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The Official Halo 3 Thread

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Skilotonn said:
Alright, I didn't expect that... :lol

And I thought it was cute how that Zeed guy quoted some of us in the SSBB thread as "damage controllers" for post counts... real cute.
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Y'all just can't get over it, can you?
 
Just beat it on Heroic.
How can I view the complete ending? Beat it on Legendary, right? Can I just play the last level and/or start at the rally point in that level? When does it appear, after the cutscene that's after the credits?
 
civilstrife said:
Just beat it on Heroic.
How can I view the complete ending? Beat it on Legendary, right? Can I just play the last level and/or start at the rally point in that level? When does it appear, after the cutscene that's after the credits?
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after the credits after a legendary campaign. Complete btw. I just youtubed it to be honest. :(
 
civilstrife said:
Just beat it on Heroic.
How can I view the complete ending? Beat it on Legendary, right? Can I just play the last level and/or start at the rally point in that level? When does it appear, after the cutscene that's after the credits?
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All you have to do is beat the last level - you can start from the rally point too which is basically a minute or two of fights and then the warthog run.

It goes like this in order:

1) Ending
2) Credits
3) Second part of ending
4) Extra Legendary-specific ending
 
To all you Halo 3 haters!

http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=18372

Adam Sessler could not have put it better, seriously!

I have played through most of the levels close to 10x, with the exception of 8 and 9 which I have only played 3x through. I love the game, single player/coop/mp. If this shows anything its how great a experience Bungie made, considering I rarely ever beat games or even play them half way through. Just look at my gamerscore.
 
November 20th.

51hI7oREqgL._SS500_.jpg
 
MMaRsu said:
Why so late?
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More like 'Why so awesome?'

On the Legendary executable disc I've recently acquired, there's a screenshot slideshow set to some pretty awesome Halo 3 music. This'll be a day and date buy for certain, particularly since Marty alluded to it being a 'suite-centric' soundtrack like Halo 2 Volume 2.
 
chapel said:
I have played through most of the levels close to 10x, with the exception of 8 and 9 which I have only played 3x through. I love the game, single player/coop/mp. If this shows anything its how great a experience Bungie made, considering I rarely ever beat games or even play them half way through. Just look at my gamerscore.
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I've played it a lot more through too. I'll admit though. It was only for the nerd score stuff. I would have probably done it twice through though. Once for a "pure" experience then again for legendary/skulls unlockables run. But I did more just for that gamerscore unlockables...
 
Has anybody else seen legendary editions at their local best buy?

Mine has 4 just sitting there. It's slightly amusing considering this was expected to be sold out within a few days of release.
 
LunaticPuma said:
Has anybody else seen legendary editions at their local best buy?

Mine has 4 just sitting there. It's slightly amusing considering this was expected to be sold out within a few days of release.
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yeh i saw 2 or 3. the boxes were pretty beat up looking. seems like people bought em and then returned em; perhaps ebayers.
 
For those interested in the
terminals
, I've had a week or so to really examine the text and follow the several storylines closely.

I know this is going to bother some people, but I actually find the stories,
particularly Didact/Librarian's portion,
more fascinating and compelling than even the main storyline. It's strange to say that, because I adore Halo's story, but it's accurate and I'm hoping Bungie has more coverage on these characters and events in a future product.

That being said, anyone who read H3DA and enjoyed the work there or those who are just fascinated by the
terminals
, I wrote a very long piece analyzing some of the finer points disclosed therein. Hopefully it's helpful, even though there's considerable speculation included.

LINK
 
MMaRsu said:
Why so late?
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Music is one of the very last things added to the game, so the soundtrack was done after Halo 3 was wrapped up. With Halo 2, the album that came out at release was half filled with contributions by outside groups, while the second half took ages. Here we're getting the full, complete soundtrack less than two months after it ships, with the music re-arranged.

Also, since the link wasn't posted - it's two disks, just as Marty had said on the Bungie podcast he was on. (Supposed to be over two hours long.)
 
GhaleonEB said:
Also, since the link wasn't posted - it's two disks, just as Marty had said on the Bungie podcast he was on. (Supposed to be over two hours long.)
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Wow. Good going, Marty. I can't wait to get this.
 
Mr Vociferous said:
For those interested in the
terminals
, I've had a week or so to really examine the text and follow the several storylines closely.

I know this is going to bother some people, but I actually find the stories,
particularly Didact/Librarian's portion,
more fascinating and compelling than even the main storyline. It's strange to say that, because I adore Halo's story, but it's accurate and I'm hoping Bungie has more coverage on these characters and events in a future product.

