Adventure Game Studio

Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 11:51:24

Title: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 11:51:24
So it's here, or at least semi-here.

The average score for online reviews is 9.5, it has full replay editing and saving for multiplayer and campain, it has 4 player online co-op, is has a brilliant map editor and it looks bloody amazing. So is it really going to finish the fight.

Before i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming, but forget this for a second and look at what has been hyped up to be the best game of our 'next gen'.

So i am eagerly awaiting the UK midnight release for Halo 3, i will be standing in line with my girlfriend at my local swindon store to get my collectors edition of what is xbox 360's 'PS3 beater'. I have been reading many game forums and it seems to be that the masses (that is about 90% of 360's gamers) are dissapointed with what Halo 3 has given them and have even gone to the point to label the game Halo 2.5.

Now come 2am tomorrow morning i will post up my opinions on the game. I am going to experience the game, from start to finish without any expectations and look at it as simply a game, this will be the same way i look at any game when i play it, be on the commodore 64 for the PS3.

I feel that gamers are so spoilt by all these next gen graphics that they completely overlook gameplay and gameplay is a field where i have complete faith that Bungie (halo's creaters) can deliver. I would like to know if any of you fellow AGS'ers have played the game and what YOUR opinions are on the new release.

Does this game really deserve the hype it has been given? Are all these players dissapointed because they themselves over hyped the game? 1OMFG$WTF## Halo 2.5?

I'll let you know after i get my hands on the game at midnight tonight.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Nacho on Tue 25/09/2007 11:54:04
And please, don' t do it with bold letters...
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Radiant on Tue 25/09/2007 13:30:42
Quote from: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 11:51:24
Before i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming, but forget this for a second and look at what has been hyped up to be the best game of our 'next gen'.

So what? Every single new game is hyped up as the best game of uor generation.

Let's see if anyone is still playing it five years from now? Ten years from now? Most games don't stand the Test of Time at all, and are found in the bargain bin months after their release.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 14:26:26
Quote from: Nacho on Tue 25/09/2007 11:54:04
And please, don' t do it with bold letters...

1. Is your post interesting, helpful or funny? If not, don't post it.

Rule one Farlander, get with the game.

What's the problem with bold letters? A few extra pixels don't hurt anyone and besides it makes it easier to see which posts are mine! No need to read countless pages of bullshit just to find my cream of the crop posts, simply scan the page untill you find your big bold black chunk of prime literature.

Sorry did i offend someone? This thread already has the trademark bitter tone that ags seems to develop whenever someone expresses an opinion.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: voh on Tue 25/09/2007 14:39:33
Helpful or not, it's effin' annoying. Bold is used for emphasis. Not just to make the poster seem more "special".
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Privateer Puddin' on Tue 25/09/2007 14:52:26
Postman brought mine this morning, can't play the campaign yet since I agreed to wait till Thursday to play first time with friends.  It's OK, I like the theater/map replay stuff, being able to take screens/vids from your last 25 games.

and yeah, the bold was kinda annoying.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: space boy on Tue 25/09/2007 14:58:56
What exactly is the problem with bold letters?
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Adamski on Tue 25/09/2007 19:26:53
QuoteBefore i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming

I don't think the gameplay has advanced past Doom, so it's pretty retro in that respect. It's good that games can still get people excited in such a way, it's always fun to be part of the hype of something I guess. Halo has never really captivated me (I gave up the first game half way through due to the extreme repetition in the level design), but neither has Crysis which as also supposed to be some sort of video gaming deity. Perhaps I'm just a big ol' cynical gamer as I seem to be in the minority here!

By the way, there's no need to make your post entirely in bold as it comes across as very attention-seeking and makes it much harder to read, which you don't need to do here as you're not having to shout your opinion of the game over the masses of other people doing the same thing as in most gaming forums at the moment :)
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: on Wed 26/09/2007 08:11:29
THE FIRST HALO WAS TEH BEST1!111!!!!!///2!

What's the score on the multiplayer in 3? Halo excites me :D
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Nacho on Wed 26/09/2007 10:25:40
Quote from: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 14:26:26
Quote from: Nacho on Tue 25/09/2007 11:54:04
And please, don' t do it with bold letters...

