Oh shoot, didn't know about his inclusion in Spartan Ops lol. Never really got into that part of H4
I still have a Mega Blocks minifigure of him somewhere. Best Elite boy
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Halo |OT| She's Gone, Sir
- Thread starter Poodlestrike
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Oh shoot, didn't know about his inclusion in Spartan Ops lol. Never really got into that part of H4
I still have a Mega Blocks minifigure of him somewhere. Best Elite boy
oh dude, please watch the Spartan Ops cutscenes. The first half of season one isn't great, and the second half is only marginally better, but it's at least worth a watch to see why Halsey is missing her arm and why she was with Jul to begin with in Halo 5.
I think it's fine, but Glasslands merely wraps up the events of Ghosts of Onyx, it doesn't really continue following those characters.
343's tactical error from jump with Traviss' trilogy was originally positioning it as a "post-Ghosts of Onyx" series. Was only setting expectations up for disappointment.
And yeah, I find all the Halo novels at least passable, although there are certain ones I wouldn't bother rereading. Maybe because I cut my teeth on the Star Trek EU, but the quality threshold is way higher for Halo. Be thankful :P
You can at least watch the cutscenes and get 90% of the gist. I'm sure there are some of those "gameplay + cutscenes" longplay-type movies as well, but I've never found those too interesting and the SpOps missions are generally about set pieces rather than in-mission story anyhow, with a few exceptions.
I don't think this is really fair at all. Because he was in the side notes of Halo 4 proper... and almost no one played Spartan ops.
He was a great character in the novels, and was severely underutilized in 343s attempt to more transparently tie the games to the novels. In fact, I cant imagine a scenario where a Jul centered trilogy wouldn't have been more interesting than the forerunner saga has been.
I felt the same way at first, but it's a pretty novel use of a VTOL on a map.
Good to know! I dropped reading lore so much after feeling let down by H4, so by the time H5 came out, I figured Halsey's injury was from a book lol
I'm not sure what you're arguing here...
I was pretty clear that he was in Spartan Ops. Are you saying that it's not fair that he was killed off in Halo 5? I understand that not everyone played SpOps, but to say that almost no one did is a bit of hyperbole don't you think?
There's obviously still a chance for him to be alive if we see the covenant infused with forerunner tech in Infinite, I for one hope we see it.
ha, that's totally fair man, I think they're pretty easy to find online, and everyone should watch them if they haven't in a while anyway, just to see how far we've come since then:
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On the topic of Spartan Ops, I think this is what the future of Halo will probably look like, and maybe even what Halo Infinite could evolve into. Episodic, or maybe even continual stories, not unlike Destiny's expansions. A campaign that doesn't end, even after the Chief's story. Spartan Ops was both ahead of it's time, and poorly implemented. I'd love to see something like this again in the future if 343 can commit the resources to it.
Hell, if you watch the cutscenes, the story isn't even called Spartan Ops, it's called Halo: Infinity.
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Im saying his "heavy involvement" in spartan ops is trivial because it was an unpopular multiplayer mode, in what was generally an unpopular multiplayer game. So few players had any engagement with the character.
Not only that but Spartan Ops really wasn't a great example of characterization. Jul's character was basically made a generic antagonist. The same treatment Didact got in the main game.
Him being alive after being assassinated in H5 would be pretty lame.
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Not sure why you'd put heavy involvement in quotes, feels like your implying that I'm wrong about that, when he appears in just about every cutscene in SpOps. He is heavily involved in SpOps, even if you didn't like it.
To be fair, Jul was definitely a throw away character. He was written into the novels in the same way that any minor character is that appears in game: to give them a backstory so that it's not jarring when they appear in game. Jul wasn't necessary, that elite could've been anyone, the splinter faction of the covenant was who they were to give us a reason to shoot at more than just the prometheans.
I want to be clear that the only reason I think it would be interesting for Jul to appear in Infinite is the same reason he appeared in Halo 4. To give us cool new enemies to shoot at. I don't care if it's Jul, it could be anyone, but covenant with promethean tech grafted on to them would be neat, and is likely not going to happen as it was a concept that was dreamt up for Halo 5 and didn't make it into the game.
I'm not trying to argue with you or fight you on anything, other than the fact that Jul is a center point of SpOps lol
I put "heavy involvement" in quotes, because, as you mentioned, he was a throw away character.
