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On my XBox Crystal.
It's ****ing epic.
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Originally posted by Janos
On my XBox Crystal.
It's ****ing epic.
o/` "Spam, spam, wonderful spam" o/`
halo2 multi is where it's at.;)
energy swords own, yo..
*pats the ol' SPNKR*
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One thing that REALLY creeps me out though:
The flood diving vehicles
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Originally posted by Hippo
One thing that REALLY creeps me out though:
The flood diving vehicles
[/B]
in the first level you encounter them on, you can see some skittering up the walls.. very creepy.... oh yeah, and the gravemind...
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Indeed...
plus, them using plasma swords?!
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Originally posted by Hippo
Indeed... plus, them using plasma swords?!
[/B]
well, i can just say, that even tho they're parisitic, they're also quite intelligent, since we've seen examples of them flying starships, and pelicans, too.. perhaps like a basic collective/hive consciousness
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True, true... I cheered when tartarus snatched the monitor though :D
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Originally posted by Hippo
True, true... I cheered when tartarus snatched the monitor though :D
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"please don't shake the lightbulb" :p
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I hate you all :)
I don't have an X-Box.
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Tartarus? Pfft. I was se excited when I was able to play as the Arbiter! That plasma sword does onw. But what's even better is the Beam Laser! Those things kill me in one shot. They're like a more powerful sniper rifle!
But it did seem like there were more elite levels than spartan ones. Not that I'm complaining. :D
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Originally posted by Raa
But it did seem like there were more elite levels than spartan ones. Not that I'm complaining. :D
[/B]
I did really enjoy Arbiter levels it's so much fun when there is other grunts, elites and hunters with you) and in story overall it's more emotional story.
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What happens on legendary?
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Originally posted by MatthewPapa
What happens on legendary?
Well i can't confirm anything yet (i'am in last mission in legendary)
but I heard from few sources that there is something new in credits.
"Coming february 9th 2005 "
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Originally posted by Holy Imperial Gloriano
I did really enjoy Arbiter levels it's so much fun when there is other grunts, elites and hunters with you) and in story overall it's more emotional story.
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Agreed.
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I love the use of spoilers tags in here. You guys rock. :yes:
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escorting the covenant drop ship in the banshee was cool (againts that Covenant splinter group)
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Please kill me. I have to wait another week to get the game. + I wish I had a crystal Xbox, too bad its only for Canada.
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I like the soundtrack.
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Originally posted by Deepblue
Please kill me. I have to wait another week to get the game. + I wish I had a crystal Xbox, too bad its only for Canada.
Really?
Whats so special about the crystal Xbox? Only for Canada eh? :)
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All of you can go now...rakafraken x-box....:hopping:
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I heard Master Chief is revealed to actually be a 15 year old Japanese girl if you beat it on Legendary!
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Originally posted by Liberator
All of you can go now...rakafraken x-box....:hopping:
If you don't like it, you can leave this thread.
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Originally posted by Vanguard
I heard Master Chief is revealed to actually be a 15 year old Japanese girl if you beat it on Legendary!
Oh god yes.
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Originally posted by Turnsky
well, i can just say, that even tho they're parisitic, they're also quite intelligent, since we've seen examples of them flying starships, and pelicans, too.. perhaps like a basic collective/hive consciousness
[/B]
Flying starships/Pelicans, if you want to call it that, ok. Landing them is another story altogether. They crashed In Amber Clad into the side of High Charity for ****s sake. And what the **** is up with the names of the Human ships?
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That Pelican landing in the cutscene wasn't real great either.
I don't think the game was really that epic...it was actually a lot smaller then Halo in terms of the playing area for campaign. I miss having space to work with.
But the Needler, oh how I love it now...
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ngtm1r, in what way do you mean it was a lot smaller? I thought there were many more different environments, and also the whole place was generally bigger (which was why vehicles were used so much).
By the way, Legendary is wicked hard. My brother and I going co-op on it can't even get past the first level. :p
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Originally posted by ngtm1r
I don't think the game was really that epic...it was actually a lot smaller then Halo in terms of the playing area for campaign. I miss having space to work with.
Halo2 was really epic, Areas seems smaller because they aren't repetive areas in halo2
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Originally posted by Setekh
ngtm1r, in what way do you mean it was a lot smaller? I thought there were many more different environments, and also the whole place was generally bigger (which was why vehicles were used so much).
By the way, Legendary is wicked hard. My brother and I going co-op on it can't even get past the first level. :p
Same problem here. My bro and I have been trying and trying, but we're stuck in the area right before the second installation is detonated.
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im gonna be playing this when i get back to Singapore.
My uncle is going to be seeing a lot more of me once I get back :D
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Crystal Xbox:
(http://www.springshop.pt/images/Eco_JS/XB-MS5893.JPG)
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Hmm. I like my black one better...
Anyways, yes...
The covenant Carbine sucks. Utterly. Use the Beam Rifle in every level possible. Or the plasma sword...
There aren't enough levels with more than one magnum laying around. That gun rocks.
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The covie carbine sucks? maybe you're just bad at aiming. :p
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No, that's not it at all. I find that I can empty a clip into an elite and it'll barely break the elite's shield. Even if they're all head shots. The gun is uber crap.
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Battle Rifle>Carbine
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What's this about Crystal X-Boxes only being in Canada?
I got mine with Halo 2 bundled yesterday. Kicks some serious mother****ing ass.
Best thing is beating an Honor Guard unconscious with your own damn hands, taking his big frickin sword and slashing through legions of Covie troops while your support's about 200yards behind you, mocking the dead and dying Covenant troops.
Funniest thing I've encountered so far (I'm up to the Arbiter's "Find the Index" bit) is the support banter. I was in one of the lifts tracking the head of one of my support guys and he was like "Could you point that thing somewhere else?". And the whole "Who glassed Reach?" thing is damn funny.
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In Halo you had space to work with normally; and you needed it, too, when 20+ Combat forms came swarming at you. Here, most combat takes place in confined areas and you lack room to manuver, which I regard as a bit of crapout when it comes to increasing difficulty. That and the nerfed weaponry annoys me no end. Even in the vehicle levels, you still don't have much room to manuver in most places where you get in a firefight.
On the other hand, the Needler>all other weapons.