1. Is your post interesting, helpful or funny? If not, don't post it.

Rule one Farlander, get with the game.

What's the problem with bold letters? A few extra pixels don't hurt anyone and besides it makes it easier to see which posts are mine! No need to read countless pages of bullshit just to find my cream of the crop posts, simply scan the page untill you find your big bold black chunk of prime literature.

Sorry did i offend someone? This thread already has the trademark bitter tone that ags seems to develop whenever someone expresses an opinion.

People replied to you... There' s no need to make your posts "attention-seekers", some other told that it is annoying, and an failed attempt to make your post more special. If the content is special, the post will be special, if the content is not special, bold letters won't  do.

And well... If you find that a complain about bold letters is showing that "the community replies bitter to anyone expressing an opinion", I think that you have some kind of prosecution complex. I' d recommend you to chill out, or, if this place is so unpleasant to you, leave, which should be a pitty, really... I am sure that there are a lot of console forums who would like to comment about Halo 3.

And ah! Curious to say that "all the rest but mine" posts are "bullshit" Making friends and becoming popular, eh?  :) Now you just gotta say that AGS sucks, and that we are no match to your superior intellect, ok?
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Nikolas on Wed 26/09/2007 12:02:56
Quote from: Chicky on Tue 25/09/2007 11:51:24
I'll let you know after i get my hands on the game at midnight tonight.
SO?!?!?!? HOW WAS IT?

Ok, honestly, how was it? Was it any good? Rather, was it as good as everyone is saying it is?

Also, is there tons of violence in there, like Jack Thompson would like it to be, and would love to sue MS? (http://video-games.elliottback.com/2007/05/23/jack-thompson-sues-microsoft/)
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Radiant on Wed 26/09/2007 13:45:30
(http://www.myextralife.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/halo-iii-picture-4.png) (http://www.myextralife.com/?p=6468)
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: ManicMatt on Thu 27/09/2007 11:43:34
lol. indeed.

What really sucks about Halo 3 is the Ltd edition tin cases. The discs fall out of their holders so easily, that almost every single copy has scratched discs. No matter what shop you buy it from, you more than likely will have a game that is scratched. Microsoft, so Im told, are accepting the discs back, and its just as well, as my company has had a few returned complaining that the game doesnt work at certain points.

Another branch had two faulty Halo 3 copies, that were from the standard editions! Perfectly mint games not working! A customer returned it, they tested the game, didnt work. They opened a new standard one up, didnt work either! Id suspect a faulty console perhaps... its a mint demo pod console thing though..

The game itself? Oh well it's alright on my first brief playthrough.  :P

Why did I buy it? Well I kinda got caught up in the hype! I dont have time to play all the games I buy. Ive got about 4 games I've not even played at all! help!!!
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Nikolas on Thu 27/09/2007 11:47:23
Quote from: ManicMatt on Thu 27/09/2007 11:43:34
Why did I buy it? Well I kinda got caught up in the hype! I dont have time to play all the games I buy. Ive got about 4 games I've not even played at all! help!!!
Why certainly! I'll MSN you my address and you can send me a couple! Does this sound ok?

;D

Radiant: LOL!
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Babar on Thu 27/09/2007 12:07:15
Damn! Nikolas beat me to it. But the next 4 are mine!  ;D
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Adamski on Thu 27/09/2007 12:29:44
After some musing on the subject, I thought I'd better expand on my original post a bit.

I've been discussing Halo 3 with colleagues recently, and we were all trying to figure out just why we're not excited about the game at all. We came to the conclusion that it was because it didn't offer us anything new... as seasoned gamers who have been playing these types of games for the majority of our lives, we've Seen It All Before. I've played every major FPS since Wolfenstein 3D, so the single player campaign (at a whopping 6-8 hours in length!) doesn't appeal as I can expect exactly the same gameplay that I've experienced countless times before.

