Halo 5: Guardians [XO]

[Jwm]

Bah--what good is playing the game when we have all these months to dream up our own reasons?

 

[dobwal]

Bah--what good is playing the game when we have all these months to dream up our own reasons?

Because I'm lazy. Why hunt for the truth when you can just wait for it. LOL.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Well there are actually two ships in the videos: the Infinity is the one floating in the sky above the MC statue.

The one on the ground seems to be a Covenant ship.

 

[function]

As CGI teasers, they probably don't represent actual scenes from the game.

They're may well be palette-whetters to drive fan hype using the "competing heroes" theme, before turning out to not actually be part of the game.

343i might be pulling a "Reach reveal trailer", where the trailer isn't actually in the game.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Actually a lot of these trailers were live action - most of the sets, the suits, the smoke and such. VFX was only used in the backgrounds and probably for the sky; and for the still burning damage on the practical Chief armor.

The Chief suit is sort of fan made, in that 343 supplied files to a fan made studio, and it was also featured in some of the H4 commercials; Locke's armor on the other hand was newly made by Legacy Effects.

 

[dobwal]

Well a youtube analysis shows that the level of damage for the MC statue is worse in the MC video with a piece of the helmet missing and the left shoulder/arm damaged with exposed iron rods.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

The statue could easily be CG as it's kinda harder to build in real life and transport to a shooting location. It's probably also some sort of hint; although I kinda doubt that H5 would have two different endings, so it's probably more about either the story or just the impression 343 wanted to create with the trailer.

E3 is about two months away (something I know in my bones, sort of) so that's when we should find out some more about this.

 

[Cyan]

They started retconing Locke into the game via Terminal videos and via Halo Nightfall.

I watched Nightfall over the weekend in one sitting and it wasn't as bad as I feared - admittedly I had loooow expectations going in. Locke could be an interesting character and I wouldn't be surprised to see Halo 5 a story told from two sides (the Chief and Locke) ala Halo 2.

But the Halo universe is full of interesting characters so the retcon introduction does feel a bit weird.

What both of you mean by retcon? Is it a word? The most similar word I know is deacon.

I actually watched the entire game through including gameplay...

Yeah, it was a saturday and I was bored

Now I understand the meaning of the expression "I will play it on Youtube"

 

[Cyan]

So ONI is going to try to treat the Chief as a loose cannon? Interesting...

Also kinda feels like the 4-5-6 story arc is going to be very similar to the old Star Wars trilogy. I mean H4 was a lot like New Hope - Chief destroyed the superweapon, but the main villain got away, a close friend died, and it even had a Death Star trench run near the end
Seriously though, H5 is probably gonna have a cliffhanger ending. The parallel storylines are of course from Halo 2, so I also wonder if Locke is going to change sides at the end and become BFF with Chief - or maybe they're gonna play against this expectation?

Oh and for Cortana, one idea is that she's sort of left an imprint or echo in the Forerunner network, which could allow for her return as a 'ghost', kinda like Obi-Wan. Now that I'm thinking, Halsey would also be a good match for Yoda - an old master who's done a lot behind the scenes and also got morally compromised... so she could also die in this game?

The Forerunner technology is indeed interesting, and we don't know what the librarian did to the Master Chief. I also think Cortana is alive.

 

[Cyan]

That was my first guess, but I was not on something to where I could pause and look.

Ok, just watching the Flash and an MC spot aired, paused to see that it is the Infinity or at least that class of ship. Smoking from a few spots with active fires. Have to rewatch the Locke ad now, I thought the ship looked much worse in that spot.

Ship does appear to have more active fires in the Locke spot. My take is that Chief has some help, as the ship has less damage in the ad where Chief is in control. Different angles in the spots, but as it moves it does appear to be more pronounced in one vs the other.

My favourite part is when they show the HUD. If this is the new HUD, I am certainly going to love it.

To Locke, MC's message should be:

 

[BRiT]

What both of you mean by retcon? Is it a word?

Retcon. Yes, it's a word. Retroactive continuity.

Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is the alteration of previously established facts in the continuity of a fictional work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_continuity

 

[dobwal]

Well there are actually two ships in the videos: the Infinity is the one floating in the sky above the MC statue.

The one on the ground seems to be a Covenant ship.