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How are the weapons nerfed? I've played Halo on X-Box for all of 30 seconds and I've played the Halo PC demo...whats changed?
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Pistol no longer has a scope, assault rifle is gone, replaced by the SMG (high rate of fire, no accuracy, nasty recoil, but can dual weild) and the Battle Rifle (scope, high damage, but limited to a 3 round burst) He's just looking for excuses to ***** because it's harder than the first. And no, the Needler is not better. Chews through ammo too quick. They all have their uses. As for the confined areas, thats no different than the first Halo. Besides, those levels you usually have access to plasma swords and shotguns. A plasma sword can pretty much cleave a Combat Form in half in a single hit.
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personally, i don't have any complaints with halo 2... other than that my brother gets dizzy when i'm playing it cuz the bastard can't handle the "3D"ness of it, so i can't play multiplayer with him. and i don't have a second controller.
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eh? Combat forms explode[/b] when hit by a Plasma sword. Elites take about 2-3 hits (two for shields, one for the Elite itself) and those god*mn Brutes take about 3-4 hits.
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[q]my brother gets dizzy when i'm playing it cuz the bastard can't handle the "3D"ness of it[/q]
Reality must be a bit of a **** for him then?
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Originally posted by Raa
No, that's not it at all. I find that I can empty a clip into an elite and it'll barely break the elite's shield. Even if they're all head shots. The gun is uber crap.
[/B]
yeah, feels like you should be able to carry 2 at once.
twin Brute Plasma Rifles own
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Originally posted by Thorn
Pistol no longer has a scope, assault rifle is gone, replaced by the SMG (high rate of fire, no accuracy, nasty recoil, but can dual weild) and the Battle Rifle (scope, high damage, but limited to a 3 round burst) He's just looking for excuses to ***** because it's harder than the first. And no, the Needler is not better. Chews through ammo too quick. They all have their uses. As for the confined areas, thats no different than the first Halo. Besides, those levels you usually have access to plasma swords and shotguns. A plasma sword can pretty much cleave a Combat Form in half in a single hit.
None of that sounds bad at all!
Sounds like a boatload of fun. I always prefered the rifles in games where single round and three round burst was preferable to full auto in all but the most specific of circumstances. So it sounds like the Battle Rifle would be my best friend...
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Plus is looks nice. Like a Famas actually. In fact it almost is a Famas.
See pic:
(http://image2.sina.com.cn/gm/ldxd/dt/famas.jpg)
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Harder? Not really. That's an illusion caused by lack of space and less-powerful weapons. The Battle Rifle and Halo's AR fire the same ammo, but it takes twenty-plus rounds to drop a Combat form when it used to take fifteen. The M6C and the M6D are not related, unless it's in the fashion that the M1911 and M9 are in the real world. It used to take a single magazine to kill an Elite. Now it takes one and most of another. Or the Fuel Rod Gun. It used to be damage-equivalent to the rocket launcher, with a single blast being instant doom to a Banshee or Ghost. Now it takes two shots to kill a Ghost, three or four for a Banshee. Don't tell me the weapon power wasn't nerfed, it was.
In truth, you actually tend to engage fewer enemies at once, because you'd never survive taking on as many as you used to in Halo. The most Combat Forms I've ever counted onscreen at once was about ten, most I've ever engaged at once and lived to tell about it was seven. The Flood just don't feel as overwhelming as they used to, a lot of the time they're only in groups of two or four Combat Forms. There's nothing in Halo 2 at all to compare to the wave after wave of Infection Forms that introduced you to the Flood in Halo.
The Needler is the only weapon with which you can reasonably expect to kill anything that walks on two legs (Hunters excepted) in fifteen rounds or less. And without having to stand outside of cover for a long enough time for a bunch of Covies to hose you down with plasma fire. For the Flood, though, I prefer either dual SMGs or a Sentinel Beam. The Flood have a disturbing habit of taking enough needles to cause an explosion, but managing to run up to me before the needles actually explode.
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That was always a problem when fighting the flood... But then theres the shotgun...
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Originally posted by ngtm1r
Harder? Not really. That's an illusion caused by lack of space and less-powerful weapons. The Battle Rifle and Halo's AR fire the same ammo, but it takes twenty-plus rounds to drop a Combat form when it used to take fifteen. The M6C and the M6D are not related, unless it's in the fashion that the M1911 and M9 are in the real world. It used to take a single magazine to kill an Elite. Now it takes one and most of another. Or the Fuel Rod Gun. It used to be damage-equivalent to the rocket launcher, with a single blast being instant doom to a Banshee or Ghost. Now it takes two shots to kill a Ghost, three or four for a Banshee. Don't tell me the weapon power wasn't nerfed, it was.
In truth, you actually tend to engage fewer enemies at once, because you'd never survive taking on as many as you used to in Halo. The most Combat Forms I've ever counted onscreen at once was about ten, most I've ever engaged at once and lived to tell about it was seven. The Flood just don't feel as overwhelming as they used to, a lot of the time they're only in groups of two or four Combat Forms. There's nothing in Halo 2 at all to compare to the wave after wave of Infection Forms that introduced you to the Flood in Halo.
The only confined space I found was on High Charity, those curved corridors, with a level around the outer edge, slighly higher than the inner, but fine. I'll give you that one.
So by your reasoning they went from having wide open spaces, ridiculous amounts of enemies, and stupidly powerful weapons to smaller spaces and less enemies, toning down the weapons so you can't just walk through the game with one gun mowing down everything you come across. You went from superhuman one man army to still superhuman, but not a walking tank.
And while we're on the subject of enemies... Elites. They're 9ft tall aliens with highly advanced armor and powerful energy shield. You think a few bullets should take that down? Pfeh.
The difficulty is not an illusion if its giving you that much trouble. Accept the challenge and try to beat the game (or lower the difficulty ffs), or take it back if you dont like it. Quit *****ing.
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So I'm thinking I'll buy an X-Box and Halo 2 after Christmas maybe :)
Think the prices will drop afterwards? I like the sounds of Halo 2 and I wouldn't mind an X-Box for a few other games that seem to be on it and not on Gamecube. Infact, Gamecube seems to be a dud...the best game on it was Zelda...which I'm not terribly interested in and Metroid Prime which I found interesting and visually amazing but boring and somewhat lifeless. Its a neat adventure but it doesn't get my attention like the Halo PC demo did....