The same argument could be applied to Bioshock of course - the core gameplay hasn't advanced from the foundations laid out by Doom (aside from some pseudo-RPG elements and an obviously massive leap in narrative and concept), but the excecution and delivery of the additional and original gameplay elements managed to hit all the sweet spots for me (which I'm sure was helped by mostly being derived from System Shock 2, which is one of my all time favourite games). The problem with the Halo series is that I've already shot at legions of aliens wanting to cause me much harm in Prey, Half Life 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal, Gunman Chronicles, Gears of War... er, Redneck Rampage... it's not a concept that grabs me by the balls and screams "YOU MUST PLAY THIS GAME NOW!" anymore :)

Similarly the online play doesn't interest me as deathmatching is not a new concept in my life - lord knows I've wasted so much of my life playing Quake 2, Unreal Tournament, Half Life, Counter Strike, Natural Selection and countless others, and now I want to experience something different which is not something that Halo 3 is going to provide. What I am looking forward to though is Left4Dead... looks like co-op heaven to me! And hopefully battling friends online in Guitar Hero 3.

This is not to say that Halo 3 is a bad game worthy of some sort of anti-hype backlash. There's a whole generation of gamers that have never played Duke Nukem 3D, haven't spent weekends hooked on Quake 2 deathmatch and capture the flag playing on a 56k modem, not sunk dozens of hours LANing Unreal Tournament with a bunch of mates, and the Halo series has been the first that has been able to provide this enjoyable and addictive experience to a whole breed of gamers that have never had the chance (or ever wanted to, because online gaming is such geekery) to do it before. This is probably why Halo 3 is as massive as it is, it's the refinement of 15 years of 'traditional' FPS gameplay that everyone can enjoy. Those of us that have Seen It All Before will just have to sit around waiting for something else to come along that will satisfy our increasingly hard to please tastes, while millions of other people will be getting on with having fun! 

Footnote: After reading this you may be wanting to ask "if you've Seen It All Before and want something new from video games, why do you hang around on a forum dedicated to retro gameplay that has not only been Seen Many Times Before but has long since collapsed in on itself due to it's own inherent flaws". My response to this would be "Um..." and to disappear in a puff of hypocrasy!
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: blueskirt on Thu 27/09/2007 15:56:55
QuoteFootnote: After reading this you may be wanting to ask "if you've Seen It All Before and want something new from video games, why do you hang around on a forum dedicated to retro gameplay that has not only been Seen Many Times Before but has long since collapsed in on itself due to it's own inherent flaws". My response to this would be "Um..." and to disappear in a puff of hypocrasy!

I was thinking about this all the time I read your post. :)

Personally I'd say we're the ones who decide how much "Seen It All Before" we want this community to be and I believe there's plenty of room to add a bit more than walk, look, interract and talk to adventure games. The more I hear people with that same "Seen It All Before" problem, the more I am convinced that after reaching an equal or superior aesthetical level compared to adventure games from the golden era, the next step forward this community will take will be to diversify the gameplay experience so everyone can find something they like with AGS games.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: TheJBurger on Thu 27/09/2007 16:47:13
Quote from: Adamski on Thu 27/09/2007 12:29:44
Similarly the online play doesn't interest me as deathmatching is not a new concept in my life - lord knows I've wasted so much of my life playing Quake 2, Unreal Tournament, Half Life, Counter Strike, Natural Selection and countless others, and now I want to experience something different which is not something that Halo 3 is going to provide. What I am looking forward to though is Left4Dead... looks like co-op heaven to me! And hopefully battling friends online in Guitar Hero 3.

Try Team Fortress 2 (There's an open beta right now). It's different from most other shooters and has a variety of gameplay. You might not like, but in my opinion, it's loads of fun.

Now I'd like to ask a hypothetical question: If the Xbox never existed, and Halo simply debuted 1, 2, and 3 on the PC in their respective years, would it be anywhere near as popular? How much of its success is due to being on a console?
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Redwall on Fri 28/09/2007 02:10:46
Pretty much all of it. Halo on the PC is very mediocre.

TF2 really isn't that different from old-skool shooters apart from its art style...
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: InCreator on Fri 28/09/2007 03:33:49
QuoteNow I'd like to ask a hypothetical question: If the Xbox never existed, and Halo simply debuted 1, 2, and 3 on the PC in their respective years, would it be anywhere near as popular? How much of its success is due to being on a console?