That being said, anyone who read H3DA and enjoyed the work there or those who are just fascinated by the
terminals
, I wrote a very long piece analyzing some of the finer points disclosed therein. Hopefully it's helpful, even though there's considerable speculation included.

LINK
Click to expand...
Incredible read...thanks. I really hope to learn more about the Forerunner...Halo was interesting, but the need to really open it up in their next title with more of this.
 
Mr Vociferous said:
For those interested in the
terminals
, I've had a week or so to really examine the text and follow the several storylines closely.

I know this is going to bother some people, but I actually find the stories,
particularly Didact/Librarian's portion,
more fascinating and compelling than even the main storyline. It's strange to say that, because I adore Halo's story, but it's accurate and I'm hoping Bungie has more coverage on these characters and events in a future product.

That being said, anyone who read H3DA and enjoyed the work there or those who are just fascinated by the
terminals
, I wrote a very long piece analyzing some of the finer points disclosed therein. Hopefully it's helpful, even though there's considerable speculation included.

LINK
Click to expand...

Just finished reading it, awesome stuff. You did a tremendous job, can't thank you enough. I'm actually pleased that I understood more about the story than I thought I did. This should be added to the OP if possible.
 
ShinAmano said:
Incredible read...thanks. I really hope to learn more about the Forerunner...Halo was interesting, but the need to really open it up in their next title with more of this.
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LJ11 said:
Just finished reading it, awesome stuff. You did a tremendous job, can't thank you enough. I'm actually pleased that I understood more about the story than I thought I did. This should be added to the OP if possible.
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Thanks guys. I enjoyed writing every word. I was skeptical about how they would work out in practical terms before playing the game, but after play and really sitting down with the subject matter, I have to say it's the best story aspect of the trilogy for me.

Need. More.
 
Gadfly said:
One of the best developer interviews I have ever read. Questions and answers are very specific. I think this interview needs a lot more exposure that it’s got. I wonder if he is revealing too much!

It also confirmed many of my (personal) theories on how things were done. But I didn't expect a surprise there.
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Confession: I tossed in the link so uncerimoniously to see if anyone reads links, or if quoting and bold was really necessary. I agree - it's a thoroughly enlightening interview. And away we go.

HBO: Saved films SEEM to work a lot like Marathon saved films worked; keystrokes, or button pushes, or whatever, are captured, along with a starting random seed... and when the film is played back, these are fed to the engine again. I realize Halo's system is WAY more complicated than Marathon's was - but is this at least the BASIC idea of how it works?

Max: You are absolutely correct, and no, it's not way more complicated than Marathon's.

HBO: So that random seed determines the actions of EVERY SINGLE ENEMY on the map, from the moment you start playing? (Well, given your own input, of course.)

Max: Not just every enemy, but every projectile, physics object, sound played, etc.

HBO: Those are the same things you need to keep track of to make online coop work too, - so they're inextricably linked, arent' they? I mean... if you can do online coop, you can do saved films?

Max: Basically that's correct, yes. (There are a couple of additional things like user interface (for both co-op and saved films) and extra design work for co-op.)
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HBO: So... in a battle like the last scarab battle (on The Covenant): how many AI characters are you typically keeping track of?

Max: Oh god, perhaps 40? 50? There are perhaps 10 marines, the two scarabs (they are actually AI characters) 6-10 guys on the back of each scarab, and then ghosts and choppers on the ground.

HBO: What about the banshees and hornets above the battle?

Max: Some banshees and hornets count as AI; I think there are a couple above the scarab battle. We also have the concept of flocks of banshees though; if you see a LOT of banshees/hornets, that is probably a flock. They will be far away, and are basically REALLY stupid. There are just a couple of rules that govern their movement and shooting. They are so simple they don't even feature in our performance calculations. I think the only place there are a lot of banshees that are AI is in the air battle on The Covenant.
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HBO: Let's go back to something we started discussing earlier: are kamikaze grunts simply normal grunts who CHOOSE to go kamikaze - or are they put in at the start?

Max: Kamikaze grunts are just normal grunts who choose to kamikaze. We have the concept of leadership; a brute captain or chieftain is the "leader" for all the grunts and brutes around him. There's a very simple hiearachy, basically: Chieftain > Captain > (Brutes, Grunts, Jackals). The highest "ranking" guy around is considered to be the leader of that encounter (or section of the encounter; you can have more than one leader in some of the big battles). With a leader around, enemies are a lot more aggressive towards you, because they have him backing them up (or kicking their asses).