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The Xbox price will drop very quickly once Xbox 2 is announced.
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Dual Brute Plasma Rifles sucked so much ass it wasn't even funny. I was expecting some uber-rifles, and I cant even take down a single brute with those pieces of crap. Carbine = awesome, as well as the fuel rod cannon. (And the plasma sword)
I just finished the campaign today, and man it is sweet.
Brutes = cannon fodder for needlers
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The Wall levels didn't feel confined to you, working your way through those corridors with objects scattered around in them to inhibit your ability to backpedal when you needed to and bottomless pits to kill you if you misstepped? How about most of the combat that took place in the ruins on Delta Halo, or in the first Arbiter level, in rooms or corridors that only could fit four people abreast?
As for the Elites: Consider the round the pistol fires. A 12.7mm round is a big honkin' chunk of lead to get hit with. Halo's pistol was powerful because it should have been considering its calibur. That was exactly how the weapon should have been. The same for Halo's assault rifle. These were realistically modeled weapons doing realistic amounts of damage. Twenty-five or thirty rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammo is plenty enough to stop a nine-foot-tall shielded alien.
As for being superhuman...isn't that exactly what the Master Chief is? Having spent nearly his entire life as a soldier, starting before he was even ten, with cybernetic and other enhancements to his strength, speed, and reflexes, the MC is supposed to be a well-nigh invincible one-man army. That's what the games say, that's what the books say.
And as for *****ing about difficulty, I have completed the game on Legendary three times so far, I'm working on a fourth. I'm not mad about difficulty. I am mad about how they chose to make it difficult. I do not object to what they have done, but rather the stupid way in which they have done it.
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Hey... Are you completely ignorant of the
tags? Not everyone here has played Halo 2. Respect thair wishes to hear opinions without reading parts of the story.
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Originally posted by ngtm1r
The Wall levels didn't feel confined to you, working your way through those corridors with objects scattered around in them to inhibit your ability to backpedal when you needed to and bottomless pits to kill you if you misstepped? How about most of the combat that took place in the ruins on Delta Halo, or in the first Arbiter level, in rooms or corridors that only could fit four people abreast?
As for the Elites: Consider the round the pistol fires. A 12.7mm round is a big honkin' chunk of lead to get hit with. Halo's pistol was powerful because it should have been considering its calibur. That was exactly how the weapon should have been. The same for Halo's assault rifle. These were realistically modeled weapons doing realistic amounts of damage. Twenty-five or thirty rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammo is plenty enough to stop a nine-foot-tall shielded alien.
As for being superhuman...isn't that exactly what the Master Chief is? Having spent nearly his entire life as a soldier, starting before he was even ten, with cybernetic and other enhancements to his strength, speed, and reflexes, the MC is supposed to be a well-nigh invincible one-man army. That's what the games say, that's what the books say.
And as for *****ing about difficulty, I have completed the game on Legendary three times so far, I'm working on a fourth. I'm not mad about difficulty. I am mad about how they chose to make it difficult. I do not object to what they have done, but rather the stupid way in which they have done it.
Regarding the Elites: It's the shields that are the problem. They last forever, and recharge. Once the shields are down, they die as fast as a grunt to gunfire :rolleyes:
Regarding the MC being superhuman: Well, if you wanna us the books for reference, take note of The Fall of Reach, which has the MC going into a grappling match with an Elite and only managing to match it in terms of strength and reflex. He's a cyborg, not superman.
Regarding the difficulty: Somehow, I doubt that. A lot.
As for the 'Confined feeling,' Halo had virtually the same type of enviornments, and I never felt confined in either. I found that many of the levels took place in nice open spaces, with plenty of objects to take cover behind. I can only recall falling off a ledge twice in the whole game.
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Originally posted by Raa
No, that's not it at all. I find that I can empty a clip into an elite and it'll barely break the elite's shield. Even if they're all head shots. The gun is uber crap.
[/B]
two shots to a brute's head with it and its down. at least on heroic
well at least i got the damn tags working. perhaps i should use preview post instead of that quick reply.
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Brutes are f*kkin too hard on Legendary. In the arbiter level, where the big... err... alien thing puts you back outside, they can take more than one of those 'fatal' uppercuts with the plasma sword. I don't know how well the covvie gun works o Heroic, I've been playing on legendary. And it's haaaaaaard.
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No kidding, Raa. See my comment a couple pages back.
I just wish the BR came with more ammo, a couple hundred rounds extra would be really handy seeing as the three-shot bursts chew it up so fast.
Also, yeah guys, use spoiler tags will you?
I'm still trying to work out what the Ark is - Africa, Earth, the Forerunner ship with Truth on it, or what.
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Originally posted by Setekh
No kidding, Raa. See my comment a couple pages back.
I just wish the BR came with more ammo, a couple hundred rounds extra would be really handy seeing as the three-shot bursts chew it up so fast.
Also, yeah guys, use spoiler tags will you?
I'm still trying to work out what the Ark is - Africa, Earth, the Forerunner ship with Truth on it, or what.
[/B]
this may be pure conjecture on my part, but with the monitor's insistance on calling humans "reclaimers" and the earth being referred to as "the ark" would that mean, that somehow, that WE, are the forerunner?
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Here's my whole theory on the Forerunner:
Turnsky, that was my theory all along. :D It goes back to Halo 1, when 343GS has taken over the Pillar of Autumn and says: "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating." There's also the time you're going through the Library and he tells the Master Chief that he's grateful "to see that some of them [the Forerunners] survived to reproduce."
Sounds to me like the Forerunner seeded Earth with life that would recreate their own race, when they realised that they would have to activate the rings and wipe the galaxy of life. Then, they'd be able to rise up again and reclaim their position as the prominent life form in the galaxy. Perhaps they even created the entire planet Earth - since they are able to construct the ringworlds, after all - and that the whole planet is the Ark, designed to 'protect the Reclaimers from the Flood' - just like its Biblical counterpart. ;)
Well, that's my two cents. :)
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Do I get to find out what the **** the Flood are and where they came from?
And does anyone know if Crystal X-Boxes are v1.6?
