Halo Reach

Originally posted by Zack Fair
So I downloaded over 30 maps, including halo ce/2/3 remakes, brand new maps and even maps from other games like gridlock from GoW. If anyone's interested in trying them out for some fun chaotic custom madness just let me know so we can get a party going. how about it folks? Some of these maps are amazing. I never realized how well GoW maps would translate to Halo.

I thought about recreation Lockout but two things prevented me from doing so, patience and skills. lol. Do you have them in your file share?

Originally posted by Newjak
I love using AL on incoming Ghosts and Mongooses 😛

I hate you!!!! I haven't done it yet. I always forget to use it; too used to sprinting for power weapons. However I have made it a daily challenge to do it at least once. It is awesome.

Originally posted by Darth Vicious
I thought about recreation Lockout but two things prevented me from doing so, patience and skills. lol. Do you have them in your file share?

I have lockout, midship, the pit, coagulation, construct, turf, relic, headlong, colossus, sidewinder, rat race, foundation, derelict, hang 'em high/tombstone etc...even facility from goldeneye lol. I can put any of them in my file share

Originally posted by Zack Fair
I hate you!!!! I haven't done it yet. I always forget to use it; too used to sprinting for power weapons. However I have made it a daily challenge to do it at least once. It is awesome.

I've gotten pretty decent at using it.

What AA do you use the most?

Sprint because I like making sure power weapons are not being wasted by noobs and prefer the overall faster encounters/gameplay it provides. However AL is definitely up there with the best AAs because it is very defensive and if coordinated with a teammate it can be devastating. Sometimes it even feels like a get out of jail freecard, but it isn't OP.

I'm still left wondering why bungie didnt want to let us feel like a spartan this time.. take a really fast paced actiony FPS route for this one

oh yeah they run like 200mph and pimp slap star destroyers out of the sky, and zomg spartans are so strong

well why the hell couldnt they have this reflect that?. instead I'm basically playing halo 3 expansion pack.. slow moving jogs, moon jumping, and annoying aim assist that I STILL cant turn off after what? 4 games?

reach could have been another killer app.. but they just kinda let it take the title of 'halo version final'

LoL I just had a funny moment playing Invasion on Spire. I was shooting at the falcon's driver with the DMR from the top trying to kill him. The bullets didn't do it so I switched to the PP and tried to overcharge blast it down ...and it didn't work so I just said "Ah **** IT!" Next thing you know there is a suicidal elite jumping down the top of the spire and the SOB jacked the falcon. Later flying out of bounds and blowing up the gunner as well. Everyone started yelling that was TEH SHIT BLUE. Rofl.

Originally posted by Zack Fair
I have lockout, midship, the pit, coagulation, construct, turf, relic, headlong, colossus, sidewinder, rat race, foundation, derelict, hang 'em high/tombstone etc...even facility from goldeneye lol. I can put any of them in my file share

Wow! I downloaded Lockout and while it wasnt perfect, the detail was amazing. I can only imagine the time it took to recreate.

Sprint is definitely good. It definitely helps with moving quickly around the map and helps get a lot more sneak attack kills IMO.

and yeah sometimes AL is a get out of jail free card.

And that Suicide Elite sounds awesome.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN
I'm still left wondering why bungie didnt want to let us feel like a spartan this time.. take a really fast paced actiony FPS route for this one

oh yeah they run like 200mph and pimp slap star destroyers out of the sky, and zomg spartans are so strong

well why the hell couldnt they have this reflect that?. instead I'm basically playing halo 3 expansion pack.. slow moving jogs, moon jumping, and annoying aim assist that I STILL cant turn off after what? 4 games?

reach could have been another killer app.. but they just kinda let it take the title of 'halo version final'

I think calling it an expansion pack is a bit too much, but I understand where you're coming from. You need to understand that by every person tired of Halo there are 2 rabid fans that love it the way it is and will not accept change. It is ridiculous all the hate the game is currently receiving because they made the changes they made. Moon jumping? The spartans jump higher than your ordinary FPS marine, but it is no where close to H2/H3 levels. Jetpack is for that.

I think the view of "skill" and "fun" in Bungie's eyes comes from getting in a situation and then think of a way to kill your opponent. it is not just about who sees who first and has the faster twitch-reflexes.

Overall I am very happy with the game. It has enough new to warrant getting into it without losing the Halo charms. Besides you can customize, gameplay wise, everything in Halo Reach.