HBO: How smart are the underlings in terms of noticing the big guy's dead? Do they immediately look to Number Two, or can they get confused if Number One (the dead one) was in line-of-sight, and Number Two is around a corner?

Max: When the leader is killed, the group of enemies is "broken", and they all have what we call "broken behaviours" that trigger when this happens. Brutes: berserk or hide in cover. Jackals: huddle together, shields up. Grunts: flee or kamikaze.

HBO: I've seen the shield thing - looks almost like the E3 2003 trailer sometimes.

Max: YES! Mission accomplished. <grin> Actually, completely accidentally, marines will huddle too, if their leader is killed. (Well, we noticed the behavior, but left it in because it was cool.) Leadership was only intended for the enemy AI, but it just happens that one of the marines has a higher rank (I forget which one) and if he dies, then the other marines will huddle.
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So much good stuff in that interview.

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/kamikazegrunts.html
 
Nice interview. Bravo to Mat Noguchi for doing such a good job on the game caching.

Wasn't sure if anyone else saw this off HBO's news page. and didn't see it mentioned in the last few pages of this thread:
Sessler's Soapbox: Dear Halo Haters
http://www.n4g.com/gaming/News-73783.aspx
edit: I'm blind, chapel posted it on the previous page.

I'm hoping after Sunday I'll finally be able to play some games with some Gaffers. Work and personal life has kept me from being able to play as much as I'd like. If anyone is still looking to do Legendary Co-op, I'm game come Sunday.

Stinkles: any plans for a NeoGAF Humpday Challenge in the next few weeks?
 
great read Voc! there is so much hidden depth to the halo story, and while i appreciate that its there, i do wish this sort of stuff was more accessible in the actual games.
 
Mr Vociferous: Your write up was very very well done. It really helped cement some sort of understanding of the Halo series for me. I never read the books, and I don't know what material they cover exactly, but I imagine a summary like you've made would still be needed after reading them, maybe even more so. Now I kind of want to go read the books.
 
Is it just me or is there suddenly an extra space under Theater in the main menu?

Looks as though it could fit something else. Either that or it's always been like that.
 
op_ivy said:
great read Voc! there is so much hidden depth to the halo story, and while i appreciate that its there, i do wish this sort of stuff was more accessible in the actual games.
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Yeah, I think if they went too deep, they'd lose the attention of certain quadrants within the fan community, if you know what I mean. That being said, I'd like a game to focus almost entirely on the Forerunners, their culture, perhaps even being set before the Halo Array was fired.

I've also been thinking that one type of game which would really work would be a survival horror game, similar to Resident Evil 4 on one of the remaining rings. With Flood specimens potentially still being maintained and contained in the depths of one of the installations, there's a lot of room for that sort of genre...

2600 said:
Mr Vociferous: Your write up was very very well done. It really helped cement some sort of understanding of the Halo series for me. I never read the books, and I don't know what material they cover exactly, but I imagine a summary like you've made would still be needed after reading them, maybe even more so. Now I kind of want to go read the books.
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Thanks and I'm glad it helped. I've told some of my friends when discussing the
terminals
, the stuff I wrote there is like tip of the iceberg...not even really grazing the surface. There's a lot of story left to be told and now that we know that the Forerunners were stuffy bitches in hovering chairs or some nonsense, we have real, physical beings with love, hatred, desire and most of all...weapons. I'm looking forward to any game in which we would be able to learn more about their culture and society.

The books offer some interesting backstory to the games so I'd recommend you picking them up. I know that I'll be gunning for Staten's novel, "Contact Harvest," later this month, and since that beings chronologically around the time the series impetus really takes footing, it might be a good first step, followed by "The Fall of Reach," "First Strike," and then "Ghosts of Onyx." Good reads...they're not Follet or Crichton and they don't have the emotional basis and presence of the
terminal entries
, but they're solid for what they are. Nylund does a good job fleshing out the peripheral stories and characters.

I know that Dietz worked on "The Flood," a redux with backstory of the first game, but I'd like to read a very in depth, full-blooded story covering the whole trilogy (front to back) and having characters like the Prophets, the Arbiter and their stories introduced at the start, followed through and reaching into parts of the games that the games never traveled to.
 
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12857


Are You a Marathon Man?