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Setekh: Thats about the most sensible theory I've heard on the subject yet. $20 says Halo 3 will reveal exactly that.
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Setekhs theory is not new, I have heard it and arguments against it on the Bungie.net forums.
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Bah!
That's the same as Stargate and the Ancients... And that 'false prophets' deal made me think it's a stargate ripoff all the more...
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Nice theory and it makes sense, but i expect that there is twist
(That ark is not in Earth
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I think Guilty Spark was talking about the Flood with that "survived to reproduce" line, due to the previous sentence's he said as context. Although I agree that your idea makes just as much sense, Setekh. Your overall theory, however, matches that of...well, almost everyone.
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Originally posted by ngtm1r
I think Guilty Spark was talking about the Flood with that "survived to reproduce" line, due to the previous sentence's he said as context. Although I agree that your idea makes just as much sense, Setekh. Your overall theory, however, matches that of...well, almost everyone.
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yeah but
look at 343's reference of human history of "lost time", and both 343's and 2401 penitent tangent's referrals of the chief as a "reclaimer", and later in the game, guilty spark's calling commander keyes a "reclaimer"
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So does anyone know when the good version comes out?
PC=Good
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The best version is already out, but if you want to settle for a lowly 'good' version, you'll have to wait.
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I am hoping they wont take away effects like they did last time. Damn that was evil. I dont care about the freaks with 400mhz processors and 64 mb or ram. They just need to release the darn game the way it is!
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Humans probably used to be part of the ForeRunner era Covie races. Basically playing ***** to the ForeRunners and working as guards and lackeys.
The references to the 'Reclaimer's are probably similar to the Covie use of the name Arbiter. A great warrior, chosen to lead the armies in times of trouble - namely, when the Flood got loose.
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I don't think the Reclaimer references are quite like the title 'Arbiter'. Arbiter seems more likely to be a synonym for 'Judge', as in the Judges of ancient Israel - going around and meting out justice, often in quelling military threats. That sounds like it would be the Biblical allusion, anyway.
Yeah Thorn, agreed. Just a matter of time now. ;)
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If the Halos' were fired 100,000 years ago (IIRC), how the hell did anything survive to become the various human and convenant races?
I could understand it if, for example, Earth was designated as an 'ark' world which would escape the range of the weapon - but anything else large enough to become intelligent should have been wiped out and required a few million years to evolve into something intelligent enough to be the level of the Covenenant.
Halo (&2) has a good story. Not too bothered about the game itself, but I would like to see the rundown.
Oh, and apparently the end credits on Legendary hint at Halo 3 - or something - on February 9th.
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Yeah, good point Aldo. Still, you gotta wonder about all the references to the connected past that the game makes to humanity and the Forerunner. Maybe the Master Chief went back in time to activate Halo the first time, making the association that 343GS later recognised - that would be in keeping with the game's similarity to Marathon, Bungie's other FPS.
I think that was pretty much debunked, unfortunately. Would have been nice. ;)
http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=11345
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Originally posted by Setekh
I think that was pretty much debunked, unfortunately. Would have been nice. ;)
http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=11345
So is that text actually in the credits, though?
I've never liked the idea of a concrete human-forerunner relationship, as in a direct genetic relationship. It's unlikely that forerunners, IMO, could have ended up on Earth and yet left no trace(or did they?) of their technology.
Of course, there's another question - were the Halos' ever actually fired? Assuming it's valid, there's no corresponding Earth extinction event in known history. If Earth was an 'ark' world, fair enough - but there's still the Covenant races' issue. (of course, if Earth was designed / designated / built to survive, it would explain why a human was required to fire it.... maybe 'reclaimer' means not reclaiming the key, but reclaiming solitude & security over the galaxy)
And if the Halos weren't fired, then are they even for cleansing the galaxy? Does anyone beyond Guilty Spark say they were fired - because he/it is obviously gone nuts.
Of course, it's pretty much using biblical imagry anyways. The flood comes, and wipes away life. One ark (Earth? A forerunner ship?) survives to carry life until the flood subsides. Except that ark wasn't the 'ark of the covenant', was it?
IIRC it says somewhere in Halo2 (I've read spoilers) that the Flood are sort of an embodiment of sin. Which would imply that the 'ark' might contain the opposite of that... something to defeat the Flood, or to stop them? I dunno, because I don't exactly how and where the 'ark' is mentioned in the game, only that the Covies apparently want it.
EDIT; after all, didn't the Forerunners keep the Flood alive for a reason?
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I need maps.
I keep getting lost.
Anyone?
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Apparently that text is not in the credits.
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Downloadable content coming soon.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
So is that text actually in the credits, though?
I've never liked the idea of a concrete human-forerunner relationship, as in a direct genetic relationship. It's unlikely that forerunners, IMO, could have ended up on Earth and yet left no trace(or did they?) of their technology.
Of course, there's another question - were the Halos' ever actually fired? Assuming it's valid, there's no corresponding Earth extinction event in known history. If Earth was an 'ark' world, fair enough - but there's still the Covenant races' issue. (of course, if Earth was designed / designated / built to survive, it would explain why a human was required to fire it.... maybe 'reclaimer' means not reclaiming the key, but reclaiming solitude & security over the galaxy)
And if the Halos weren't fired, then are they even for cleansing the galaxy? Does anyone beyond Guilty Spark say they were fired - because he/it is obviously gone nuts.
Of course, it's pretty much using biblical imagry anyways. The flood comes, and wipes away life. One ark (Earth? A forerunner ship?) survives to carry life until the flood subsides. Except that ark wasn't the 'ark of the covenant', was it?
IIRC it says somewhere in Halo2 (I've read spoilers) that the Flood are sort of an embodiment of sin. Which would imply that the 'ark' might contain the opposite of that... something to defeat the Flood, or to stop them? I dunno, because I don't exactly how and where the 'ark' is mentioned in the game, only that the Covies apparently want it.
EDIT; after all, didn't the Forerunners keep the Flood alive for a reason?
[/B]
As for the 'embodiement of Past sins," the Gravemind said that. Also, apart from Guilty Spark, Penitent Tangent also said that the Halo's were fired once, something along the lines of 'This station has a successful fire ratio of 100,000,000 (or something) simulated, and 1 actual..."
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Anyone unlocked foundation/found the skulls here?