Originally posted by Darth Vicious
Wow! I downloaded Lockout and while it wasnt perfect, the detail was amazing. I can only imagine the time it took to recreate.

Yep. I even have terminal with a working "train." ROFL. Having all these maps makes me wish Bungie grows some balls and releases a "Forge Remake Playlist" consisting of remakes of old maps. How cool would that be?!

Originally posted by Newjak
Sprint is definitely good. It definitely helps with moving quickly around the map and helps get a lot more sneak attack kills IMO.

and yeah sometimes AL is a get out of jail free card.

And that Suicide Elite sounds awesome.

Exactly. I love sprint because of that. I like flanking and maneuvering around maps. I have never been into "camping" Holding an area down is something I will do, but not just camp in a spot. My rage with AL comes from finally being able to flank someone only to have him use Armor Lock, negate momentum I had while dealing with incoming reinforcements from the enemy. However I am well aware it is all fair play because of the advantages sprint gives me versus AL. Still it is beyond annoying when you stick someone, he armor locks and then escapes death. I think it is a bit much there, but hey not gonna cry about it.

And I have the whole suicidal elite clip on my fileshare. GT is Blue Idiot if you wanna see it =D

Just played 2 matches with Nemesis. We won the first annihilating some noobs and then lost the 2nd match by 1 FKN point! Oh well such is the life of a Spartan

Originally posted by Zack Fair
-Moon jumping? The spartans jump higher than your ordinary FPS marine, but it is no where close to H2/H3 levels. Jetpack is for that.

-I think the view of "skill" and "fun" in Bungie's eyes comes from getting in a situation and then think of a way to kill your opponent. it is not just about who sees who first and has the faster twitch-reflexes.

-Overall I am very happy with the game. It has enough new to warrant getting into it without losing the Halo charms. Besides you can customize, gameplay wise, everything in Halo Reach.

-to put it more concisely, jumping in this game is the half-equivalent of hitting a bounce pad in Q3.. whenever it happens, you're gonna get killed.. which IMO means its way too high.. I think you should have at least the option of doing a short hop like in 3rd strike / KOF games

-well the thing about that is, its almost always gonna go to who got the drop first anyway.. simply because its a race to burn the shield and go for the one hit kill, which isnt even that tough to accomplish

-oh I agree, but for me the prime of halo gameplay was still the first game.. I just really wanted this one to be the spartan experience that they deify in the books.. I mean hell look at all the fighting game combo videos.. gamers can do crazy shit no problem.. even you can attest to this.. it almost seems like the developers have no faith in their playerbase or something.. as if they said "Oh theres no way they'd have the reaction time, or mindgames to play as an ACTUAL spartan"... I feel like I'm playing with a sluggish toy rather than supersoldiers that are called for a planetary emergency

Bungie deemed all of the Spartan feats within the novels non-canon. The stronger Spartan-II's can lift, at max, about 3 tons, and run, at max, about 20 miles an hour.

So, yeah. I'm with you on stuff like the jumping, sluggishness, but apparently Bungie's idea of what a Spartan is like is way different than how the books portrayed them.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN
-to put it more concisely, jumping in this game is the half-equivalent of hitting a bounce pad in Q3.. whenever it happens, you're gonna get killed.. which IMO means its way too high.. I think you should have at least the option of doing a short hop like in 3rd strike / KOF games

Whenever you jump you're going to get killed? What? If a sniper got his aiming reticule on you, yes you're going to get killed, and even that is debatable because by jumping you can make the sniper/shooter miss his headshot by hitting an obstacle above and in front of you. If you use Bumper Jumper, which allows you to aim while jumping, then jumping becomes a great strategy in DMR battles. You're greatly exagerating the flaws of jumping. If you didn't jump high enough it would be impossible to avoid getting splattered and learning jumps to gain positional advantage--unless you are using the respective armor ability. Jumping doesn't mean you're going to die. In most cases it is the contrary. But in the end it is your opinion, so I'll just agree to disagree.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN

-well the thing about that is, its almost always gonna go to who got the drop first anyway.. simply because its a race to burn the shield and go for the one hit kill, which isnt even that tough to accomplish

Just a race to burn shields? In Halo, unlike other shooters, a lot of things can and WILL happen in the process of burning your opponent's shields. You have to take lots of things into consideration and most important of all teamwork. You can't just Rambo your way in Halo, and in this game it is even more evident with all the defensive/strategic armor abilities.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN

