 and 2 so that is partially my issue I suppose, but the whole game seems like I'm moving on ice (best way I can describe it). I also find it incredibly difficult to melee since it requires you to literally be ON them i.e. NO range at all (not talking about the shoulder rush either). I played the first two missions then got fed up with the controls and thinking about selling it on eBay now, LOL. It's like it's trying to play like CoD/Destiny, but they just jacked up the mechanics.

Graphics and sound are A+
Gameplay is very meh due to the controls.
Story is somewhat confusing (I dont read comics or anime).
Sight is limited due to helmet visors. I get that its more realistic, but honestly, its just getting in the way. It also makes like 1/5 of my 65" TV unusable.

 

[jdoggg12]

I just don't understand why the hell they don't let you map your own buttons. I have the use of only my right arm so I need to have my buttons setup efficiently otherwise I'm useless.

This is why 95% of my gaming is on PC! I can remap the buttons to do whatever the hell i want! "Oh, you wanna all the buttons to be jump, that's dumb, but you can do it!"

Does anyone have an answer as to WHY so many games refuse to let you re-map buttons however you want? I mean, sure, have a few pre-configured, but then, ALSO offer free-mapping!



That said.... I love this game

 

[cmdrdredd]

I just don't understand why the hell they don't let you map your own buttons. I have the use of only my right arm so I need to have my buttons setup efficiently otherwise I'm useless.

This is why 95% of my gaming is on PC! I can remap the buttons to do whatever the hell i want! "Oh, you wanna all the buttons to be jump, that's dumb, but you can do it!"

Does anyone have an answer as to WHY so many games refuse to let you re-map buttons however you want? I mean, sure, have a few pre-configured, but then, ALSO offer free-mapping!



That said.... I love this game

The elite controller lets you remap any button. It can save two configurations in it's internal memory. Problem is, it costs $150.