Lumoria was pretty interesting but I found that it felt like those other modern first person shooters mixed with Halo. My disappointments: -scripting forcing us out of a vehicle at certain points. Not only does this give us very little opportunity to use a vehicle (a la The Covenant mission start, operating the AA Wraith), but this also frustrates those who have creative uses for those vehicles. Not even Reach did this. While the CE Wraith and Ghost can be fought and fended off on foot, it's pretty inconvenient having to be suppressed into cover... wasting ammo on just one vehicle -why is the Spectre so slow and a heavy piece of crap (seems much more heavier than the Wraith, barely moved by plasma grenade sticks)? It also has terrible traction. Really, I just had to keep my distance and snipe the pilot and gunner. The Halo 2 Spectre was just the opposite and was more fun to use: fast, lightweight, incredible traction. -the sword Elite boss at the end of the first episode just seems to have faster animations and less cooldown time, allowing it to strike faster. I was expecting a decent challenge [Edited on 10.09.2012 9:18 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost -Why is the Spectre such a slow and a heavy piece of crap (seems much heavier than the Wraith, it's barely moved by plasma grenade sticks)? It also has terrible traction. Really, I just had to keep my distance and snipe the pilot and gunner. The Halo 2 Spectre was just the opposite and was more fun to use: fast, lightweight, incredible traction. -The sword Elite boss at the end of the first episode just seems to have faster animations and less cooldown time, allowing it to strike faster. I was expecting a decent challenge.[/quote] Agreed. -I also agree that the scripting forcing players out of a vehicle was annoying. Especially at the end of Episode 1. -With the Elite bosses, I just stuck them the moment they moved their shield. -As for the Spectre, I just use Rocket 'Hogs on them. I hijacked a Spectre once, and the moment I got out, I died, like I had been splattered or something. -I thought 735 Antecedent Sage (or something like that) was megalomaniacal, but that was probably the intended effect. -The lack of sniper rifle ammo was really annoying. -It sucks that Brandon died, he was the coolest character in the story. -Some of the music sequences were placed in the wrong places as well. But I thought "Blow Me Away" playing at the final battle sequence was great, though. You have to give TM credit though, they made an incredible story. [Edited on 10.10.2012 12:29 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey -I also agree that the scripting forcing players out of a vehicle was annoying. Especially at the end of Episode 1.[/quote]Agreed. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey -As for the Spectre, I just use Rocket 'Hogs on them. I hijacked a Spectre once, and the moment I got out, I died, like I had been splattered or something. [/quote]It definitely needs more work. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey -The lack of sniper rifle ammo was really annoying. [/quote]Agreed. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey -It sucks that Brandon died, he was the coolest character in the story. [/quote]Yeah. His shotgun was pretty effective. Still, at some points, he felt a lot like Emile. It'd have been interesting to see him use other weapons. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey You have to give TM credit though, they made an incredible story. [/quote]Better than CEA or CMT Spv3 IMO. Some tough encounters, but not the cheating or 'holy -blam!- -blam!-, this game is working against me' variety.