-oh I agree, but for me the prime of halo gameplay was still the first game.. I just really wanted this one to be the spartan experience that they deify in the books.. I mean hell look at all the fighting game combo videos.. gamers can do crazy shit no problem.. even you can attest to this.. it almost seems like the developers have no faith in their playerbase or something.. as if they said "Oh theres no way they'd have the reaction time, or mindgames to play as an ACTUAL spartan"... I feel like I'm playing with a sluggish toy rather than supersoldiers that are called for a planetary emergency

I understand how Halo:CE is your favorite. Don't compare fighting games to shooters, yo. They are completely different and besides you can see lots of incredible plays in Halo. Check MLGpro.com whenever you're bored and feel like watching some "pro" gamers tackle Halo 3. I guarantee you will find more than your fair share of "Ohhh shit!" moments. As for Spartans not feeling like spartans...what? Almost everything they do is based on their physiology as spartans: like their ability to aim perfectly in a scope while walking and/or jumping. Sounds like you guys were spoiled by the books. Besides this game did follow the whole Spartan experience described in the books...you know Spartan IIIs being a poor man's Spartan II.

Originally posted by Zack Fair
Whenever you jump you're going to get killed? What?...

Just a race to burn shields?...

I understand how Halo:CE is your favorite....

-so you jump, he misses the headshot, hits you once in the lower body, and then only has to spam the 3 remaining shots to kill you.. its not a real big problem for the sniper whatsoever.. as for splatters, it seems like jumping will only save you from a ghost / mongoose class vehicle.. anything else, and the hitbox is way too big. If you jumped the same height but it happened faster, I'd have no issue with jumps in this game.. the sheer fact that you float is what annoys the shit out of me.. its the same deal with the man canons.. they just have predictable pathing (just like quake 3)and you'll more often than not, die when you step on one.. also when you jump in any fps you lose alot of evasion options, which I think is beat considering alot of action RPGs and fighting games have added some pretty sweet movement options during jumps, that I think the FPS genre could benefit from

-i'm judging the encounters sheerly on 1v1 encounters with no outside interference, as this is the basic framework.. the random stuff that happens when you add more players into the mix will indefinitely create a "you cant just rambo" situation (which I completely agree with).. but in the situations where its just me and one other person, its a shield burn race.. remember that you cant just rambo in counterstrike either (note that they didnt need a rechargeable shield to create this gameplay either).. and you can die in 1 shot with any gun.. and its definitely more strategic than halo from my experience, as there are absolutely no weapon pickups on the playfield (which I think is a very primitive idea from the quake and doom series).. so while I think the shield mechanic does create interesting encounters.. I personally feel it generates just as much, if not more frustration than anything

-I'm not comparing them, what I'm saying is that I think they should introduce certain elements from other genres to turn up the pace.. also, if they aim so perfectly.. why suddenly introduce crosshair bloom?

these are just my personal observations / issues... its perfectly fine if noone agrees with me, and I definitely like to hear other peoples input

🙂

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN
-so you jump, he misses the headshot, hits you once in the lower body, and then only has to spam the 3 remaining shots to kill you.. its not a real big problem for the sniper whatsoever.. as for splatters, it seems like jumping will only save you from a ghost / mongoose class vehicle.. anything else, and the hitbox is way too big. If you jumped the same height but it happened faster, I'd have no issue with jumps in this game.. the sheer fact that you float is what annoys the shit out of me.. its the same deal with the man canons.. they just have predictable pathing (just like quake 3)and you'll more often than not, die when you step on one.. also when you jump in any fps you lose alot of evasion options, which I think is beat considering alot of action RPGs and fighting games have added some pretty sweet movement options during jumps, that I think the FPS genre could benefit from

So you jump and then you use your armor ability to try and avoid getting killed. Now in Reach if a sniper spams his shots he is lucky if he gets the kill. Not that it is bad for a sniper to have an easy "kill", it being a power weapon meant to be fought for. Jumping can save you from getting splattered. The chances of avoiding getting splattered by jumping are not 100% but they would be reasonably worse if the characters jumped lower. Also they made the splatter hitbox huge for one reason...Armor Lock. If you want a 100% get out of jail free card against splatters you use armor lock. The mancannons are not meant to be safe. They are there to provide a way to travel great distances faster. How do they balance it out? They make sure everyone can hear and see you flying across the map. Cool about you seeing some cool options while jumping in the air. Hopefully some developers might decide to change it. As it is they all seem too lazy.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN

-i'm judging the encounters sheerly on 1v1 encounters with no outside interference, as this is the basic framework.. the random stuff that happens when you add more players into the mix will indefinitely create a "you cant just rambo" situation (which I completely agree with).. but in the situations where its just me and one other person, its a shield burn race.. remember that you cant just rambo in counterstrike either (note that they didnt need a rechargeable shield to create this gameplay either).. and you can die in 1 shot with any gun.. and its definitely more strategic than halo from my experience, as there are absolutely no weapon pickups on the playfield (which I think is a very primitive idea from the quake and doom series).. so while I think the shield mechanic does create interesting encounters.. I personally feel it generates just as much, if not more frustration than anything

So you are saying that shields frustrate you because if you don't get to lower their shields its a wasted effort? I'm a bit confused here. I am fine with the shields it is stuff like Armor Lock that really frustrates me, as if getting to kill someone wasn't tough enough, now they can press the almighty AA button and lol at any momentum you had. However eventhough it frustrates me to hell and beyond I am just getting used to it like everything else in the game. I really like shields because they encourage players to be agressive instead of just camping in a room out of fear of getting oneshot killed by another camper.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN

-I'm not comparing them, what I'm saying is that I think they should introduce certain elements from other genres to turn up the pace.. also, if they aim so perfectly.. why suddenly introduce crosshair bloom?

I am all for introducing new elements. I always wanted Halo to have a sprint option and thank god we finally got it. I have always wondered how a melee combo system could work. You know like a CQC type deal with button presses and disarming your opponent etc. They added the bloom to balance the precision weapons like the Battle Rifle and Pistol from dominating everything else.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN

these are just my personal observations / issues... its perfectly fine if noone agrees with me, and I definitely like to hear other peoples input

🙂

Same here. Not trying to start a fight or anything.
---

Originally posted by RE: Blaxican
Bungie deemed all of the Spartan feats within the novels non-canon. The stronger Spartan-II's can lift, at max, about 3 tons, and run, at max, about 20 miles an hour.

When did this happen? Link PLZ?

Originally posted by Zack Fair
So you are saying that shields frustrate you because if you don't get to lower their shields its a wasted effort? I'm a bit confused here. I really like shields because they encourage players to be agressive instead of just camping in a room out of fear of getting oneshot killed by another camper.

well thats the thing.. it seems like it does exactly the opposite.. "oh noes my shield went down" /runbehindsomething

as for their longevity... that seems kinda random to me.. I dont know if its lag or what.. but sometimes I can take a beating, and others my shield drops like a brick, and not even due to a plasma pistol shot or anything

tiers~

in what order do you feel the AA's go in order from Best / Most effective to Worst / Least effective?.. I figure opinions would change some since the games been out for quite some time

IMO, from best to worst..

Roll / Dropshield .. I dont think there ISNT a situation for either of these being able to move twice as fast as sprint, in any direction.. twice!? cmon... and with drop shield doubling as a medikit, and anti-range.. which is all but two weapons (in matchmaking loadouts), and the cooldown on the dropshield is insanely fast.. amaaazing, IMO

armor lock .. this one is situational.. if you spam this you're gonna get predictable, which leads to being owned..but in most cases you'll either accidentally come out the victor, or l33t the hell out of someones face and or vehicle.. the only thing that keeps this from being top of the top for me, is the inability to perform it while jumping

sprint / jetpack .. to be good with these you definitely have to be able to use them correctly.. the sprints speed is not up to my personal taste but its definitely effective, the jetpack lets you obtain the ever so crucial highground, but my main beef is that both of these burn their meter like crazy for what they output.. armor lock is understandable, but running? o_O

cammo .. oh god so terrible.. if you're not crawling like a snail, you get seen.. and in a game that flows fast like reach.. you dont have time to be slithering in crouch-walk.. it might work for guarding in objective games.. but I personally dub this the worst armor ability for being offensive.. ESPECIALLY because the official weapon pairings with cammo are completely counter-efficient to a "stealth" loadout.. couple this with the fact that, if anyone sees the jamming effect.. they pretty much know you're in the center of it all.. 🙁 this makes me sad.. cammo needs buffs IMO

Infection pisses me off. Starting off as a zombie for three rounds is so much BS.