He was a central character in the novels (and was expertly characterized), and a principle antagonist in Spartan Ops, so I'm not sure why you're referring to him as a minor character, other than the fact that in the games he recieved the level of care you'd expect for a minor character, but that's because of poor writing. If he was going to be a in-game throwaway He didn't need a novel introduction to avoid being jarring - if anything the loss of characterization between the novels and games is what's jarring.
Reviving Jul as an excuse to have hybrid/covie tech would be lame. As you said, it could be any one else instead.
I don't dispute that Jul was "heavily involved" in Spartan Ops, I just disagree that his involvement in Spartan Ops somehow makes up for his being unceremoniously assassinated in the beginning of H5. His treatment in the games was a complete and utter waste of a good character.
A guy who like him in the books but didn't like what happened in H5 isnt going to find any solace by watching Spartan Ops cutscenes.
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I just want to go on record for saying the covenant being back to being some splinter offshoot with seemingly just as much combat ability and resources was dumb.
From a lore standpoint I hate fighting elites again.
But they are the most fun combatant in Halo so. With Jul dead and a lot of their forces wiped out in Halo 5.... are we really gonna be dealing with an armada of covenant again?
From a lore standpoint I hate fighting elites again.
But they are the most fun combatant in Halo so. With Jul dead and a lot of their forces wiped out in Halo 5.... are we really gonna be dealing with an armada of covenant again?
Which halo had the best AI to combat?
I remember stinkles writing a bunch of cool stuff about halo 2 in the xbox magazine in regard to halo 2 and how they would flank.
I remember stinkles writing a bunch of cool stuff about halo 2 in the xbox magazine in regard to halo 2 and how they would flank.
When I was a young buck playing Halo 4 for the first time, I was pretty annoyed to see the same old Covey enemies in three very first level. I said to myself "I thought we were all cool now because of the arbitor" Especially since I had no exposure to the novels. But now it makes perfect sense and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Of course the collapse of the covenant would be messy. Of course generals would capitalize on lingering loyalties and try to consolidate power and resources. Ofcourse religious zealots would double down on their faith after it's been debunked. We see the very same things happen today. Of course post-war treaties would be tenuous as people wouldnt be quick to bury the hatchet. So from a lore perspective, I'm glad were still fighting remnants of that era.
Actually I should have greatly preferred if we had a trilogy that focused on the post-covenant messiness that would have engulfed the galaxy rather than this Forerunner saga. Kilo 5 and Hunt the Truth really whet my appetite for that approach.
I somewhat agree. Prometheans could have come into it but not as a main faction.
Spartan Ops had a somewhat interesting thing going with the Janus key hunting down forerunner artifacts. We could have seen a splinter group of covenant trying to get access to forerunner technology to get an advantage over humanity. Humanity would want it because they were the rightful heirs. Could have even had some splinter groups of humanity (insurrection) trying to gather forerunner tech to fight against the UNSC. Dunno if Halo would ever want to venture into us killing humans though.
Actually that might have been an interesting way to bring promethean likes enemies in. Insurrectionists find the composer. Their soliders are composed and molded into forerunner fighting machines. The universe is splintered and everyone is fighting for control.
I think the most fun is either CE or 3. 2 is too confined and I think the Prometheans just aren't much fun in either 4 or 5.
CE/3 have that sweet spot where the battlefields are open and the enemies engage in interesting tactics that make the campaigns more replayable.
I agree with all of this. Even if Prometheans ended up being a minor faction. There was so many interesting scenarios to tap into.
You had many disillusioned elites bucking the Covenant, but not supporting the Arbitor's open embrace of Humanity. You had Outer Colonies bitter at the lack of support they got during the War efforts in additions to Insurrections who have been a thorn in the UNSCs side all along. You had many UNSC and even Spartan defectors and humans upset about getting cozies with Elites. You had Jackals, many of whom were never all that into the Covenant Religion, trying to upgrade from being pirates to being a true Power. You had a colony made up of ex-covenant and humans, united by there distaste for the power structures that lead to their personal losses. You had ONI pretending to be a Sanghelli ally, while also plotting to genocide Sanghelios and you had Jul, aware of the ONI plot and fully aware that the Covenant was always full of shit, but charismatic and snakey enough to lead a team of terrorist Zealots on a religious quest to save the Sanghelio from humanity.
There was so much juicy lore to pull from that I cant help but be disappointed at the path we've taken.
I'm truly hopeful that Infinty just thrusts us back into that messy state and minimizes its reliance on everything released beteeen H4 and now.