[b]Pros[/b]: [quote]- The encounters felt amazing to me. I actually enjoyed fighting through all the battles and it never felt like a hassle to me. All the Halo games past Combat Evolved had me feeling like that 90% of the way through yet I didn't feel this a single time. - I really enjoyed the large open areas for good vehicular battle. Something that was missing (For the most part) from Combat Evolved's campaign and when it did have it, it was underwhelming. Here I couldn't get enough of it. - The design of the levels really felt right for the combat. At first I didn't like the lack of pistol ammo lying around but I Realized it was forcing me to stop from spamming it. I started caring about killing enemies while using the least amount of ammo as possible.[/quote] [b]Cons[/b]: [quote]- Like I said before, I loved the vehicular encounters. Including getting in the banshee that was to the left near the end of the third part after you use the tank. However, I'm not even too sure you were supposed to be able to use the banshee. A friend of mine told me he was able to fly the banshee into areas where he didn't think you were supposed to go so I decided to test it out. There was no barrier at all to stop you from flying into areas that were completely unpolished and looked as though they didn't plan for you to be there. If it was a mistake that you could access that banshee, they should have easily realized you could access it. If it was meant for you to use the banshee then they should have either polished up those areas or denied access to them. - Brandon seemed to have it out for me. He killed me twice with his shotgun and shot me out of the air while I was using a banshee with a tank.I was wanting him die about half way through playing through the campaign. - The problems with OS and using an FoV that wasn't default was annoying such as voices seeming to be missing from the cutscenes or being able to clearly see May's "Helmet under another helmet" ala Master Chief at the end of Combat Evolved. You'd think they'd account for these things with how popular both things are. (Although it was hilarious to hear my friend say "OH MY GOD, SHE WAS MASTER CHIEF THE ENTIRE TIME!?" when this happened. Had me rofling.)[/quote] Overall, it was an awesome experience. It wasn't perfect but I never expected it to be to begin with. It was amazing for what they had and I applaud them on what they delivered. I'd recommend other people to play it as well but to not judge it too harshly. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost Better than CEA or CMT Spv3 IMO. Some tough encounters, but not the cheating or 'holy -blam!- -blam!-, this game is working against me' variety.[/quote]I think you're getting confused here. He said story, not gameplay encouters. Story is that thing where you're told things happen to other people like in movies or books... In case you didn't know. <3 you xD [Edited on 10.10.2012 7:15 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx [quote][b]Posted by:[/b]Sliding Ghost Better than CEA or CMT Spv3 IMO. Some tough encounters, but not the cheating or 'holy -blam!- -blam!-, this game is working against me' variety.[/quote]I think you're getting confused here. He said story, not gameplay encouters. Story is that thing where you're told things happen to other people like in movies or books... In case you didn't know. <3 you xD[/quote]They're practically synonymous to me. :P You'll notice I addressed his replies concerning gameplay. I'm a gameplay obsessed fellow. :) [Edited on 10.10.2012 7:22 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost They're practically synonymous to me. :P You'll notice I addressed his replies concerning gameplay. I'm a gameplay obsessed fellow. :)[/quote]I know you're a gameplay obsessed fellow but when someone is referencing story they're not referencing an encounter they had with 2 elites and a handful of grunts. They're referencing something in the... well, story. I don't see how I could explain that any clearer. :P [Edited on 10.10.2012 7:17 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost They're practically synonymous to me. :P You'll notice I addressed his replies concerning gameplay. I'm a gameplay obsessed fellow. :)[/quote]I know you're a gameplay obsessed fellow but when someone is referencing story they're not referencing an encounter they had with 2 elites and a handful of grunts. They're referencing something in the... well, story. I don't see how I could explain that any clearer. :P[/quote]There's always a story in every encounter. ;) It's just subtle because everyone's too busy killing to notice. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx Something that was missing (For the most part) from Combat Evolved's campaign and when it did have it, it was underwhelming. Here I couldn't get enough of it.[/quote]True. The only instance in CE where you did not have a vehicle at your immediate disposal in vehicle combat was when you came down the elevator on AotCR and stepped outside. It was a matter of prioritization. Kill the Shade gunner, then link up with your marines and use the rocket launcher or kill the Shade gunners, intercept the Elite running for the Ghost, then the Jackals, then help out your marines from a distance (this way allows your marines to stay back instead of charging at the Wraith and dying). [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx Including getting in the banshee that was to the left near the end of the third part after you use the tank. However, I'm not even too sure you were supposed to be able to use the banshee. A friend of mine told me he was able to fly the banshee into areas where he didn't think you were supposed to go so I decided to test it out. There was no barrier at all to stop you from flying into areas that were completely unpolished and looked as though they didn't plan for you to be there. If it was a mistake that you could access that banshee, they should have easily realized you could access it. If it was meant for you to use the banshee then they should have either polished up those areas or denied access to them.[/quote]Wow really? Personally I find low ceilings for the Banshee to be discouraging. A horizontal barrier is more suitable. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx - Brandon seemed to have it out for me. He killed me twice with his shotgun and shot me out of the air while I was using a banshee with a tank.I was wanting him die about half way through playing through the campaign.[/quote]I KNEW IT!! He is Emile!! On a similar note, I noticed that the marines on the rocket hog can fire at close up enemies. IIRC, this can easily be fixed. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx - FoV that wasn't default[/quote]One of the reasons why I didn't enjoy CEA. FoV didn't seem like the original. I found grenade sticks even more awkward. [Edited on 10.10.2012 7:24 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost On a similar note, I noticed that the marines on the rocket hog can fire at close up enemies. IIRC, this can easily be fixed.[/quote]YEP! That drove me crazy too. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost One of the reasons why I didn't enjoy CEA. FoV didn't seem like the original. I found grenade sticks even more awkward.[/quote]Well what I meant was they didn't consider higher FoVs when doing certain things. :P Also, the FoV in CEA was appropriate for widescreen. If it wasn't that wide it would have been terrible. Try playing Halo PC in widescreen without enlarging the FoV and that's how it would have been. I don't think what they did in that aspect was a bad thing at all. :P