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Err... I have no idea...
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Originally posted by Deepblue
Anyone unlocked foundation/found the skulls here?
I did unlock foundation but didn't find skull yet
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Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
As for the 'embodiement of Past sins," the Gravemind said that. Also, apart from Guilty Spark, Penitent Tangent also said that the Halo's were fired once, something along the lines of 'This station has a successful fire ratio of 100,000,000 (or something) simulated, and 1 actual..."
[/B]
that and..
343 told pretty much everybody that the forerunners had to activate the halo devices themselves... so... yeah
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Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
As for the 'embodiement of Past sins," the Gravemind said that. Also, apart from Guilty Spark, Penitent Tangent also said that the Halo's were fired once, something along the lines of 'This station has a successful fire ratio of 100,000,000 (or something) simulated, and 1 actual..."
[/B]
So is there an actual date set for the firing?
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another thing, guilty spark mentioned that the effective range is 3 radii of the galactic center.... so, basically, we're screwed.. mind you, what is the ark, precisely?.. a main control room?... or a means of preserving the life that the halos could so potentially destroy? i mean, if the forerunners /knew/ the potential devastation that their weapon of last resort could wreak, then it stands to reason that they could've also made a "failsafe" for when that had to occur...
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whoops
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Originally posted by Turnsky
another thing, guilty spark mentioned that the effective range is 3 radii of the galactic center.... so, basically, we're screwed.. mind you, what is the ark, precisely?.. a main control room?... or a means of preserving the life that the halos could so potentially destroy? i mean, if the forerunners /knew/ the potential devastation that their weapon of last resort could wreak, then it stands to reason that they could've also made a "failsafe" for when that had to occur...
[/B]
Why not neither?
Bungie seems to be using a lot of biblical mythology... the 'Ark of the Covenant' was what held the 10 commandments - i.e. how to avoid mortal sin.
If the flood / gravemind are the mebodiment of 'mortal sin', then maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely? After all, the Forerunners kept the Flood around on Halo to find a permanent solution to them - maybe the ark is or will become (i.e. could be an AI studying the flood over time) that solution, and something seperate from the Halos. When the Ark finds the solution to the Flood, maybe it then closes the Halos, as they are now no longer required. And if it fails, or an outbreak occurs, it waxes the galaxy.
Worth noting that the Forerunners both wanted and needed complete and utter devastation - the threat posed by a 'critical mass' flood must have been immense, as they signed their own death warrant to stop it / them.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Why not neither?
Bungie seems to be using a lot of biblical mythology... the 'Ark of the Covenant' was what held the 10 commandments - i.e. how to avoid mortal sin.
If the flood / gravemind are the mebodiment of 'mortal sin', then maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely? After all, the Forerunners kept the Flood around on Halo to find a permanent solution to them - maybe the ark is or will become (i.e. could be an AI studying the flood over time) that solution, and something seperate from the Halos. When the Ark finds the solution to the Flood, maybe it then closes the Halos, as they are now no longer required. And if it fails, or an outbreak occurs, it waxes the galaxy.
Worth noting that the Forerunners both wanted and needed complete and utter devastation - the threat posed by a 'critical mass' flood must have been immense, as they signed their own death warrant to stop it / them.
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you have a good point.. what about that forerunner ship in high charity?... cortana noted it had an "unusually formidable AI, especially for a covenant construct".... i'm guessing that that particular constuct was of forerunner design..
but yeah, i agree, the halos are weapons of last resort.. so, the implication that the forerunners were studying alternatives to "cleaning the slate" are fairly obvious, so, there's three theories of the ark's purpose (one of which is a small fact) a control center for firing all 7 halos.. a shelter of life, possibly the forerunners.. or a research center for wiping out the flood once and for all.
and what about the ark's location?... the earth?.. well, that's a bit of a no-brainer, since this planet is on the edge of this galaxy, and capable of supporting life.. the curious thing is, of all the planets on the outer edge.. why earth?...
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Originally posted by Turnsky
you have a good point.. what about that forerunner ship in high charity?... cortana noted it had an "unusually formidable AI, especially for a covenant construct".... i'm guessing that that particular constuct was of forerunner design..
but yeah, i agree, the halos are weapons of last resort.. so, the implication that the forerunners were studying alternatives to "cleaning the slate" are fairly obvious, so, there's three theories of the ark's purpose (one of which is a small fact) a control center for firing all 7 halos.. a shelter of life, possibly the forerunners.. or a research center for wiping out the flood once and for all.
and what about the ark's location?... the earth?.. well, that's a bit of a no-brainer, since this planet is on the edge of this galaxy, and capable of supporting life.. the curious thing is, of all the planets on the outer edge.. why earth?...
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I don't know about High Charity - I don't have the game or an X-box, so I'm going by spoilers (I like the story more than the actual game, at least based on HaloPc.... anyways).
It's not impossible a Forerunner AI could have went rampant and assisted the Covenenant, is it? Possibly said AI wants to contain the current flood outbreaks and is manipulating the Covenant in order to do so.
Or it could simply be part of a pan-galactic power play between rival groups of forerunner AIs - one set in charge of the Halos and reluctant to surrender their power*, the other in charge of the Ark and seeking to neutralise the need for having the Halos.
*I reckon the Halos would have to be destroyed once a flood cure was found, for obvious safety reasons. Possibly why a human reclaimer is required... maybe the Forerunners either decided - or derived through observation - that humans were best suited to make the ultimate decision. Or the easiest to manipulate into it....
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Originally posted by aldo_14
maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely?
[/B]
Bigger spoilers than usual in this one, so be careful when you read it:
At the very end of Halo 2 - the second last cutscene, in fact, after you fight the last battle - Keyes stops Tartarus (the big bad Brute) from activating Halo 05 by moving away the Index during the activation sequence. Guilty Spark then tells Sarge, Keyes and Arbiter that since the firing sequence was interrupted, all the other rings have now been put on standby, ready to be activated remotely. They ask where someone would want to go if they wanted to set off this remote activation to detonate all the rings, and Guilty Spark answers: "Why, the Ark, of course." The camera cuts to the Forerunner ship arriving in orbit around Earth, with the Master Chief and the Prophet of Truth on board. Cue credits. ;) So yeah, at least one of the purposes of the Ark is to allow remote detonation of the rings.
