In Response To: My own H3 wishlist (Rockslider)
: Well Ducain, like you I'm crazy for H1 and crazy for campaign. And for me H2
: was awful in the way it reinvented so much, succeeding only in losing the
: Halo gameplay magic. Little wonder then, that I'd basically like H3 to be
: a near-complete return to the feel of H1; or at least get back to a point
: where I can really enjoy the gameplay. The following would help a lot.
: Death animations: Drop the nondescript ragdoll death animations of H2 and
: revert to the highly amusing old-style death animations, which added so
: much to the enjoyment of nailing covie scum. The gameplay lost a big
: element of humour and satisfaction when Bungie went all ragdoll on us for
: H2.
I'm never really had a issue with the Halo 2 death animations.
: Elites: Make Elites animalistic and scary again, both in the way they move
: and the way they sound. Especially get rid of the cheesily spoken English
: lines, gadzooks! I want Wort Wort Wort and lots of it. If they MUST speak
: English, at least give it some heavy alien distortion to make it menacing.
: I want the heebie-jeebies put back into me!
It took me almost a month to get over my fear of fighting the Elites when I started playing Halo 1.
When I first heard the Elite in Halo 2 with the badly spoken English accent I laughed out loud. I mean, where does an eight foot blue alien monster acquire an English accent anyway? I've never understood why the sci-fi writers for film/TV/movies and games gives some hideous looking alien such an accent, it comes off as cheesy. With the Dogmatic Elite I was confused because I wasn't sure if I was fighting an eight foot alien or Prince Charles.
Also, one type of dialogue that is missing from Halo 2 is the verbal reaction to being stuck with a plasma grenade. Bungie forgot to record those. None of the characters say anything after getting tagged, usually they just stand still and you watch them blow up. I really miss the tagged Elite's running away saying "IEEEEEEEEE" or a Grunt saying "Get me off" after being stuck with a grenade.
: Jackals: If we MUST have Jackal snipers, at least tone them down a bit huh?
: They were way too severe in H2; a real drag on the enjoyment factor. Oh,
: and any chance of reverting to the old Jackal models? I mean, what's with
: making them zip along like hyperactive gerbils? The slow-moving skulking
: originals had far more character, quite apart from looking way better.
Hmmm, Mark 6 armor with an updated energy shield that costs about as much as a star ship and a single round from a sniper rifle can kill him...and it doesn't have to be a headshot either?
For the most part I like the new Jackal animations. The Jackals in both games have always been rather challenging to kill and I really enjoy it when I take one out in Halo 1 with a Needler.
: Grunts: I want all the original Grunt lines back dammit! Ok add in new ones
: if you want, but the old ones were inspired. The old animations were far
: better too, just as with the Elites and Jackals, so we'll have those back
: as well thanks. The original Grunts were a work of brilliance, and I find
: it a mind-boggling travesty how Bungie apparently failed to realize what
: it was losing when it redesigned them for H2. You are naughty Bungie
: people! Naughty!
There are a few of the original Grunt lines in Halo 2 just re-recorded. The Dopey Grunt voice, the new Grunt, doesn't carry very well, he sounds like he's 50 feet away even though he's two feet from you!
: Covie weapons: Return the plasma rifle, plasma pistol and needler to their
: former glory, including the original sound effects. And especially the
: previously glorious needler, so rephrehensibly neutered in H2.
Yes master, give me precious
The original Needler is my favorite weapon in Halo 1, loads of theatrics, nice colors and secondary explosions....who could ask for more! The Halo 2 Needler is completely pathetic, you only get one needle explosion no matter how many needles you pump into an enemy. The needles from the H2 weapon look like frozen chunks of Pepto-Bizmol.
: Grenades: We must have those old frag grenades back! Preferably plasma
: grenades too. And chain reactions must be as glorious as before. I no
: longer play H2 but I seem to recall that chain reactions tended to be a
: lot more muted. The chain reactions in H1 added so much to the gameplay!
Yes.
: Melee attacking: Restore melee attacking to H1 goodness. In particular,
: don't make it unpleasantly jerky, and don't vary the actual whacking
: animation for the weapon (because then you never know quite what to
: expect, which lessens your feel of being in control). I use melee lots in
: H1, but in H2 it went out the window - another key gameplay element
: mangled.
Yes.
: Warthog and Ghost: Return to having the Warthog feel like a real vehicle,
: not like a light radio-controlled toy zipping about. Just like Slimby
: said. Same with Ghosts.
: Grown-up gaming: Enough with the old-school boss battle madness and certain
: other regressive elements that creeped into H2 design. Return to the
: grown-up intelligence of the original game, which is part of what made its
: name and identity.
Like I said before. "Boss battles are teh suck" enough said. I would like to point out that that is the second time I've ever written "teh suck" :)
: Massive battles: All my other wishes have been to do with restoring
: gameplay to a point where I can at least enjoy it again. If I allow myself
: just one wish for actually PROGRESSING the goodness of H1, it would be to
: have some really large and massively replayable battles; stuff that can
: rival and even surpass the H1 megabattles (battles we only got by lucky
: chance rather than design, as far as I'm aware). I've heard a few remarks
: that hint at large conflicts, so we might actually be in with a shout
: here. But do Bungie truly realize just how good the combat can be in a
: megabattle? And if so, are they putting thought into maximizing
: replayability by use of carefully designed terrain and suchlike, allowing
: for many different battle plans? Thing is, I've never actually heard any
: Bungie person refer to the H1 megabattles, and I'm not even sure they know
: about them, and hence about how good the gameplay can be. So I'm kind of
: worried that this may end up being another missed opportunity to some
: degree. Still, fingers crossed.
Yes, yes and yeeessss.
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