Originally posted by SaTsuJiN
well thats the thing.. it seems like it does exactly the opposite.. "oh noes my shield went down" /runbehindsomething

as for their longevity... that seems kinda random to me.. I dont know if its lag or what.. but sometimes I can take a beating, and others my shield drops like a brick, and not even due to a plasma pistol shot or anything

tiers~

in what order do you feel the AA's go in order from Best / Most effective to Worst / Least effective?.. I figure opinions would change some since the games been out for quite some time

IMO, from best to worst..

Roll / Dropshield .. I dont think there ISNT a situation for either of these being able to move twice as fast as sprint, in any direction.. twice!? cmon... and with drop shield doubling as a medikit, and anti-range.. which is all but two weapons (in matchmaking loadouts), and the cooldown on the dropshield is insanely fast.. amaaazing, IMO

armor lock .. this one is situational.. if you spam this you're gonna get predictable, which leads to being owned..but in most cases you'll either accidentally come out the victor, or l33t the hell out of someones face and or vehicle.. the only thing that keeps this from being top of the top for me, is the inability to perform it while jumping

sprint / jetpack .. to be good with these you definitely have to be able to use them correctly.. the sprints speed is not up to my personal taste but its definitely effective, the jetpack lets you obtain the ever so crucial highground, but my main beef is that both of these burn their meter like crazy for what they output.. armor lock is understandable, but running? o_O

cammo .. oh god so terrible.. if you're not crawling like a snail, you get seen.. and in a game that flows fast like reach.. you dont have time to be slithering in crouch-walk.. it might work for guarding in objective games.. but I personally dub this the worst armor ability for being offensive.. ESPECIALLY because the official weapon pairings with cammo are completely counter-efficient to a "stealth" loadout.. couple this with the fact that, if anyone sees the jamming effect.. they pretty much know you're in the center of it all.. 🙁 this makes me sad.. cammo needs buffs IMO

Well yeah if you are about to die and you can find cover then you should go ahead and do it. Still beats having losers sitting in one spot with one man army(lol) I hate using MW2 as an example but it IS the FPS I played since last november so it is fresh in my memory.

As for Armor Abilities tiers...

1. Sprint/Evade - with them you can cover distances a lot faster. You can whore power weapons with them(though depends on the maps because Jetpack can actually beat them in certain maps like Pinnacle) You can escape trouble if someone shoots you and you don't know where they are. You can flank the opposing team with them and you can even make melee/shotgun/sword extremely devastating.

When you compare sprint to evade you find out that Evade is actually faster than sprint with its two uses, but in the end sprint ends up covering more distance before it runs out. Also the Evade hitbox is very weird and therefor a lot harder to hit, so chances of getting headshot out of a barrel roll are slim. Evade beats sprint in 1v1 because it can be very unpredictable. Oh yeah I almost forgot that if you sprint and drop down a ledge you won't get fall damage as long as you're still sprinting when you hit the ground.

Also I agree with the way Sprint depletes too fast.

2. Armor Lock - This ability is just too good. The only downside it has is that you can't move, but this can be worked around when you have someone tagging along. Then its just plain nasty because it destroys grenades/rockets/sword...**** everything. Not to mention that if your teammate has it too both of you can just take turns using it to destroy the opposition. However if you are going lonewolf then you're pretty much dead unless the other person is an idiot and/or gets hit/distracted by someone else--happens more often than not and I hate it. I have this guy 1 shot from death, I succesfully out DMR him for that...then he locks. Someone else drops by and gets a clean headshot on me. I rage@LCD. Oh well such is life xD

3. Drop shield - Extemely well balanced ability that has its pros beat the cons. It has longer startup than the other abilities, but once the shield is deployed it works wonders. Especially in objective games like oddball, assault and CTF. I rate it above jetpack because it is much more useful in objective games and below armor lock because its startup is too long for my tastes.

4. Camo - This above jetpack? Am I insane? Kindda. I just don't like all the noise and attention the jetpack gives the player using it. Camo is tricky to use and it slows the game down, but when you're using it with your team its great because eventhough it jams your radar, your teammates' radar are left alone and so they can mess with the other team while they are screwed with their motion sensors getting jammed. It can also be useful with a shotty/sword and camping corners. However since I hate camping I rarely use it. I only use it in invasion or BTB objective games.

5. Jetpack/Hologram - Jetpacks are great for certain maps like Powerhouse and The Cage(God do I hate them here since you can basically cover 3/4 the map in one good use) Packed with rockets jetpacks are the definition of "death from above." However all the noise it makes turns me off because I don't like gathering attention. Holograms are good to distract snipers and can be very useful when more than 3 people are using them at the same time...but that is pretty much it.