In Response To: Mothergoat's Second Opinion of Halo 2 (mothergoat)
: I love you all. This is the best community ever. You guys have really
: supported my anthems and music. I thank you so much for that.
: This is a long read. But it's my essay expressing my quandaries with Halo 2.
: Keep in mind that I love Halo 2 as a video game. Just...not as a Halo
: game. Also keep in mind these are merely opinions. And this is just a
: video game. :) Of course, it's a video game that I loved very, very much
: :)
: --------
: Fixing What Wasn’t Broken:
:
: Reflections on Halo 2
:
...
: The length definitely won’t be spent standing around in awe at the grand
: landscapes. Halo 2’s repeated corridors, weirdly cartoony jungle
: environments, confusing layouts yet linear design don’t ever seem to try
: to touch such architecture, purpose, landscapes and playscapes of Halo 1
: levels like Halo, Assault on the Control Room, Silent Cartographer or
: Truth and Reconciliation. I felt claustrophobic on too many of the levels
: of Halo 2. Especially the outdoor levels, ironically.
This I agree with. All too many of the levels were too small, and confusing for linear leves. I got lost more than once.
...
: Silent Denominator
: Much of Halo 2 multiplayer caters to casual gamers who can’t aim. Halo 1
: catered to people who wanted to get better. I’m not going to drone on
: about the dumbing down of the pistol. (Despite too long of a range, the
: pistol’s accuracy and power is one of Halo 1’s great assets that set it
: apart in a good way. And no Noguchi, I was NOT one of the pistol sniping
: whores. I hardly used the pistol.) However, why Bungie chose to dumb down
: good weapons instead of bring others up is beyond me. Catering to the
: lowest common denominator could only be a motivation of fear that Halo 2
: wouldn’t sell nearly as many copies. Ironically, the only reason Halo 2 is
: selling so well is BECAUSE of how Halo 1 played, not in spite of.
Bring the other weapons UP? So you want non-automatic weapons to kill in three shots to the head? The pistol was WAY too good. And spraying isn't a huge part of the game. I don't like how you start out with a weapon that can be owned by almost anything else, but you shouldn't start out with sniper rifle!
: The rocket is nowhere near as effective, even though homing is a nice touch.
: The Battle Rifle and Carbine are no substitute for the pistol.
The rocket is an not ment for personnel. it's meant to kill warthogs, and the like. Too many people are using it to pick off enemies at close ranges. That meant that Rocket > everything else (at close range). Same for pistol. They added the new features too make the rocket serve it's purpose: balance out the game.
: Most weapons you will encounter are based on spraying and praying.
Last I checked, the SMG isn't "most weapons".
: Assault on the Grenade Boom
: The change that is not recoverable via download and the one change that
: dampened much of the satisfaction I got from playing Halo 1 single and
: multiplayer is the newly nerfed physics engine. Puzzling. Disappointing.
: This is the one area that Bungie was absolutely silent about changing. Did
: Bungie really think we wouldn’t notice? Not only is the blast radius of a
: grenade and rocket severely and reduced for no good reason, but the force
: with which they impact a vehicle is not only unsatisfying but hardly
: existent.
: I remember Blood Gulch (Halo 1). I saw an enemy warthog incoming. I threw an
: accurately placed grenade to detonate on the backside of the moving hog.
: The hog would gloriously fly with correct trajectory, killing some or all
: of the passengers while a great deal of rewarding satisfaction came over
: me as the wonderful explosion animation full of dirt and grass subsided.
: In Halo 2, the hog keeps on going, not flinching. In fact, place a grenade
: by any non-moving vehicle. It hardly moves. Makes sense for tanks and
: Wraiths just like Halo 1, but grenades and the physics have lost almost
: all of their fun factor.
The grenades still do plenty. Not enough, I agree. But I have sent one or two people flying from a hog with a frag.
: 343 Lonely Spartan
: I am all about playing as the Arbiter. Great twist! But the human element of
: Earth’s destruction is non-existent. We’ve been led on with “Earth will
: never be the same” for the sole purpose of setting us up for the big
: twist. Earth is neglected almost entirely. The ending sets up a second
: level on Earth, but of course, the credits start to roll. I wanted to
: learn about Chief. The story seems way too rushed and convoluted. This
: really lends a lot to the Halo 3 next year theory. Since Halo 2
: essentially ends where we thought it would start.