Thats the ship/building from leaked drawings from years ago.

 

[Prophecy2k]

Retcon. Yes, it's a word. Retroactive continuity.

Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is the alteration of previously established facts in the continuity of a fictional work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_continuity

...why did I not know this until now.... mind blown.

It's so obvious in hindsight, lol.

 

[Devious]

I think halo Reach is more "open" (or at least, feels more open).

Reach did have some nice spots that were much more open and at least gave you some different ways into a target zone. I wonder if the open world rumors we kept hearing were all just confusion with Halo online that is in Russia?

Reach definitely has a lot of open spaces compared to Halo 4. The first mission in Reach for example, Winter Contingency, was very open. It gave you multiple paths to choose from and you were able to be picked up by the Falcon from two different areas.

Do we know yet if H5 is Forward+ or Deferred? 343 for some reason loves to keep all the technical details secret. :/

 

[NRP]

Would one rendering approach be more amenable to large open spaces than the other?

 

[HTupolev]

343 for some reason loves to keep all the technical details secret. :/

That's Microsoft in general.

Bungie GDC 2002: Amazing AI presentation
Bungie GDC 2003: This. (Seriously, watch at least the first 5 minutes.)
Then they go practically silent until 2008, when they're independent again.

 

[AlNom]

Would one rendering approach be more amenable to large open spaces than the other?

Pretty straight-forward list of pros/cons:
http://www.humus.name/Articles/PracticalClusteredShading.pdf

GDC15 - Advances in Tile Compute
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1021764/Advanced-Visual-Effects-With-DirectX

edit: Clustered seems like it would be better for long-range efficiency. *shrug*


Clustered is nice because it avoids Z Prepass (CPU overhead included), transparencies just work. One of the drawbacks is handling multiple shadow casters IIRC.

----

Have to wonder what Saber was doing in H2A.

 

[AlNom]

Thinking about the two trailers, I can't help but feel it'd have been better to have the voices/speeches switched (with some adjustment to the last part about Locke saving ppl from Chief & Chief's mission just beginning) i.e. have Locke speak his sarcasm while he's down on the ground. Have Chief on the ground speaking to the approaching Locke.

But... maybe that changes the narrative goal or something. *shrug*

edit:

Picture Locke on the ground instead:

All hail the conquering hero. Let us remember him as our protector, and not the one that gave us… This.

<Locke swings arm up and wide to indicate the destruction>
<Chief turns head slightly to survey the area in contemplation, focuses back on Locke>

As our savior, and not our betrayer. Let us see him forever as you… <Locke points up at statue as if tired/hurt> And not, as you. <Locke slowly returns arm to ground while pointing at the approaching Chief>

All hail the conquering hero. The one who was supposed to save us all. <Locke coughs>

But now I must save us… from you.
"I was supposed to save us... from you."

Basically makes it look like Chief is a cold-blooded killer as he points the pistol at the talking Locke. He's silent through it all.

------------------------

And... Chief on the ground:

This. Is this what you wanted? Was this what you were looking for? <Chief's arm swings wide to indicate the destruction instead of Locke as Locke approaches>

Was everything you've compromised, everything you've done... worth it? Was it?

You've completed your mission, Spartan Locke.

Mine is just beginning.
"Finish this fight."

Final plea of Spartan 117 at the destruction wrought by Locke's seeming aggression.

trollolol

Ok nevermind.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

The funny thing is that there are usually two cases...

The team has been working on this for months, pre-planning, previz, shoot, edits, and so on. There's a good chance that in such a long time, they've thought about every possible option, and so there is a reason why the final result is the way it is.

On the other hand, sometimes they're so preoccupied that noone has time to think about an obvious option...

 

[AlNom]

Guess I just didn't like the delivery of the victor giving such a speech. The guy on the ground doesn't give a crap about what the victor has to say, and it's pretty much just rubbing it in. With Chief, he's a guy who pretty much only talks out of necessity, and quite frankly, him trying to rub it in while he won just seems completely out of character - something Palmer would blabber because she's tough and mean and tough. Like really. She is tough. Believe.

Besides, in the movies, doesn't the "victor" who talks a lot always get one-upped by the guy on the ground because of such superfluous yapping?

Maybe I just like irony/sarcasm.