[Laa-Yosh]

Fake volumetric lighting is kinda easy, you take a matte from the objects that are supposed to cover the light and you place a shape on top of it then you use radial blur with the light source at the center. The problem is if the light source isn't visible by the camera. You can solve it by using a virtual workspace or such for your calculations, but it will create some overhead.

[(((interference)))]

Very impressive, a clear step up from Reach (which itself was a pretty big improvement over 3).

I'm also wondering what kind of sacrifices they'll have to make to have this kind of fidelity - anyone know if they've ditched 4 player split screen support?

[Prophecy2k]

I fear they may have had to reduce the sizes of the sandbox play areas in the game to get it looking this good.

That ViDoc footage looks ace. I'm pumped to see this game in action now. I also prefer the colour palette of this game to Reach. I know Reach's was chosen because of the tone of the game's story and narrative, but it reminded me too much of those dreary rainy days in Manchester that would deny me my ability to play outside as a child. Bad memories

I think Master Chief's armour design is growing on me now. I'm keen to see some designs for the enemies (particularly the Elites). I hated the elite designs in Reach, thought they were awful! Hope they go back to Halo1/2 or Wars Elite designs.

I also hope to God that there's no Flood in this game (or other such "propel-themselves-directly-at-you-with-damn-near-impossible-speed-and-explode" enemies). I don't want such lazy enemy design to ruin another great game. (I remember THAT LEVEL of Halo 3 and I shudder with loathful disgust)

[scently]

Well going buy the event in the Forerunner trilogy, I am sure that we will see the Flood in the Reclaimer trilogy, though not necessarily Halo 4.

[Platon]

Originally Posted by Prophecy2k

I also hope to God that there's no Flood in this game (or other such "propel-themselves-directly-at-you-with-damn-near-impossible-speed-and-explode" enemies). I don't want such lazy enemy design to ruin another great game. (I remember THAT LEVEL of Halo 3 and I shudder with loathful disgust)

I have mixed feelings about the flood. I loved to see when they infected humans and the transformation that occurred in H3, it was just cool. And, well maybe it is really big words saying the nr1 gaming moment, but it is damn close, was their introduction in HaloCE. The scene when they are introduced and they just started rushing at you, I don't think any game since then has left the same impression of surprise and wtf is this nad like thinking am I supposed to shoot these, but they are so many, I can't have that many bullets, ohh, great times.

But I agree, I generally don't like to fight them. I wonder if they keep them around to have all kind of enemies. The smart elite and what I would almost call the "old school", dumb cannon fodder like of enemies. Maybe keep them but make them a bit easier to kill or something...

[AlStrong]

Originally Posted by Platon

I loved to see when they infected humans and the transformation that occurred in H3, it was just cool.

Reaaally curious to see what Kenneth's take on them would be. We've barely seen anything of them since they rebooted the art direction for the series.

But I agree, I generally don't like to fight them. I wonder if they keep them around to have all kind of enemies. The smart elite and what I would almost call the "old school", dumb cannon fodder like of enemies. Maybe keep them but make them a bit easier to kill or something...

Yeah, I know people hate fighting them, but they did add a certain variety to the mix, even if they are just zombies/bullet sponges. The pure flood strains were pretty interesting to see.

That said, I wouldn't mind if they played a smaller a role (if any) in Halo 4 and saved them for later - if you think the flood morphing animations were cool now, just think about the potential with DX11.

We also don't really know yet just what the replacement enemy troop line-up will be since the Covenant is technically at a cease-fire with humanity. I'm sure we'll fight them again as increased tensions break the peace and the different factions, but it's kind of hard to beat the variety that a multi-racial army, with troops of extremely differing behaviour and roles on the field, provides.

[Prophecy2k]

I dunno Platon. I guess it's interesting how different players respond to differing scenarios in gaming.

The introduction of the flood in HaloCE (and by extension their appearance in every other Halo game since) have been the lowest parts of the entire franchise for me. I get the point about enemy variety, but to me there was simply nothing fun about trying to frantically shoot at a gazillion dumb enemies that just rush at you an explode. I also hated the lambent imp-like locusts and clickers in gears for the same reasons.

I hate the flood in Halo more than any other variation of the "homing missle enemy" design, because in Halo the contrast between fighting the flood and the tactical thought-requiring combat against the other enemies in the game is too stark.