Are you automatically in if you were already in for Reach or do you have to be invited again?
343i Flighting program. Halo CE/A tests begin for PC today.
343i Flighting program. Halo CE/A tests begin for PC today.
Once again thought I'll give ol' MCC a run while waiting for Apex buddies and boy was I disappointed again. Search OBJ only, match US west again (expected) but at least found a game within minutes only to match a full regular squad on yet again a H3 Midship remake and get stomped (of course, mere randies matching full teams sucks and they were well versed in arena setups). So I tick slayer for a second match...Reach midship remake AGAIN against the same team of 4 somehow.
The really shite part is 3 Aussies matched in these two matches and got US west every time. Fuck that noise.
This is why I get pissed off with Halo and the lack of region selection and not granular enough filters excluding maps/modes choices by players. It's not what I want to play over and over. It's why 15+ of my hardcore Halo mates stopped play H5 altogether. We just don't want to play sweaty arena only games over and over. The weighting in MCC is a fucking joke across all these Halo games and mode/maps available, it's a shadow of its former self. It's a real lack of vision and poor sustain or a deliberate choice to target such weights due to poor populations.
PvE can't come soon enough.
The really shite part is 3 Aussies matched in these two matches and got US west every time. Fuck that noise.
This is why I get pissed off with Halo and the lack of region selection and not granular enough filters excluding maps/modes choices by players. It's not what I want to play over and over. It's why 15+ of my hardcore Halo mates stopped play H5 altogether. We just don't want to play sweaty arena only games over and over. The weighting in MCC is a fucking joke across all these Halo games and mode/maps available, it's a shadow of its former self. It's a real lack of vision and poor sustain or a deliberate choice to target such weights due to poor populations.
PvE can't come soon enough.
Are the links in the email broken for anyone else? Can't get to the Insider forum with them....
Thank you so much for your kind words! That gives us more energy going into the next episode. Speaking of which!
Episode 24: If They Didn't Know We're Here Before, They Do Now by Sacred Icon
Bryan & Joshua contemplate what makes up the core identity of Halo. Does Halo need the Covenant, UNSC, Spartans etc to keep its soul? We beleive 343 took the story forward in the most natural way possible with the Forerunners, but maybe a bit too quickly.
anchor.fm
Do you not have an Xbox One or gaming PC?
EDIT: double post, sorry friends.
One of my maps, Fever Pitch, designed with the help of Blaze on the Halo 5 sustain team is now in Matchmaking - if you play it, I'd love to hear what you think! (its the lava one)
It's right back to the issue of the health system being part of an intrinsic whole, though. Halo 2 ramped up the damage tables and difficulty of shot avoidance in large part because it was trying to maintain difficulty in light of rapid full regen. Halo 3 stuck bandaids on the more extreme symptoms, but the underlying problem still existed to some degree.
I wonder if it wouldn't be terrible to diverge the systems, using CE-like health in SP while allowing it to fully regenerate in MP.
Whatever they do, health bars should always be exposed to the user. The hidden HP in Halo's 2 and 3 is just silly, as was Reach's use of hidden vehicle health. That Reach vehicle health situation is perhaps the worst, because it resulted in a lot of casual players never learning that the health had partial regen, so random people would constantly be needlessly burning up your team's vehicles.
Figures I play for a few hours and don't come across your map. lol
The ones I played so far are pretty cool. The only one I dislike is Analogue. I also hate how the Hydra is still a weapon being placed on new maps. Can't stand it.
Seclusion - old one
Fullmetal - pretty good, nice and open. hydra = bad
Analogue - dislike, too cramped and convoluted
Transit - pretty good
Data Center - cool theme, also pretty good
Furnace - old one, bad
Hourglass - this one looks cool, but almost too big? Would prefer it without that 4 shot rocket spawn or just change it to standard rockets.
Tourist Trap - old one
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I did the containment on 3 of those maps. Let me know if you see anyone escaping?
None of those are the map Containment so you really fucked up. 😏
That's awesome, will def try to play it this weekend. Think Infinite will be when I finally try to get into Forging. Being on PC will be fantastic for that side of things.
I don't recall sign I ng up for (or even why I would) the PC flighting, but I got an email with a steam key for Halo CE anyway. Anyone need it?
Well .. I had an xbox one x and i dont have that much space on my SSD with my gaming PC so i dont want to install MCC on there.
I have to say that after years of not playing MCC, the new menu is very nice. i like the update they did with it.
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