[360] Halo 3: ODST

[BadTB25]

I just started the campaign on Legendary.

In the beginning, Sgt Johnson says "why do you always have to jump?".
It does kind of lend to him jumping off the forerunner ship from the end of Halo 2.

The question I have is how does Sgt Johnson, Cmdr Keys and Lord Hood beat him back to Earth?

I guess he could have been unconscious for a few days before they found him. Also, in the Landfall movie, the ODST troops are trying to get a homing beacon (I think) to lock on to the Chief as he is descending to Earth (maybe to guide him in) so it kind of suggest that he is on something that is able to maneuver in flight.

Now I'm really confused.

 

[NRP]

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. The Covenant already referred to the Master Chief as the "demon" in H2, so it's odd they would interrogate him (rather than just kill him) if they captured him. I guess that's what happens when you let too many different people write story threads.

 

[vanquish]

I think the Master Chief's "arriving by meteor" in H3 was merely him jumping off of a moving ship (the one he hijacked at the end of H2) as it entered Earth's atmosphere. There was some discussion in one of the novels (The Fall of Reach, I think) about the Spartans doing crazy shit like that.

Regarding the story, H1 was the only one with a decent "stand alone" story in my opinion. The stories in H2 and H3 were more obscure IMO. I think it was the best one of the bunch.

Halo 1 had a great story, Halo 2's was good as well, it really expanded the scope. And I love the ending cutscene, even though it's a cliffhanger. How they snap between thr Arbiter asking Guilty Spark where the Ark is, to the Forerunner ship exiting slipspace near Earth with the MC onboard was some great foreshadowing.
And I loved how the Gravemind speaks in iambic pentameter.

Halo 3's story was a letdown, too cheesy, especially with those cringe-worthy Cortana moments.

 

[Acert93]

I got something to add to my wish-list that comes from my old old old pre-H3 release Forge wishlist. This is a revision of the concept of a Monitor RTS style mode. I will call this STRAT:

New Playlist / Gametype: Strat

"Strat" is a new playlist concept that focuses on Real-time strategy (RTS). This mode utilizes team oriented gametypes like Territories (and the new Territories:Tickets), Single Flag CTF, King of the Hill, Neutral Bomb, Assault/Defend, etc and the focus will be on large maps with 12-16+ players.
The wrinkle is that each team has 1 monitor dedicated to supplying their team with resources. Essentiall the battle is 7+1 versus 7+1. Spawned resources and resource budgets will vary but can be as sparse as all players spawn with a pistol and no other resources available lest those the monitor provides.

The team's monitor is the prime resource. Monitors are the party leader of the largest party on a team (although a voting mechanism can be offered). Party leaders can defer Monitor status to other team members, which will take place when the player dies. 2/3 vote can have a Monitor demoted as well if players are unsatisified with their Monitor's performance. Monitors have excessive respawn rates (25-30 seconds) which makes their life valuable--and Monitor elimination a viable role and strategy.

Gameplay is very dynamic and the role of the monitor is much like that of a RTS game--providing resources to his troops and giving an overview of the battlefield situation. Monitors need to watch their budgets (VARIANT#1: Team starts with a budget and the budget slowly grows over time, so planning and not overextending is important; VARIANT#2: Beyond the starting budget Credits are earned through Kills and objectives, e.g. Points for holding a hill or a territory contribute to the teams Credits the monitor can use). Monitors cannot edit other teams objects and each team has a Credit budget. There will be limits on what resources can be spawned and how many

Goal: The goal is team oriented gameplay on larger maps where gameplay is much more dynamic than the current "weapons spawn in the same place, at the same time, ever time." Surprising your enemy will be vital and quick thinking to counter successful strategies by the opponent are essential. Reacting to, and anticipating, enemy strategies is the name of the game. The monitor furnishes his team with equipment, either resources for assaults or to defend objectives. Communicating objectives and coordinating tactics on the fly as well as smart use of resources coincide with the traditional Halo weapon balance and gunplay.

 

[Deepblue]

I just started the campaign on Legendary.

In the beginning, Sgt Johnson says "why do you always have to jump?".
It does kind of lend to him jumping off the forerunner ship from the end of Halo 2.

The question I have is how does Sgt Johnson, Cmdr Keys and Lord Hood beat him back to Earth?

I guess he could have been unconscious for a few days before they found him. Also, in the Landfall movie, the ODST troops are trying to get a homing beacon (I think) to lock on to the Chief as he is descending to Earth (maybe to guide him in) so it kind of suggest that he is on something that is able to maneuver in flight.

Now I'm really confused.

I'm assuming the Arbiter teamed up with Johnson, Miranda, as well as the Spec Ops commander and allied Elites (I had hoped that Halo 3 would include "mercenary" Elites as a 4th faction, although ousted by the Covenant, they still fight Covenant and seperatists alike) to commandeer a Covenant cap ship and return to Earth. I initially thought Halo 3 would have such a mission right at the start. I also assume the events of Landfall were designed to calculate the Chief's trajectory and enable the UNSC to dispatch a rescue party to reach him before the Covenant.

 

[AlNom]

I just started the campaign on Legendary.

In the beginning, Sgt Johnson says "why do you always have to jump?".
It does kind of lend to him jumping off the forerunner ship from the end of Halo 2.

It references a few things, including

Spoiler

Halo 2 when Master Chief jumps from Cairo Station, planting the bomb inside the Covenant Carrier, and then miraculously makes it to a passing frigate, where Miranda Keyes and Johnson are. Later on he joins the ODSTs when landing on Delta Halo.