Hella folks have said they found all the Terminals but they didn’t unlock the Marathon Man achievement. In addition to their being a slight hook to what you may consider “all the terminals” – that’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourselves, our test team did some extensive post-ship testing to see if the Achievement was working as intended. Here are some findings and the appropriate FAIL or WIN condition is listed, as well.

“I read all terminals through the first screen of text (after it’s been translated), then pressed B to back out before the hack point.” FAIL

“I read all terminals to the first screen after the hack point (where it says FRAGMENT X/Y at the top_ in order .” ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

“I read the first a bunch of terminals in different gaming sessions, in order, reading each terminal past the hack point.” ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

“I read the ‘last’ terminal first, then read three from one place and three more, all past the hack the point.” ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

“I read one terminal on Heroic, some more terminals on normal and the rest of them on Legendary, power cycling my Xbox 360 before changing difficulty levels each time. This is a combination of different sessions, reading terminals out of order and on variable difficulties.” ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

We’re still not talking about what they are or where they are, but in terms of the logistics of unlocking them, this should shed a little bit of light on the situation for those folks having trouble.
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Follow Up On Divestiture

There’s nothing much new to report on Bungie’s newfound independence. Last week was a comfortable reminder that we still enjoy a near-symbiotic relationship with Microsoft and the Xbox 360. It was basically business as usual. The only real difference is that with MS HR well and truly out of the loop, we were able to shrug off the burden of pants foisted upon us by their dictatorial rule, and enjoy god’s own breeze, commando-style.

Expect this new pants-free existence to change everything for the better.
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Map Tease

Work is progressing on new maps for future downloadable content, with the design and art teams vigorously engaged in the process. More entertainingly however, the ad-hoc test team of Bungie staff is enjoying these new maps greatly. My favorites are what I have already nicknamed Jodrell Bank and Moonbase Alpha.

I “invented” a game type on Jodrell Bank which is actually just Team Slayer with Swords and Snipers. Thanks to some unique geographical features of that map, it works great. Moonbase Alpha, on the other hand is best suited to objective games, like CTF and Assualt, but it has some natural deadlocks that make Slayer interesting and Infection terrifying.

Which reminds me of one more downloadable map. The scariest map of all time. Dark, frightening and surprisingly enormous. One of the scariest things that has ever happened to me (and this in a lifetime fraught with terror) was racing away from a marauding gang of zombies in Infection atop a Mongoose, only to have one leap out of the darkness ahead and unseat me with a throaty scream. I call that level John Carpenter’s Prince of Dorkness. It’s not as catchy as Jub Jub, but it’s every bit as accurate.
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Slam Dunks and NBA Rank Whoring

Lots of drama abounded (or perhaps rebounded) on Wednesday and Thursday as famous baller Gilbert Arenas got busted for EXP boosting on Live. Although it’s a little sad, it’s not strictly cheating at the game and he’s not really harming anyone. However, we should reinforce our philosophy and comment here.

We explicitly want to encourage people to form parties and play with groups of friends for extended sessions, not penalize them for doing so by denying them progress towards a rating.

EXP is simply a record of successful games played, and not an indicator of skill. There is nothing to be gained from boosting it other than the kind of embarrassment visited upon Mr. Arenas. It should be noted that his skill level, 42 when we last looked, is not the result of chicanery and is an admirable skill level. It seems he just wanted the shiny epaulettes that accompany a high EXP rank.

Abusing the system in even minor ways is inexcusable but most of our efforts, both engineering and punitive are aimed at abuses of Skill level (which would adversely affect people’s gameplay experience) and other forms of cheating. Both are being dealt with far more severely and efficiently than in Halo 2. And as ever, we will be diligent and observant and adapt to change.

Our tools are better than ever now. Don’t cheat and you’ll spare yourself the whiny shame when the banhammer falls.
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Armor Permutations and Flames

I’m making a list, I’m checking it twice, and it’s a list of dumb messages (and perfectly polite ones) inquiring about the Recon armor permutation. The short answer to those inquiries is, “No, you can’t have it.” The people you see with the Recon helmet are Bungie employees, and they did nothing in-game to unlock it. There is nothing you can do to unlock it.


The same counts for the flames. Don’t be too jealous however, since the flaming head makes us a giant target and is reflected in our online performances sometimes. Sending us angry or rude messages won’t help and our policy now is to simply block communications with folks who’re rude and our sincere apologies to the polite folks, that we don’t have enough time to answer your question individually. We’ve had literally thousands of requests.
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