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost On a similar note, I noticed that the marines on the rocket hog can fire at close up enemies. IIRC, this can easily be fixed.[/quote]YEP! That drove me crazy too. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost One of the reasons why I didn't enjoy CEA. FoV didn't seem like the original. I found grenade sticks even more awkward.[/quote]Well what I meant was they didn't consider higher FoVs when doing certain things. :P Also, the FoV in CEA was appropriate for widescreen. If it wasn't that wide it would have been terrible. Try playing Halo PC in widescreen without enlarging the FoV and that's how it would have been. I don't think what they did in that aspect was a bad thing at all. :P[/quote]It makes me want to mod it myself. Hope I still remember how to use Eschaton... Eh so it's lower than the original? :s That's probably it. I still have those ancient tube televisions, which is why the FoV may be so awkward to me.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost Eh so it's lower than the original? :s[/quote]No, technically it's larger. In reality it's scaled up to match widescreen. If it wasn't scaled up it would look like you're looking at your TV through a magnifying glass. :D

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dr Syx [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost Eh so it's lower than the original? :s[/quote]No, technically it's larger. In reality it's scaled up to match widescreen. If it wasn't scaled up it would look like you're looking at your TV through a magnifying glass. :D[/quote]Hmmm.. ok.

Most of the time in the Halo series, widescreen FoV's are created by holding vertical view constant and simply expanding the window horizontally. This [url=http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive38.pl?read=1138638]is what CEA does with respect to CE[/url] as far as 16:9 goes, though the 32:9 split-screen used by CEA is a vertical squishing of the 16:9 view, which makes it like looking through a thin slit. Pretty pathetic compared with the original game's almost 110-degree 8:3 split-screen FoV, which it got by, as you'd expect, horizontally expanding the 70-degree 4:3 view. I'm mostly okay with the horizontal expansion approach to FoV handling, though especially in a case like Halo 3, I think I would have preferred a more "split the difference" approach, since the 55-degree FoV you get in Halo 3 4:3 [i]sucks[/i]. Fun thing: Halo PC in unmodded 16:9 mode is pretty much Halo 3's standard 16:9 view. //========================= By the way, Ghost, is your CRT a 4:3 model? Anniversary isn't especially appropriate for that sort of screen in general, since your choices are 360i letterboxed or a squished image. [Edited on 10.11.2012 11:41 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] sdnomdE [/quote]Wow! [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] sdnomdE Fun thing: Halo PC in unmodded 16:9 mode is pretty much Halo 3's standard 16:9 view. //========================= By the way, Ghost, is your CRT a 4:3 model? Anniversary isn't especially appropriate for that sort of screen in general, since your choices are 360i letterboxed or a squished image.[/quote]I play in windowed mode so I never noticed that! Yeah I guess it is. I don't really mind about the quality. Others might, which makes Anniversary unsuitable for video uploading on my end. [Edited on 10.12.2012 12:08 AM PDT]

This is getting off subject. We're discussing LUMORIA, not the other Halo games. -I also found Flamethrower cans throughout the game. Maybe a Flamethrower (or Flamethrowers) is hidden in the game. [Edited on 10.12.2012 2:36 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JunkyMonkey This is getting off subject. We're discussing LUMORIA, not the other Halo games. -I also found Flamethrower cans throughout the game. Maybe a Flamethrower (or Flamethrowers) is hidden in the game.[/quote]Which episode in particular? Also, there's only one way to tell for sure that it's not just left over stuff. Devmode.

I found them throughout Episode 2. One was set beside a sniper rifle about halfway through Episode 2, I know that. I don't remember where the rest were.