Halo would be nothing. I've played first game on PC and saw nothing but a mediocre yet-another-alien-shooter with textures made entirely of purple color. Duke Nukem 3D trying to be serious. Doom without tension. Quake without horror  and Unreal Tournament without any coolness. Almost like these Japanese gay anime RPG-s, but in fps format.
Halo.

Okay, maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but it's a game for kids. Ages 6 and up. Any lovers, compare Halo to any popular PC title. Exactly HOW is it better? Or even same?

Console fanboys are who hype stupid things up. So up that it goes beyond any logical explanation.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: voh on Fri 28/09/2007 04:09:07
Quote from: InCreator on Fri 28/09/2007 03:33:49
Japanese gay anime RPG-s

... What the hell made you think that was a good way of putting that?

???
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: TheJBurger on Fri 28/09/2007 05:54:44
Quote from: Redwall on Fri 28/09/2007 02:10:46
Pretty much all of it. Halo on the PC is very mediocre.

TF2 really isn't that different from old-skool shooters apart from its art style...

Well, I haven't played too many shooters in my life (especially old ones) but TF2's gameplay style is new to me, and I'm having fun with it, so that's all I could ask for.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Sparky on Fri 28/09/2007 08:12:54
While I'm not as excited about the second and third games as I was about the first, I look forward to playing through Halo 3 with a friend this weekend. I'd like to try to address some of the complaints people have made about the series, more for the sake of discussion than to prove a point.

First off, historically Bungie is one of the few companies that focuses on quality over novelty and breadth*. They aren't terribly original, and I'd be the first in line to say that in terms of truly new ideas Halo is almost bankrupt. What they're trying for is to take a small number of simple ideas and make an atmospheric, solid feeling, well-balanced game out of them, and put in a lot of work to make sure a thriving community grows around the game. The idea is that if you pour a given amount of effort into fewer gameplay elements you'll end up with a higher quality product.

I respect people who criticise Halo's lack of originality. If you go at the series expecting something really different or new, you'll likely come away disappointed. It's really not that kind of game, and I understand where you're coming from. I see Halo 3 falling into the niche of a fun, simple arcadey experience, sort of like a modern Pac-Man. I look forward to hearing what more people think of Halo 3, and why people think it either did or didn't work.

*I feel that Halo 2 and 3 mark a trend toward less minimalist games, unfortunately. Earlier Bungie games such as the Marathon series, Myth, and Halo 1 are better examples.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Chicky on Sat 29/09/2007 12:35:43
Hello again. I have come back somewhat late to update my thread I'm kidding, enough of the bold.

Farl, nacho whatever you wish to be called. Can we call this pathetic grumble to a close? It looses it's fun when you start telling me to leave the forum. You seemed to have completely missed the sarcasm in my last post, language barrier or what be it please don't be so quick to attack someone.

More on point. Halo 3 is fantastic. It is easily the best shooter i have played on a gameplay level and as a multiplayer game i am striving towards saying it is better than other 'greats' such as counter-strike, TF, UT and Quake. Fuck it, it's a lot better.

The xbox live intergration is perfect, the matchmaking is improved (when you finally get your router set-up correctly) and the single player is beautiful but short.

Any other questions? Anyone else want to tell me fuck off after 4 years of pissing people off   ;)
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Kinoko on Sat 29/09/2007 14:27:34
I'll do it!

God, I don't even really come here anymore, I thought I'd pop in and browse the first thread and what do I see but some pointless shit storm.

I don't care about arguments to do with bold letters or what makes a good shooter, but Chicky, your posts have an attitude which is all half-arsed and that I cannot stand.

Pick one of the following personalities please and stick with it:

1. I'm better than everyone and I'm here to make people hate me. So there.

2. I'm here to socialise and contribute and give opinions on things and allow others to do the same.

At the moment, you're somewhere inbetween. Don't tell people to chill and to stop getting up you then brag about how pissing people off was your intention. If someone makes a comment about you posting in bold, try to understand where they're coming from (it IS unusual and can be irritating) and if you still think you ought to be able to anyway, then tell them like a grown up that you think it's perfectly acceptable.