Okay, I agree with you here. We were told that we got to defend Earth! YAY! Slaughtering waves upon waves of covenant forces! But the game quickly turned back into halo 1.
: The Asymmetry
: [Something like] “When you see a map, you’ll say ‘hey, that reminds me of a
: single-player location.’” – Bungie
: Somehow, Bungie listened to the wrong people. Since when does asymmetry =
: better? It may look like a more “realistic” locale, but what does realism
: have to do with a game that features aliens, cybernetically enhanced
: super-soldiers, slipspace jumps and ring-shaped planets? Aside from the
: fact that there are ridiculously few multiplayer maps to begin with, most
: of them are really, really, dull. Although more graphically detailed, the
: overall design in both symmetrical and asymmetrical maps leaves much to be
: desired. Aside from Lockout, Midship and Headlong, Halo 1, Gearbox’s Halo
: PC maps and some select maps from the Halo CE community kick these maps in
: the rear. Why? These maps had “fun” in mind first and foremost.
Most of the maps are okay! You're letting the graphics distract you from the game. Explore the map. Don't just run around and try to find someone. That's what Halo 1's maps did, and although they were fun, they changed it this time around.
: I remember visiting Gearbox in Dallas before Halo CE was released. We were
: talking about what makes a good multiplayer map since I planned on diving
: into mapmaking. I’ll never forget what I believe is the best advice for
: any aspiring developer. “Multiplayer maps are all about moments. You have
: to build moments into your map or it will be boring.” So true. Gearbox did
: a magnificent job with their PC maps. Perfectly moment-crafted and perfect
: for Halo. Halo 2 makes another dip into the dull and ordinary with many
: moment-less maps.
GAH! Play some multi-player! Play 4v4 1flagCTF on Zanzabar! PLAY ANYTHING! You'll find it's chalk full of moments. A lot of the maps were made bigger for Xbox live though, so it's not as good with one xbox.
: What also makes the 11 Halo 2 maps (Foundation doesn’t even count), feel even
: less in number is that time wasn’t taken to make them friendly for all
: gametypes. I could play almost any gametype on any Halo 1 map and feel it
: was fun. Halo 2, not so much. While this isn’t necessarily a horrible
: thing, the fact that it exists should’ve prompted Bungie to release at
: least twice the maps with the shipped version of Halo 2.
Yeah, I didn't like that either. Almost all maps in Halo 1 were designed with CTF in mind. Now the maps are one big asymettrical blob. Bleh.
: Keys
: Vehicles. Poof! They’re gone. We get to drive a Wraith and a Spectre now.
: Okay, cool. What? That’s it? Where is the human answer to the Banshee? The
: Kestrel was there. Ready to go. Perfectly in place as a cool new air ride.
: Not even in single player. Couldn’t tame the ATV? I don’t buy it. It
: flipped too much? So does the new ‘hog. But there is a rolling assistance
: that usually gets the ‘hog back on its wheels. Could’ve done the same with
: the ATV.
They cut the ATV and Human banshee for good reason. You're not losing anything, are you? Stop whining.
: The new Banshee handling is bad. It can no longer hover. Worried about
: Banshee camping? Just make it more fragile. It wasn’t that bad in PC at
: all. Even with the fuel rod pulse bomb thing. I played PC religiously and
: NEVER was Banshee whoring a factor in non-noob games.
Okay, agreed. The banshee is terrible now. I do like dodging rockets after they're shot at me though. But if you can't hear the lock-on sound, you're screwed.
: Let me say, again, that there was no reason to make the pistol weaker. Just
: make the other weapons stronger. One of Halo 1’s awesome assets that set
: it apart from spray and pray shooters was the weapon set. That is all but
: lost. And for the love of God, Bungie, give the ranked gamers a medium
: range weapon to spawn with.
All weapons kill in three shots? And although you don't have a medium range weapon, have you looked in the options?
That's all. But why a lot of people don't like Halo 2 is that they're playing it like halo 1. I've had all to many friends at my house pick up the rocket launcher and try to take me out with it. Or using the BR at Med-close range. Or use the pistol alone. Seriously, guys. Learn the NEW game.
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