In HaloCE i went through most of the game thoroughly enjoying the gunplay exchanges between myself and seemingly "smart" enemies (a hallmark of the series - ostensibly excepting the Flood). Then I encountered the flood and all my tactics and strategies for battle i'd learned, developed and honed during the course of the game instantly devolved into "twitch-gamer-bunny-hopping-and-firing-as-many-rockets-and-grenades-around-the-room-as-I-can". It was awful and ruined the experience for me. The latter level in Halo 3 where you are simply gang-banged by the flood for what feels like an eternity of a level, is the single worst gaming experience i have ever had the displeasure of taking part in. Since then i lost all confidence in Bungie as a dev, as i simply could not see how anyone could conceivably consider the flood as a fun or enjoyable enemy to fight in a shooter game, regardless of how well they work for the series narrative. It's the worst, laziest enemy design every conceived.

Halo 4 NEEDS to leave out the flood. Even if it means retconning all the expanded universe material to eliminate their presence from the game. No dev should ever feel compelled to degrade the quality of their game, by including another developer's gross mistake, simply of the sake of continuity with the EU narrative and story.

[Laa-Yosh]

The thing with the Flood is that it's origins are one of the greatest unexplained parts of the Halo universe. Sure, sometimes the mystery is better than getting disappointing answers, but there is always a balance between the two.

Also, in case someone isn't aware about it, there's been two new books and another to come that are apparently dealing with these aspects of the backstory, namely the Flood and the Forerunners. They're also using Halo 4 concept art as their covers...

[kagemaru]

I've never really minded fighting the flood for the most part. I didn't care for the final forms in Halo 3, especially the forms that would stick to the ceiling in Cortana while I only had a spiker handy >_>

I thought they were fun cannon fodder and a decent change of pace from the more clever covenant. I only wish they had more 3 way battles in the series. That's definitely one area Halo CE did better than any other Halo IMO.

[RobertR1]

Can't wait! I like Master Chief based story lines than the spin offs with ODST and Reach.

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by RobertR1

Can't wait! I like Master Chief based story lines than the spin offs with ODST and Reach.

Agreed. And I really hope they kept 4 player coop. I want the return of 4 player against epicly larger enemies ala Scarabs. As fun as Reach was the lack of epic sandboxes never drew me back into more play throughs.

[Onkl Bjorni]

Originally Posted by Prophecy2k

I also hope to God that there's no Flood in this game (or other such "propel-themselves-directly-at-you-with-damn-near-impossible-speed-and-explode" enemies). I don't want such lazy enemy design to ruin another great game. (I remember THAT LEVEL of Halo 3 and I shudder with loathful disgust)

Are we even sure we are going to fight the usual suspects (Flood, Covenant)
It was my understanding that Halo 4 picks up the story right after Halo 3. And the last thing we see in Halo 3 is Master Chief going in to cryosleep, and telling Cortana to wake him when she needs him. The ship he was on was cut in half after a portal closed with the ship only half way thrue. So I guess he could be stuck in another galaxy. We also see a planet in the background, and I think this was speculated to be a Forerunner Shield World or maybe the Forerunner Homeworld.. But maybe I remember incorrectly.

But the ViDoc do show Cortana waking up the MC.

Anyway, I guess we will know more as the release date closes in.

After reading the first book in the Forerunner trilogy, I dream of fighting the Forerunner's and there Ancillas.

http://www.halopedian.com/Ancilla

[Laa-Yosh]

Apparently four or five years have passed since Halo3. They're also hinting at some internal conflict with regards to humanity, saying that now they have a narrative reason for red and blue spartans fighting each other.

[AlStrong]

Originally Posted by Acert93

Agreed. And I really hope they kept 4 player coop. I want the return of 4 player against epicly larger enemies ala Scarabs. As fun as Reach was the lack of epic sandboxes never drew me back into more play throughs.

I don't know why they're being so coy about it, but they did mention that "everything you'd expect from Halo will be there" in response to coop/split-screen.

I do wonder how they will handle 4p co-op this time considering Chief is alone. Will players 2-4 be Chief clones? Spartan IVs? Something else? Different armour abilities?

Originally Posted by Laa-Yosh

Apparently four or five years have passed since Halo3.

It's 5 years, which makes sense. (2007 -> 2012)

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by Laa-Yosh

Apparently four or five years have passed since Halo3. They're also hinting at some internal conflict with regards to humanity, saying that now they have a narrative reason for red and blue spartans fighting each other.

Awesome! I mean, in the military, we never did color based war games :P

I cannot wait for their explanation for respawning randomly on maps :P

[Scott_Arm]

The only way I'll play this is if the introduce interesting boss battles and completely new enemies. I've had enough of the enemies form the previous games.

Looks like a different choice of art style than Reach. Reach had a softer colourful painted look to it (Maybe in part from the framebuffer, temporal AA and different blur effects softening the image).

