[360] Halo 3: ODST

[AlNom]

Finished Halo 3 on Heroic this morning at 4AM.

lol I saw that on xbox.com. I was debating whether or not to stay up, but I knew it'd be a trap in a time warp. Next time we'll set up a 4-man co-op

Also the loading is done with a barely a hitch when you pass new checkpoints that I wonder why most games don't adopt something similar.

There's a neat presentation that bungie made regarding their loading. The thing about it is that it is very specific to linear games with a straight forward progression throughout a level. IIRC, they have hints about loading the next section as you move through various zones, and they lay out the data on the disc accordingly to reduce seek times. The larger environments probably hide that pause in loading a fair bit as you traverse it. They also tend to prevent you from backtracking far enough so that everything fits into memory.

Gears of War 1 & 2, and Dead Space employ similar tricks as well. There was some degree of freedom in Dead Space, but I'm sure the walking/running speed played a role in hiding pauses. At least for Gears of War 1&2 and Halo, they are simultaneously writing to the hard drive and streaming from the disc during checkpoints, level loading/caching or game-saving. I've noticed a lot more hitching in Gears of War 1&2 with them installed to the HDD for instance.


It's just not something that would work too well for open-ended games that allow one to travel to anypoint in the game - lots of duplicate data will help to a degree for reused assets (textures/models).


You'll need either Office 2007 or the plug-in for earlier versions of PPT.
http://www.bungie.net/images/Inside/publications/presentations/Loading___done_gdc_2008.pptx

 

[BadTB25]

lol I saw that on xbox.com. I was debating whether or not to stay up, but I knew it'd be a trap in a time warp. Next time we'll set up a 4-man co-op




There's a neat presentation that bungie made regarding their loading. The thing about the loading is that it's very specific and thus only useful for linear games with a straight forward progression throughout a level. IIRC, they have hints about loading the next section as you move through various zones, and they lay out the data on the disc accordingly to reduce seek times. The larger environments probably hide that pause in loading a fair bit as you traverse it.


You'll need either Office 2007 or the plug-in for earlier versions of PPT.
http://www.bungie.net/images/Inside/publications/presentations/Loading___done_gdc_2008.pptx

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I should be on most nights this week since I took the week off.

 

[Tap In]

lol I saw that on xbox.com. I was debating whether or not to stay up, but I knew it'd be a trap in a time warp. Next time we'll set up a 4-man co-op




There's a neat presentation that bungie made regarding their loading. The thing about the loading is that it's very specific and thus only useful for linear games with a straight forward progression throughout a level. IIRC, they have hints about loading the next section as you move through various zones, and they lay out the data on the disc accordingly to reduce seek times. The larger environments probably hide that pause in loading a fair bit as you traverse it.


You'll need either Office 2007 or the plug-in for earlier versions of PPT.
http://www.bungie.net/images/Inside/publications/presentations/Loading___done_gdc_2008.pptx

is this a reason for the lack of improvement (degradation) when the game is installed to HDD?

 

[AlNom]

(added some things to the original post)

But yeah, Halo 3 uses the game cache extensively as you'll see in the presentation, and that dual streaming system becomes glitched as the game attempts to copy data from the installed partition to the game cache while simultaneously streaming from the installed partition AND the reserved game cache to memory. It's just a nightmare.

I imagine they'll take that into account for ODST.

 

[liolio]

I'm not a FPS fan by any mean but I come to think that owning a 360 without trying Halo is kind of weird.
Do you think that I should buy Halo I&II before getting my hand on the third rendition?

EDIT I will most likely play the campaign only.

 

[AlNom]

I'm not a FPS fan by any mean but I come to think that owning a 360 without trying Halo is kind of weird.
Do you think that I should buy Halo I&II before getting my hand on the third rendition?

EDIT I will most likely play the campaign only.

If you can find them for cheap or if you'd like to rent them, yes! The games are backward compatible, though there are some glitches. The stories laid out in the first two games are pretty much necessary to give you an idea about all the characters and the events in Halo 3; the story in halo 3 can be rather disjointed with a lot happening very quickly if you are not familiar with the series so far.

 

[obonicus]

I'm not a FPS fan by any mean but I come to think that owning a 360 without trying Halo is kind of weird.
Do you think that I should buy Halo I&II before getting my hand on the third rendition?

EDIT I will most likely play the campaign only.

Only get the other games if you care for the story. Halo 3 assumes that you're already invested in the Halo universe. But you might be better off using wikipedia to read the plot. That way Halo 3 will feel fresh, and you'll play the next-gen version -- one of the biggest complaints about the Halo series is how little the series has changed between iterations.

As someone who played Halo 1, enjoyed it enough, and was suckered in by the massive Halo 3 hype and promise of epic plot... don't expect that much from the story.

