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Moving around slower with a turret in your hands can spell death on the higher difficulties, in more open areas with less cover, anyway. In the third level where you're under siege by a dozen-plus Brutes, I had to drop it and go head to head with the bastards.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Moving around slower with a turret in your hands can spell death on the higher difficulties, in more open areas with less cover, anyway. In the third level where you're under siege by a dozen-plus Brutes, I had to drop it and go head to head with the bastards.

Do you mean the part where you're entrenched against Phantom-loads of jump jet Brutes and fuel-rod cannons? That segment was quite a challenge on legendary, even with co-op. I'm very impressed with the enemy AI on that difficulty setting in general, but the Brutes in that part were especially adept at flanking and using covering fire, not to mention the Wraith.

Noble Ire wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Moving around slower with a turret in your hands can spell death on the higher difficulties, in more open areas with less cover, anyway. In the third level where you're under siege by a dozen-plus Brutes, I had to drop it and go head to head with the bastards.

Do you mean the part where you're entrenched against Phantom-loads of jump jet Brutes and fuel-rod cannons? That segment was quite a challenge on legendary, even with co-op. I'm very impressed with the enemy AI on that difficulty setting in general, but the Brutes in that part were especially adept at flanking and using covering fire, not to mention the Wraith.

Get and turn on the Mythic skull. Even just on Heroic, every enemy is a challenge, and the AI really shines when it has the extra few seconds to live. The Mythic skull doubles the life of all your enemies (yikes). Another skull I rather like is Thunderstorm - it promotes all your enemies to the next rank. They get better armor, better weapons, and more/better equiptment. Even on Normal it can be quite challenging with just those two skulls on.

Noble Ire wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Moving around slower with a turret in your hands can spell death on the higher difficulties, in more open areas with less cover, anyway. In the third level where you're under siege by a dozen-plus Brutes, I had to drop it and go head to head with the bastards.

Do you mean the part where you're entrenched against Phantom-loads of jump jet Brutes and fuel-rod cannons? That segment was quite a challenge on legendary, even with co-op. I'm very impressed with the enemy AI on that difficulty setting in general, but the Brutes in that part were especially adept at flanking and using covering fire, not to mention the Wraith.

The Wraith is like a tall glass of water after eight jump-pack Brutes and that Fuel Rod-wielding leader.

You just run up to it and 'nade it, after all.

Darth Wong wrote:Well, I just picked up the game. The graphics are, of course, much prettier than Halo 2. It feels like it's just more of the same, but that's what people wanted. The ability to knock a tripod gun off its mount and carry it around like Jesse Ventura in Predator is pretty cool, though. No weapon in the first two games was ever as cool as staring down a horde of Brutes and Grunts with a minigun in your hands. Old Painless is waitin' ...

Honestly, there is nothing more satisfying than killing a few dozen flying things (drones, I believe) in a few seconds with the turret.

Count Dooku wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:snip

Honestly, there is nothing more satisfying than killing a few dozen flying things (drones, I believe) in a few seconds with the turret.

When you have to knock out the AA Wraiths? The easiest way I found was just needler spamming.

Question about the skulls. Can you activate/deactivate them at will?

Pretty cool game... I just finished it last night...

now... do you think they will make a fourth game? or would you like them to? after watching the end:

Master Chief, the Arbiter and Cortana barely escape from the Ark after it is blasted by Halo you get to watch the video where the millitary are having a ceremony and they have a memorial for those who died during this war, and then you see the "117" for Master Chief carved on the memorial. Then the credits come, and after they end you get to see another video, where you see what happened to the Master Chieff and cortana: apparently they entered the gat while it was colapsing and it got cut in half. One half (with the Arbiter inside) got to Earth and the other half with Master Chief and Cortana got lost in space but they survived. It ends with Master Chief crawling into a stasis chamber telling Cortana to wake him up if she needs him.

Now, that ending makes me believe that they could make a fourth game, but I believe they should end the saga here on its peak instead of letting it jump the shark. We've seen it before with movies and TV shows that should have ended long before they did: StarTrek, The Matrix, The Simpsons, and many others... I think they should end it here for Halo.

Bungie has stated that Halo 3 is the last part of the franchise's central component; supposedly, it was always designed to be a finite trilogy.