[Laa-Yosh]

It actually looks a lot more colorful than Reach, but I agree that it's also different. Far, far more detailed for a start, even though that game wasn't simple either.

[scently]

Originally Posted by Laa-Yosh

The thing with the Flood is that it's origins are one of the greatest unexplained parts of the Halo universe. Sure, sometimes the mystery is better than getting disappointing answers, but there is always a balance between the two.

Also, in case someone isn't aware about it, there's been two new books and another to come that are apparently dealing with these aspects of the backstory, namely the Flood and the Forerunners. They're also using Halo 4 concept art as their covers...

Ehh, if you read the expanded fiction then you pretty much know where the flood originated from. Read the Forerunner trilogy. Its just the first two books that are out with the last one expected early next year.

[Laa-Yosh]

This very video talks about how they want to move more of their storytelling into the game instead of expanded universe merchandising stuff. I personally never really found the few licensed books I read to be as well done as the games themselves so I usually don't bother with them much.

[Scott_Arm]

Originally Posted by Laa-Yosh

It actually looks a lot more colorful than Reach, but I agree that it's also different. Far, far more detailed for a start, even though that game wasn't simple either.

Yeah, I went and looked at some screenshots and it wasn't as colourful as I remembered. Halo 4 definitely has a different aesthetic.

[scently]

Originally Posted by Laa-Yosh

This very video talks about how they want to move more of their storytelling into the game instead of expanded universe merchandising stuff. I personally never really found the few licensed books I read to be as well done as the games themselves so I usually don't bother with them much.

Yeah but you should read this trilogy, it is written by Greg Bear who is a very good sci-fi author. And before you say that it doesn't matter, don't, because this trilogy was commissioned by 343 themselves so its content are very important to the Reclaimer trilogy.

For example, the other trilogy been written by Karen Traviss already mentioned the Spartan IV program and if you are the type that can connect the dots, it was obvious that the SIVs are going to show up in Halo 4, even the human ship shown in the concept art trailer was mentioned in the book, and frankly I have an idea about how the humans got to the shield world, again, based on these new books, so, no they are important though not necessary to follow the story that is going to be in the game.

For someone like me who is only interested in the singleplayer campaign and the overall fiction of the universe, it means a lot more to me. It is important to note that 343 are trying to create a more cohesive universe and are making sure that there is no conflict and retcons between the expanded universe and the games, but the expanded universe will never be necessary to follow the game but they will be rewarding to those who care that sort of thing. (danmmit, didn't mean to type so much)

[Laa-Yosh]

Well, maybe I will read some, but I'm kinda totally busy with picking up ME3 tomorrow, and having no idea when I'm actually going to play it with all the work we have for now.
Remember, 4 months left to E3 means crunch mode for some people

[AlStrong]

Plenty of time to read between the end of E3 and Halo 4 launch, no?

[Laa-Yosh]

No, it's actually quite the opposite. E3 is one thing (well, more than one...) but it'll go on after that, too... let's get back to this later, okay?

[Prophecy2k]

Originally Posted by scently

Yeah but you should read this trilogy, it is written by Greg Bear who is a very good sci-fi author. And before you say that it doesn't matter, don't, because this trilogy was commissioned by 343 themselves so its content are very important to the Reclaimer trilogy.

For example, the other trilogy been written by Karen Traviss already mentioned the Spartan IV program and if you are the type that can connect the dots, it was obvious that the SIVs are going to show up in Halo 4, even the human ship shown in the concept art trailer was mentioned in the book, and frankly I have an idea about how the humans got to the shield world, again, based on these new books, so, no they are important though not necessary to follow the story that is going to be in the game.

For someone like me who is only interested in the singleplayer campaign and the overall fiction of the universe, it means a lot more to me. It is important to note that 343 are trying to create a more cohesive universe and are making sure that there is no conflict and retcons between the expanded universe and the games, but the expanded universe will never be necessary to follow the game but they will be rewarding to those who care that sort of thing. (danmmit, didn't mean to type so much)

Hi five!

Same here... although i haven't at all enjoyed the story-telling of the past few Halo games (none since Halo 2 actually), I'm happy that this one is being done by a new developer that seems to care about the SP campaign and the quality of the narrative.

I haven't personally read any of the EU stuff. All i've seen were the animes, which weren't very good imho, although they were useful to me in understanding abit more about the world and universe (a heck of a lot moreso than the past few games).

I did like the aesthetic representation of the forerunners in the anime. They looked pretty awesome, and I do hope they look that way in H4 if and when you encounter them.