 

[Deepblue]

The original games are certainly worth playing (especially Halo 1, which holds up remarkably in all aspects).

As someone who really loved the story progression from Halo 1 > Halo 2, the story in 3 is by far my biggest let down with the game (at least, the story presented in the cutscenes). Not only that, but the Arbiter's severely diminished role undercut his development during the events of Halo 2. Infuriating since he was (IMHO) a far more interesting character with real progression and development. The (undeserved) backlash from Halo 2 led the more interesting story to be tucked away in Terminals throughout the game. The story presented in these text entries is far more compelling than what you get in between missions.

With Joseph Staten in charge once again, I expect Halo 3: ODST is going to be a return to form as far as story progression is concerned.

One final note: I made a few more adjustments on my TV and the results are brilliant. Aliasing is not nearly as noticeable and colors are now flawlessly reproduced. And I am once again convinced that Halo 3 is one of the best looking games on the system.

 

[homerdog]

I'm not a FPS fan by any mean but I come to think that owning a 360 without trying Halo is kind of weird.
Do you think that I should buy Halo I&II before getting my hand on the third rendition?

EDIT I will most likely play the campaign only.

If you care about the story (which by most accounts isn't very well presented) at least pick up Halo 2. The events in Halo 1 are mostly standalone, but Halo 3 picks up literally moments after Halo 2 ends.

Though missing Halo 1 would be a sin IMO - it's a great game, dare I say revolutionary as far as console FPSs are concerned.

 

[obonicus]

If you care about the story (which by most accounts isn't very well presented) at least pick up Halo 2. The events in Halo 1 are mostly standalone, but Halo 3 picks up literally moments after Halo 2 ends.

Isn't there a book between the two games? I remember being rather confused as to why Master Chief was arriving by meteor.

 

[Deepblue]

If you care about the story (which by most accounts isn't very well presented) at least pick up Halo 2. The events in Halo 1 are mostly standalone, but Halo 3 picks up literally moments after Halo 2 ends.

Actually that isn't quite accurate. There is a pretty significant gap between the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3 which was supposed to be covered by the Halo: Uprising comic series. Unfortunately, the final issue of that series has been delayed over and over again, so the question of how Spartan 117 finds his way off the Forerunner Dreadnaught - descending through the atmosphere on a door from said dreadnaught - has not actually been answered.

EDIT: Yes.

 

[homerdog]

Between which two games? If it's between 2 and 3 it's either a really short book or I missed something...

There are a few books; haven't read any of them but from what I hear they're superior to the games in terms of story (surprise surprise).

 

[obonicus]

Between which two games? If it's between 2 and 3 it's either a really short book or I missed something...

There are a few books; haven't read any of them but from what I hear they're superior to the games in terms of story (surprise surprise).

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

 

[AlNom]

I'd say the gap between 1 and 2 is a lot bigger, considering it took an entire book! There's also the fact that

Spoiler

Master Chief was stranded in space near the remnants of the Alpha Halo and somehow ended up on Earth along with Sgt Johnson at the start of 2.

 

[homerdog]

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

He was on the Forerunner ship about to enter the atmosphere IIRC.. I figured he jumped off and crashed in the jungle which is the first mission of Halo 3. I will now consult Wiki for guidance.

After reading the Wiki article on Uprising I'm confused.

Spoiler

The Chief was captured on the Forerunner ship? He escaped and jumped off? Am I gonna have to read this damn comic?

 

[Deepblue]

I'd say the gap between 1 and 2 is a lot bigger, considering it took an entire book! There's also the fact that

Spoiler

Master Chief was stranded in space near the remnants of the Alpha Halo and somehow ended up on Earth along with Sgt Johnson at the start of 2.

Yup. I always thought it was kind of funny that no one questioned that. But it WAS explained in First Strike (which is actually a very good read).

 

[NRP]

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.

 

[Deepblue]

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.

IIRC, Several Spartans had to ditch from a Pelican w/o parachutes in The Fall of Reach. Some bone breakage occured, but I suppose the Master Chief did have a door to ride down on. In fact, if you look at the door stuck in the impact crater on Sierra 117, you can see handprints on one side and the faint glow of super-heated metal on the other.

I also agree with respect to Halo 1's story.

 

[liolio]

Thanks for your numerous repsonses
I'll try to find a good deal on the web / buy the first two games second hand for cheap.
I want to play this game for the story mostly and also because Halo is one of the big franchise I missed (I wasn't playing much at the time).

 

[homerdog]

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.

Yes I believe that's right, but this is what surprised me:

Onboard the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief is captured and interrogated by Covenant forces, but manages to escape using a concealed weapon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Uprising

Seems purely anecdotal but I didn't know all that happened between H2 and H3.

And yes Halo 1 had a better story than the latter two. But maybe that's because we were kept in the dark on a lot of things...