Of course, that does not limit them from expanding the series in other ways. They've already got a prequel game in the works (the Halo Wars RTS), and that unnamed "multi-media" project being helmed by Peter Jackson. I would be inclined to believe that Master Chief's story in FPS form is over, but I sincerly doubt that the franchise is going away any time soon. I wouldn't even dismiss the possibility of another shooter some time in the future, perhaps on the tail of the inevitable Halo movie (the current form may be dead, but I seriously doubt that the entertainment industry is going to let the idea simply fade away; that's just bad business).

ANGELUS wrote: Master Chief, the Arbiter and Cortana barely escape from the Ark after it is blasted by Halo you get to watch the video where the millitary are having a ceremony and they have a memorial for those who died during this war, and then you see the "117" for Master Chief carved on the memorial. Then the credits come, and after they end you get to see another video, where you see what happened to the Master Chieff and cortana: apparently they entered the gat while it was colapsing and it got cut in half. One half (with the Arbiter inside) got to Earth and the other half with Master Chief and Cortana got lost in space but they survived. It ends with Master Chief crawling into a stasis chamber telling Cortana to wake him up if she needs him.

And, if you complete the game on Legendary, drifing to a planet which looks highly developed, and may well have the Marathon logo visible from space.

If there was going to be another Halo-themed game made, I'd like one that involved the Arbiter and the Elites taking care of the Brutes and the remainder of the Covenant, or a Ghost Recon-esque game starring an ODST squad during the war.

Is anyone else as interested as I am in expanding the Naval aspect of Halo? Yes yes I understand that the UNSC Navy was hopelessly outclassed by the Covenant Starfleets, but I suppose something could be worked out with enough effort. Perhaps something post or pre games?

Battlestations: Halo anyone?

there's a halo TC mod for EAW/FOC in the making.

Well, just today I finished the campaign, and I thought it was a blast. There a whole lot of little things which I really liked, such as the inclusion of the flamethrower, but more major things were apparent. The Scarabs, for instance; the one Scarab in Halo 2 was a total letdown, yet the ones in Halo 3 were great fun to combat. And you had four of them!

The Hornet was a great inclusion, I felt. While you really only get to use them twice, mixing it up with a bunch of Banshees and a Spectre (and later two Scarabs) was pretty damn cool, in my opinion.

The end of the game was hilariously epic - I never really liked the Warthog run in Halo, but the one in Halo 3? Class. I'm dissapointed that I skipped through the credits though (it was accidental).

The upgradable MP armor is making this game scarily addictive.

I've earned the Haybusha chest piece by doing a skull collecting marathon last night, and I'm slowly working towards getting E.O.D. armor by beating the game on legendary.

The only way to complete the Hayabusa armour is to get all the achievements.(it places a katana on your back.) Currently I am using the Mark V armour from Halo 1 for MP.

I finished the game on Legendary earlier today. I hate to say it, but if not for spending time with my girlfriend, I would've wrapped that up quite early in the week.

Quite the sacrifice, I know

Addressing my earlier nitpicks:

AI? Perhaps a bit better. It's hard to tell.

I might still reiterate my earlier quibble about AI and nailing enemies, especially Brute packs, at range: I could dispatch 6-8 Brutes without so much as two of them coming to within melee distance. (And as I also said before, had more than two Brutes charged me at one time, I would've been screwed, blued and up-the-ass-sideways tatooed.)

The Flood did seem somewhat more aggressive. But then, that might simply be a factor of enemies' increased resilience: when it takes longer to blow some Floodite away, he's the potential to get closer to you and dish out more damage.

Indeed, even on lower difficulties, that's Flood standard M.O.: hurl their bodies at you such as to limit you to lighter weapons or melee attacks (close-proximity grenade launchers, grenades in general and fuel rod explosions = MAD), with the added benefit of limiting sniping -- albeit the fact that we're limited to ranged attacks with such a piss-weak weapon as the Covenant carbine :-\

From that (and if that alone), I can't help but to wonder if the Flood drones are about as smart as highly-motivated Brutes. Both can dodge grenades, and both can engage energy shielding when the host body's so capable; but where Brutes can clean house if they cut loose in hand-to-hand, they rarely do so opposite the Flood-controlled creatures.