I suppose it also references how he lands on the first Halo in the escape pod and barely surviving.

The question I have is how does Sgt Johnson, Cmdr Keys and Lord Hood beat him back to Earth?

The timing of events in Halo 2 can be rather suspect - there is simply no way of knowing! All I recall is that

Spoiler

After gravemind split the two soldiers off to look for the key, each has two levels until each respective story is complete in the game. So even if we assume they both traveled to Earth at roughly the same time... there is still the discrepancy as you say.

It's plausible that the Prophet of Truth stayed in Orbit around the planet to engage the human fleet and orbital stations. The Keyship would have been a very powerful adversary, and it seemed like the Brute forces could use all the help they could get considering the civil war occurring at this time.

Johnson, Keyes, and Arbiter would just need to be dropped off on-planet.

 

[BadTB25]

I'm assuming the Arbiter teamed up with Johnson, Miranda, as well as the Spec Ops commander and allied Elites (I had hoped that Halo 3 would include "mercenary" Elites as a 4th faction, although ousted by the Covenant, they still fight Covenant and seperatists alike) to commandeer a Covenant cap ship and return to Earth. I initially thought Halo 3 would have such a mission right at the start. I also assume the events of Landfall were designed to calculate the Chief's trajectory and enable the UNSC to dispatch a rescue party to reach him before the Covenant.

I'll have to watch it again, but it appeared to be more than just finding out where the Chief was going to land.

It makes me wonder if this would be one of the Arc storylines of ODST.

 

[NRP]

Speaking of ODST wishlists, someone may have already mentioned this but I would like to see a "Horde" mode added to H3 as a co-op option. Imagine successive waves of everything in the Covenant arsenal. That could make for intense action.

 

[Acert93]

Speaking of ODST wishlists, someone may have already mentioned this but I would like to see a "Horde" mode added to H3 as a co-op option. Imagine successive waves of everything in the Covenant arsenal. That could make for intense action.

Yep, already on my wish list above But I think we may be the minority as I am sure no one else ever had that thought

 

[AlNom]

Yep, already on my wish list above But I think we may be the minority as I am sure no one else ever had that thought

I've been dreaming about it since they talked about their sandbox tests with the A.I. during even Halo 2's development. It'd be pretty nuts to have those large scale battles ala The Covenant level combined with Forge to provide various weapons on a strict budget.

 

[RobertR1]

Speaking of ODST wishlists, someone may have already mentioned this but I would like to see a "Horde" mode added to H3 as a co-op option. Imagine successive waves of everything in the Covenant arsenal. That could make for intense action.

Yes! They have plenty of enemies to make a horde mode happen. Also, we need to play Gears 2 Horde on Insane one of these nights

 

[AlNom]

Yes! They have plenty of enemies to make a horde mode happen. Also, we need to play Gears 2 Horde on Insane one of these nights

Hey you guys wanna do Horde?

........Hey you guys wanna do Horde?
........Hey you guys wanna do Horde?
........Hey you guys wanna do Horde?
........Hey you guys wanna do Horde?
........................................

 

[vanquish]

I would like to do Horde, maybe not on Insane though, Hardcore instead?

 

[Saleen73]

What Deepblue said. I knew that Halo 2 didn't end with MC doing a HANO jump.

LOL HANO (High Altitude NO??? open) is what i got from that.

 

[AlNom]

LOL HANO (High Altitude NO??? open) is what i got from that.

He tends to fly like a rock.

 

[Acert93]

Every time I find a reason to praise Halo I see flies! So, I had this great map idea for Valhalla using the existing modes and Forge tools. I needed a half dozen or so man cannons on Valhalla alas--Valhalla does NOT allow man cannons. Not one, not any. Grrr!

Gameplay of the core game aside, the only thing Halo 3 has on the FC2 map editor is Halo has a bazillion times more custom game settings and options. But if FC3 improves in this area (and allows crazy stuff like player speed changes, weapon damage and fire rate changes, maybe bullet glow, etc) ...

Btw, when is a developer going to make an "FPS Maker" game? If you are working on this title or want to make one have your people call my people

 

[homerdog]

Every time I find a reason to praise Halo I see flies! So, I had this great map idea for Valhalla using the existing modes and Forge tools. I needed a half dozen or so man cannons on Valhalla alas--Valhalla does NOT allow man cannons. Not one, not any. Grrr!

Maybe it's a technical limitation considering there are already four man cannons on that map.

 

[Acert93]

Maybe it's a technical limitation considering there are already four man cannons on that map.

Pretty pathetic techical limitation!! Although I do wonder because Bungie has been quite vocal about restricting certain vehicles and weapons on certain maps due to "not being fun" which baffles my mind. 99.9% of maps are total screw off maps, the whole fun being doing stupid stuff. No popular fileshare custom game is going to have a Scorpian tank on Cold Storage. Not that it matters because as they say: If you build a Forge map, and there is no custom game browser, does your map exist?

 

[Saleen73]

If you get the mythic map pack you can put if i remember as many man cannons as you want on Sandbox. Sandbox also has 3 different levels so it will be intresting to see how much fun you can have with the man cannons, makes me wish i still played Tac-Ops and the great Freefall level someone made.

 

[Deepblue]

Just a quick heads up. Per today's BWU, it looks like the Mythic maps are hitting the MP on April 9.