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Originally posted by Setekh
Bigger spoilers than usual in this one, so be careful when you read it:
At the very end of Halo 2 - the second last cutscene, in fact, after you fight the last battle - Keyes stops Tartarus (the big bad Brute) from activating Halo 05 by moving away the Index during the activation sequence. Guilty Spark then tells Sarge, Keyes and Arbiter that since the firing sequence was interrupted, all the other rings have now been put on standby, ready to be activated remotely. They ask where someone would want to go if they wanted to set off this remote activation to detonate all the rings, and Guilty Spark answers: "Why, the Ark, of course." The camera cuts to the Forerunner ship arriving in orbit around Earth, with the Master Chief and the Prophet of Truth on board. Cue credits. ;) So yeah, at least one of the purposes of the Ark is to allow remote detonation of the rings.
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Assuming Guilty Spark is telling the truth and not manipulating the situation, though
I thought Keyes was dead and floodified?
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Yeah, it's always a possibility. "I am a genius! Hahahaha... What he says lines up with 2401 Penitent Tangent, though (he's the monitor of Halo 05).
This is Keyes' daughter, Miranda.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Assuming Guilty Spark is telling the truth and not manipulating the situation, though
I thought Keyes was dead and floodified?
[/B]
it's keys Daughter who has also own ship
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Originally posted by Setekh
Yeah, it's always a possibility. "I am a genius! Hahahaha... What he says lines up with 2401 Penitent Tangent, though (he's the monitor of Halo 05).
This is Keyes' daughter, Miranda.
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Whose to say all the Monitors aren't nuts, or working together? It's probably unlike, but you have to admit - it'd be a good way to twist the story and surprise people. After all, how many games out-and-out lie to the player?
Ahh...rightyo.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Whose to say all the Monitors aren't nuts, or working together? It's probably unlike, but you have to admit - it'd be a good way to twist the story and surprise people. After all, how many games out-and-out lie to the player?
Ahh...rightyo.
[/B]
well, the monitors are basically AI constructs, so it's quite possible that they could go rampant.. altho, being a "monitor" their main purpose and design is just that to "monitor" the flood, and to enable containment protocols if necessary, which would be the activation of the halo's weapon. i don't think 343 is rampant, tho, a little kooky, perhaps, but not entirely crazy.. ;) he does like being asked questions tho, lending to the covenant referring them as "oracles".
i reckon, too that the reason that the prophet of regret did /not/ know that there'd be a human presence on earth, is because, they knew the location of the ark.... but didn't know it was on our homeworld, nor did they know that earth /is/ our homeworld.
so therefore, the small fleet that showed up at earth was more or less an expeditionary force..
maybe we'll find out all the truths about Halo, the forerunners, and everything in the next installment, they just about made that a certainty ;)
just on a side note, it's rather funny to see what appears to be entire posts of just blank space. :p
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Has anyone tried connecting this forerunner mystery to the Marathon storyline?
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In the very end, after the credits, Cortana and the gravemind are together. I was under the assumption that the 'unusually strong AI construct" was actually the gravemind. For, if he could 'listen through rock and ground' could he not also listen through circuit too?
I'd like to know what the dialogue between Cortana and the GM is. What is it that the GM wants to know from Cortana...?
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So I'm thinking that Christmas will come and I will have a Crystal X-Box, plus Halo 2, and a second controller.
I'm new to X-Box...anything special I should know? I know X-Box Live comes free for 2 months but I'm not really interested in that at all. Uhh thats about it...
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Cortana has been in Halos construct (pissing of GS no end) in the first game. No doubt that would be of interest to Gravemind
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Aldo: I didn't think about that...
Ice: Nothing special to know... But be wary of that 2 month free trial. They want you to give them your credit card information in order to start it, and as soon as the two months is up, they automatically sign you up for more live service, unless you cancel your subscription...
I don't like that. So I go to www.xbconnect.com and use their wonderful free program and plug my XBox into my second ethernet card on my PC, and play live that way. :)
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You can also just plug it into a router instead of an second card.
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Yeaqh, but the router is all the way on the other side of the house., and the PC, Xbox and Tv are in my room anyway.Which reminds me... I feel like playing more...
I hear there's a skull somewhere, and a way to unlock a level? WTF?
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I thought the skull was the Oddball?
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There are skulls hidden on a bunch of the levels that grant special abillities/disabilities and possibly could unlock stuff.
See the following:
http://www.highimpacthalo.org/skulls.htm
It seems that there is one on each level.
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Yeah, there are lots of skulls.
I thought the thing that the Gravemind wanted to know was - where Earth was. Certainly that's what I'd think after having read the novels - when Keyes was getting owned backwards by the Flood blob that captured him, it tortured him to find out where Earth was. All it could think of was finding food - that seems to be the principal Flood motivation (Private Jenkins from Halo 1 actually remains alive and has to battle thoughts with the Flood that takes over him, and the Flood is always talking about being hungry).
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THANK GOD. Can any of you guys tell me how to stop the skulls? I got one of them, and I can't figure out how to nullify their effects...
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I think you need to turn off your xbox and load up Cairo Station or something. Answers can be found on the Bungie.net forums.
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Sounds cool overall :)
I can't wait really...get done with these bajillion essays and exams...and then some Halo 2 and Pacific Fighters goodness!
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Originally posted by IceFire
I can't wait really...get done with these bajillion essays and exams...and then some Halo 2 and Pacific Fighters goodness!
Since I stand on the other side of the exact same point that you are lamenting, I feel qualified to say: it's gonna rock, man. ;)
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Hehehe, someone should start a Halo2 vs HL2 thread :p
*Ducks abuse* :p
Halo2 RoxORs! :D
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I'm going to my cousin's hou--aaaw crap! They took the XBox to get it modified at JB!
Thank god I asked them to get the mod with the switch on it at least...
Well, at least I get to play HL2, if nothing else :D
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In a semi-random gloat, I'd just like to point out that Australia also has those crystal Xboxes. ;)
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Hey! That's my Rug!
:lol:
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Awesome.
:yes: :yes:
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*raised eyebrow* We have the same rug?!