People who try to be clever and then respond to any criticism with a scathing, smart arsed defensive attitude really disappoint me. Be properly clever and smart arsed or not at all.

Your previous post wasn't sarcastic. Perhaps you tried to make it sound that way with a few over-the-top jokes but in the end, you had a problem with feeling like you'd been told off and you didn't really know how to handle it.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: LimpingFish on Sat 29/09/2007 20:27:13
Halo is Halo is Halo.

Halo didn't thrill me, Halo 2 didn't thrill me. I played a lot worse, sure, but I've also played a lot better.

Halo is a console FPS, just as Goldeneye was a console FPS. Good console FPS games can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and still leave you with enough fingers free to flip somebody the bird.

This is not to belittle console FPS games, far from it. I played TimeSplitters 2 and Goldeneye to death, and enjoyed every minute, but I played both back before I had a PC with enough grunt to play the Half-Lifes/FarCrys/Unreals of the world.

I came to Halo late in the day, so it really wasn't anything special to me, as by then I had seen the FPS in it's supposed "natural" enviroment; the PC.

A large chunk of XBox/XBox 360 owners may never have owned a PC; which may in turn account for the level of popularity and enthusiasm surrounding what are, in my opinion, two above-average yet unremarkable games.

I can't comment on Halo 3, but reports I've read so far suggest that the single-player side of things is as badly paced and repetitive (not to mention as short) as Halo 2. Which is a pity, as I have little interest in inflicting the hell that is XBox Live upon myself, just to play multiplayer.

Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: InCreator on Sat 29/09/2007 23:58:13
QuoteA large chunk of XBox/XBox 360 owners may never have owned a PC; which may in turn account for the level of popularity and enthusiasm surrounding what are, in my opinion, two above-average yet unremarkable games.

This I believe. How else could one explain such cult-like fanbase around otherwise mediocre games? Blind trust comparable to patriotism or religion?

Get a PC. Even better - get a proper PC and learn to use it properly.

It was fun to play games on nintendo years ago. But it's even more fun to own ALL NES games on my computer and using XBOX360 controller and emulator to play them. Even if it's maybe not entirely legal.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Chicky on Sun 30/09/2007 13:32:42
Hi, I'm here to socialise and contribute and give opinions on things and allow others to do the same.

Okay so i can come off as a bit of a prick but it's just a bit of harmless fun! There's such a strong hatred to some people on here (given it is normally newcomers) but i didn't realise i could develop such a hate towards me!

I've been talking to some people on the forums for over 4 years and yet i post a thread which is slightly out of line (bold text, big deal) and then it seems the whole forum turns against me!

And this dissapointed me.

Quote from: Kinoko on Sat 29/09/2007 14:27:34

At the moment, you're somewhere inbetween. Don't tell people to chill and to stop getting up you then brag about how pissing people off was your intention. If someone makes a comment about you posting in bold, try to understand where they're coming from (it IS unusual and can be irritating) and if you still think you ought to be able to anyway, then tell them like a grown up that you think it's perfectly acceptable.

People who try to be clever and then respond to any criticism with a scathing, smart arsed defensive attitude really disappoint me. Be properly clever and smart arsed or not at all.

I don't see where in either of my two latter posts i am trying to brag about pissing people off? Given the first post was an attempt to save face after making the bad decision to use entirely bold but i can't see how that post can be taken seriously? A Thread about halo 3 is years away from being the 'cream of the crop' of the ags forums, it's quite obvious that i was mocking myself, no one else.

And my second post was an attempt to get back on topic and to bite the bullet and ignore the numerous replies that were taking Nacho's side. My comment about pissing people off for 4 years was reflecting on the fact that i have been here for years and yet i always manage to piss someone off. I don't feel the need to brag about that, if anything i should be ashamed.

Take my posts with a pinch of salt, not everyone has to be deadly serious.
Title: Re: Heh heh, Halo 3.
Post by: Andail on Sun 30/09/2007 14:49:03
If people still have any important points to make regarding Halo 3, which I somehow doubt, please make them or just give this thread a rest.
Thank you.