But, again, perhaps I expect too much. The Halo 3 experience is so fucking awesome overall that it leaves me greedy for more: from the game itself, from the Halo franchise, from games in general, etc.

I guess my next pursuit'll be finding all of the skulls. But what I'm most interested in is the backstory -- the whole Forerunner/Flood/Human connection. I think I've found 5 or 6 of the "terminals," and I know I've gotten a very interesting confession from one of Guilty Spark's bretheren (I'm sure y'all have probably covered this in the thread-to-date or in another; I'm in a bit of a hurry).

By the way, I've found all seven terminals, but I haven't gotten GP credit for it. What's up with that? Do you have to find them while playing on a certain difficulty?

Pulp Hero wrote:The upgradable MP armor is making this game scarily addictive.

Meh, who needs the armor upgrades when the best armor set is available from the start?



I <3 Clone Trooper SPARTAN.

Pulp Hero wrote:By the way, I've found all seven terminals, but I haven't gotten GP credit for it. What's up with that? Do you have to find them while playing on a certain difficulty?

After the first message gets corrupted(or whatever it is that makes the first message go away), you have to wait for a while for a second message, which is different depending on whether or not you're playing on legendary. I don't think you have to play on a certain difficulty to get it, but I don't know since I viewed the terminals while playing on legendary.

Pulp Hero wrote:The upgradable MP armor is making this game scarily addictive.

I certainly want to; I was somewhat dissapointed when I found that only the first two for both Spartan and Elite are available ... then I realised that there are fifteen in total. Awesome.

CaptHawkeye wrote:I <3 Clone Trooper SPARTAN.

The CQC set is very nice. I have the right shoulder set to that because of the size of the emblem.

Used the Helmet until I beat legendary and got ahold of the EOD helmet. Still using the CQC body, because the knife is a nice touch, and the EOD & EVA suits are basically the same as the Mrk.5 suit... (EOD being a bit thicker.)

How long did it take you guys to beat the whole campaign on legendary? I have no problems on Heroic but at times the game is so frustrating as to not be any fun whatsoever. Right now I am stuck at the road to Voi where there are about 20 brutes and a wraith tank.

Natorgator wrote:How long did it take you guys to beat the whole campaign on legendary? I have no problems on Heroic but at times the game is so frustrating as to not be any fun whatsoever. Right now I am stuck at the road to Voi where there are about 20 brutes and a wraith tank.

Are you playing coop or single? I played that part of the level both ways, coop was much more difficult though. If you're playing coop, try having one player keeping the Choppers busy, while the other starts taking out the Wraiths. Watch out for Phantoms, as they'll drop more Choppers in. There is a fuel rod on the map, near the dead grunt's body, that's handy for dealing with the Wraiths. If you can, try knocking out the turret gunner on the Wraith and closing the distance so that the main weapon doesn't toast you (use cover too).

when i tried that one on legendary i kept running out of ammo, so i did it on co-op with no one else playing, just used the second player as a mobile respawn point.

Well, the hard parts I found were all on the Earth missions.

A couple popped up on the Ark, but for the most part I found Legendary only a little bit harder.

The first facebreaking point: The Brute ambush on the way to Voi. There were a good too many Fuel Rods to fight close range, and attempting to snipe from the dam-type wall got us almost perfectly bombarded with Wraith fire. Ultimately, we resorted to Attrition.

Second: The large vehicle ambush on the way to Voi. Again, the Wraith fire was entirely too accurate to attempt sniping of almost any form. The Choppers were less trouble than an equal number of Ghosts would have been. Ultimately, we had to pick off the gunners of the Wraiths and grenade them.

After that, the Earth missions were cake. The Flood are almost a joke compared to the other enemies on this level. The only thing making their later appearances difficult was the shear number of spider-turrets, which are still insanely bullet resiliant. Though I found that Dual plasma rifles tear the flood up a lot better than in any prior game.

The third point came right before we got the tanks on the Ark. The huge arena with the AA Wraiths. That was primarily because the Ghosts could take you out with about one and a half seconds worth of fire. Again, attrition on gunners was the name of the day.

The final point was the big area right before the first shield tower. The amount of enemies, and the continuingly annoying anti-sniper ability of the wraiths, lead to a lot of attrition.