Also, I guess it would make some sense to show you the setup in action. First, the players:
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And second, the screen (with my mate's guitar on the left and mine on the right):
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That's got to be the brightest Orange Sunburst I've ever seen ;)
(http://www.aqsx85.dsl.pipex.com/guitars.jpg)
Meet the family ;) Actually, theres about 4 guitars I couldn't be bothered to include in the pic ;)
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We used to have a vacuum cleaner like that (I think I set it on fire one day by accident)
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hehehe Yep, it's a Vax on it's last legs :)
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I thought it was a purple Dyson. Doesn't lose suction - doesn't have any in the first place.
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Bugger.... Yes it is the Dyson. Meh, I'm having a no-brainer today :(
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I dunno. I'm the one who's bored enough to be reminiscing about vacuum cleaners rather than actually doing work......
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Originally posted by Setekh
Also, I guess it would make some sense to show you the setup in action. First, the players:
I'm jealous you have so many people to play with... I have none, anymore...
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*plays worlds smallest violin*
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*kicks aldo*
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*dodges*
*gets caught in strange metaphysical infinite loop of actions which never actually take place*
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Originally posted by Setekh
In a semi-random gloat, I'd just like to point out that Australia also has those crystal Xboxes. ;)
EXCELLENT :)
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Okay, I just finished it on Easy and the ending is ****ing stupid.
It's just "...finish this fight *roll credits".
I want to fight aboard the ForeRunner ship and kill some stupid drone thingies, and butcher some more Prophets and do some more fighting on Earth.
Also, what the **** are they going to do now? They either stop the Halos and Gravemind consumes everything, or they fail and everyone dies.
I hate them for making me say this, but: I'm definitely getting Halo 3, even though it'll probably mean buying an X-Box 2 solely for that purpose.
****ers.
Learn to use spoiler tags. And for what it's worth, I mostly agree. :p // Setekh
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Originally posted by Raa
I'm jealous you have so many people to play with... I have none, anymore...
Just wait till later in the summer, when my other friends are getting another Xbox, I'm getting a link cable, and the 8 of us are going to go nuts. ;) I agree it's a bit sad when you can't get a few players together, I usually drag a few guys home after church on Sunday evening. Works a dream since none of us have Live. :)
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*cry*
EDIT: Wait... I have Live. :D
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Bah. I was vague enough.
Anyways: What was with that thing after the 20 minutes of credits? Shouldn't that whole place have been a giant ball of plasma?
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Only 2 more days until I get it...
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Cortana is betraying us!
Or then not.
Having the entire life of galaxy wiped out by Halo Effect vs. trying to take on and fight the Flood, maybe figuring out what they want and so on. Even if latter had like 0.1% chance of succeeding, which one would humans choose? [Even if it meant the complete assimilation of the entire life by the goddamn ****ing ****eating Flood LOL LIBRARY
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OK, here's the most cheap, bland and dissappointing ending I can figure out for the entire Halo series.
Chief travels back in time and activates the first Halo ring after having kicked some SERIOUS FLOOD ASS, therefore eliminating the Flood/Forerunners completely and sacrificing himself for greater good of Galaxy!!
meh
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I dont understand... But I will soon.
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The best ending would be one of the Oracles ressurecting a proper Reclaimer to make sure the Halo's are fired. Then you have to fight your way through the Flood as the Arbiter to do something to screw the Reclaimers invincibility, then fight your way through Brute/Prophet forces as Master Chief to reach the ****er.
You slaughter everything, kill a few ForeRunner defence systems, stab a few Prophets in the head, then fight the Reclaimer.
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Wait, I thought the MC was the reclaimer, thats what 343 GS called him.
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He called him a Reclaimer, implying it was a job or species and not a particular person.
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On the term "Reclaimer":
"Reclaimer" is almost certainly the Forerunner (or the Forerunner AI's) designation for humans. In the Halo novel The Flood, the Master Chief and 343GS pass by a dead marine Sergeant. "Oh, that was the other Reclaimer," 343GS comments.
Also, in Halo 2 when Tartarus (the Brute chieftain) is trying to physically force Keyes to insert the Index and activate Delta Halo, 343GS cautions: "Please be careful, this Reclaimer is fragile!"
Finally, on the back of one of the Halo 2 'manuals', there is a log of "Reclaimer terminology" for the species making up the Covenant, almost certainly referring to general human slang.
Originally posted by an0n
Anyways: What was with that thing after the 20 minutes of credits? Shouldn't that whole place have been a giant ball of plasma?
Why?
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Because:
Cortana was supposed to overload the ships' drives and destroy the city along with the Flood.
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I think we see high charity in Halo3, maybe in earths orbit ;)
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And you're basing this guess on what, exactly?
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just guessing, but think about it
Gravemind takes High charity under control and ask some questions from cortana (maybe earths location etc). there is something odd about cortana
there is rumor that Cortana was infected by Forerunner AI/ Covenant, in high charity
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If she was, she'd have blown the city up to kill Gravemind.
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ever stop to think that perhaps she tried but it stopped her?
She did say something was trying to stop her earlier hence her reason for doing what she did.
And I dare say if someone was reading this thread but didn't want to see any spoilers that they are a little foolish?
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Didn't she say she would only do it if Tartarus managed to fully activate Halo? There's your answer.
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Originally posted by Holy Imperial Gloriano
just guessing, but think about it
Gravemind takes High charity under control and ask some questions from cortana (maybe earths location etc). there is something odd about cortana
there is rumor that Cortana was infected by Forerunner AI/ Covenant, in high charity
[/B]
first signs of rampancy?
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Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
Didn't she say she would only do it if Tartarus managed to fully activate Halo? There's your answer.
[/B]
That's what I thought. The detonation of In Amber Clad was a failsafe to stop the detonation of Halo - then again, you've gotta wonder how late she was going to leave it, seeing as it was only the timely interruption of Miranda that stopped the activation.
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Originally posted by an0n
If she was, she'd have blown the city up to kill Gravemind.
but if Gravemind is floods leader why Forerunners just didn't kill it (and why it's in halo) and in arbiters first level there is some kind generator that uses flood (maybe forerunners used them as halos energy)
first signs of rampancy?
yeah.
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I think the Flood infested the Halos after realising they're apparently immune to the anti-life blast.
Which would explain what happened to the ForeRunners.
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Except the monitor said that the rings were ment to contain and observe the flood. Thats why he was happy they lived long enough to reproduce...
Oh, and with that ending, there sure as hell will be a Halo3...
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Originally posted by Hippo
Except the monitor said that the rings were ment to contain and observe the flood. Thats why he was happy they lived long enough to reproduce...
Oh, and with that ending, there sure as hell will be a Halo3...
[/B]
I always thought the "happy to see some of them survived to reproduce" was referring to the Forerunner.
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pretty sure it was the flood... though that does lead up to wonder if the forerunners are closely related to humans, along with the reclaimer confusion...
I have to say though, i stood up and hit my head against a wall when i saw the monitor come back in the cutscene witht he heritic... Then i cheered when Tartarus caught him... Then i cried when 2401 tangent showed up... Then I was happy again when the gravemind put him away :p
...
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I still think it's referring to the Forerunner. I don't think 343GS would be 'happy' the Flood survived - he even thought it might have been a mistake for the Forerunner to store the Flood in the first place.
Oh and yeah, these pesky monitors... though 343GS seems friendly, if a little rampant...
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I think I could imagine why he would be happy the flood was still there. Isn't it his job to contain the flood? What happens if there are no more flood left? He kinda loses his purpose...
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he also lost his sanity :p
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That too :p
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Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
I think I could imagine why he would be happy the flood was still there. Isn't it his job to contain the flood? What happens if there are no more flood left? He kinda loses his purpose...
[/B]
:p
On a serious note, he's always interested in containing the Flood, and activating Halo. I don't think he would have any qualms with the total annihilation of the Flood - if there are no more Flood left, then he's done his job!
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Halo 2 multiplayer question: My brother and I always play these sorts of games together. Is there a AI Bot selection option so that we can play DM and CTF games without being online using XBox Live?
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You can link systems with other XBox owners, but I don't think there are bots.
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No bots.
OMG this game is a blast!
Best campaign (so far) ever!
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My brother and I play these things together too, Ice. :) However, Bungie made the definite decision to exclude bots - get a few buddies and a System Link, dude. ;)
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Or beg someone for one of their 2-month-free things.
There's probably a patch and/or mod somewhere to add bots if you can be bothered finding it and/or hooking you Xbox upto your router.
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they need a grinder mode like mechassault has...
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Was great... Frustrating ending, but blah.
I'm just wondering about one thing: where has that level shown in the E3 video gone? Was cool, had plot and all, so why have they scrapped it?
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It was a smokescreen mission? (I thought they only showed off the Zanzibar level in E3... but I didn't pay attention)
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They didn't scrap it per say, but they did change it. A lot. The New Mombassa mission (the second one, I think) is it. There are alot of similar scenes and points where they used the dialogue from that mission.
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Go play Metropolis. Go see the E3 demo mission in its final form.
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Originally posted by Raa
It was a smokescreen mission? (I thought they only showed off the Zanzibar level in E3... but I didn't pay attention)
That was E3 2004, we're talkin E3 2003.
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Metropolis is my favorite, followed closely by Delta Halo...
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Originally posted by Setekh
:p
On a serious note, he's always interested in containing the Flood, and activating Halo. I don't think he would have any qualms with the total annihilation of the Flood - if there are no more Flood left, then he's done his job!
[/B]
He's also unemployed......either a 'free agent' or he has nothing left to 'live' for.
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The Arbiter is my favorite mission so far.
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Ok... the alien AI Cortana speaks of. I'm thinking it's the Grave mind (again) but this time, after playing the last Chief level, I realized cortana saying that a particular section of High Charity was under higher security. It also happened to be the part where there was flood warts on all of the walls, and the lights were out.
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I think the A.I. is just, well, a covenant A.I. :doubt:. Not everything has a double meaning, you know :p
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It's not a double meaning... that doesn't even make sense. If it was Covenant AI They would have made it clear. Instead, they alluded as much as possible that it was different than any other AI encounterred by Cortana in the past.
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Originally posted by Raa
Ok... the alien AI Cortana speaks of. I'm thinking it's the Grave mind (again) but this time, after playing the last Chief level, I realized cortana saying that a particular section of High Charity was under higher security. It also happened to be the part where there was flood warts on all of the walls, and the lights were out.
[/B]
uhhh, dude, forerunner ship, forerunner AI, since the forerunner were adept at making autonomous systems, it stands to reason that that ship would have one helluva potent AI on it.
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Are we certain that she was talking about that, though? I'm willing to accept that over covenant AI. But to be honest, when I was playing through that level, I was a little preoccupied fighting off brutes and flood to be hanging off her every word...
And on an unrelated note... seems HotMail just upped my account from 2 Mb to 250 Mb... Joy. :doubt:
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Originally posted by Raa
Are we certain that she was talking about that, though? I'm willing to accept that over covenant AI. But to be honest, when I was playing through that level, I was a little preoccupied fighting off brutes and flood to be hanging off her every word...
And on an unrelated note... seems HotMail just upped my account from 2 Mb to 250 Mb... Joy. :doubt: [/B]
well, the "heart" of high charity was a forerunner ship, the covenant are aparrently adept at retasking forerunner systems, I.e: the single ship was powering all of high charity, the reason the lights were going out, there's two of 'em, one is the flood (duh) and the fact that the prophet of truth was "disengaging" the forerunner ship from high charity, which means disconnecting whatever power conduits there would be present.
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You know... I really need to start thinking further into these things... That makes so much sense. I just never bothered to think about it...
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Anyone have any experience with this (http://www.gamespyarcade.com/support/tunnel_xbox.shtml) as an X-Box Live alternative? Looks pretty nifty...a bit more of a hassle but I'm a cheapie and I'd do it if it works ok.
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That's just like XBconnect. Only it's through gamespy... XBC is free, or you can opt to pay a one time fee and have some useless features unlocked... I didn't read enough into the GS one, but I've had excellent experience with XBC.
Also, apparently, only the first Halo is supported. However, with XBC, all games that support the system link are supported. Check them out... XBConnect.com
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Damn it. I really wish XB Live would start working for me.
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Ahh excellent...when I get everything together after Christmas I'll be trying that out.
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DON'T use the GS version... XBC is SO much better... GS's xbox tunnel is more a hastle, and gives dirty disk errors all the time...