I barely made it to university today after spending over 2 hours playing Halo Reach last night. I foolishly decided I'd start a campaign mission on Legendary solo, in hopes of eventually unlocking the 'Monument to all your sins' achievement. Starting it only an hours before I had to sleep was a big mistake, so things were already looking bad for me, even if I didn't notice it myself. 
 
I chose the level Nightfall on a whim and began. Holy f*ck the allied AI is terrible! Jun could barely kill grunts! And he'd stick so friggin' close to me that he'd attract all the elites to kill me. I was forever trying to push him off ledges to actually engage some enemies, but he just came straight back up like a retarded dog playing fetch. "No piss off Jun! Go away!" And then that was usually followed by the sound of an angry elite zealot. "Look Spawn Man! Look who I brought to play! He seems nice!" And then said elite kills me. Every. Single. Damn. Time. 
 
So I barely scraped through it with Jun's piss-poor attempts at sniping, dying at least a bazillion times. Once I got the whole quick sniping down to a fine art, I could handle most of the lesser elites. So everything was looking up! I was super tired by this point because I'd been at the game for nearly 2 hours. I reached the point where you have to defend Jun from hunters etc while he sabotages the spire/pylon thingy and was relieved because I knew the end was near. 
 
So I defend him and head off. I die a few times at the next phase and think of using Jun as a distraction while I snipe everyone else. Then I realize Jun ISN'T EVEN THERE! I search everywhere for him. Eventually I find him. AT THE BOTTOM OF A F*CKING CLIFF!! I try everything to get him to come back up, but he just sits there. Why the hell isn't he teleported back up to the top? Especially since I can't jump down there without dying. A hunter must of pushed him off - and since he's not a killable character, he doesn't die. So why hasn't Bungie thought of fixing this since there's no railing next to the pylon and hunters are notorious for punting humans across the place. 
 
Another half hour and I pushed through it. I did have a minor melt down after realizing I just wasted 2 hours of my life and now would have to use every inch of my limited skill to finish the campaign. I threw a cardboard box at my floor and it gave me a huge paper cut on my thumb webbing, so I had to play the last sections with one and a half hands. Luckily, I found the wonders of the plasma pistol! And with that gem, which I wish I had remembered SOONER, I finally managed to finish the level. 
 
All I have to say is crap. Holy crap. Legendary solo is going to be maarveelousss.... Sigh. : (

The campaign isn't that good.

Its a hard achievement. You should only do it if your a really hardcore Halo fan or a huge achievement whore.

It isn't that bad. It just requires some patience.

yeah the AI in this game isn't very good allies are stupid and since they don't scale in any way when it comes to difficulty so the allies on legendary are the same as they are on easy. Enemy AI isn't very good either they aren't actually smart all they have is the amazing ability to tell when your reticle is on them so they dodge and their insane damage count and the fact on legendary they completely ignore your team mates. This is the same stuff you saw in MW1 and Waw when it came to enemy AI instead of making them smart just give them over powered damage abilities and make it so they completely ignore every thing else but you so when your foot comes out a corner 8 million plasma bolts, splinter gun shots, and grenades hit that spot within a second.
 
If you want a laugh go to the level with you and emile alone on legendary he will try hitting enemies half way across the map with his shot gun...

Actually, I found my second playthrough (which was my first on Legendary) to be considerably easier than my first (on Heroic).

It's called legendary, and not easy for a reason. 

One of the missions took me 5 hours and more than 60 deaths... but I enjoyed the challenge.  It's not impossible just difficult.  If it wasn't difficult, could it be called an achievement?

Sucker

S ranked Reach Feels good :)

Reach isn't hard, it's cheap, there's a different. 
 
I'm almost done with it, just need to pick a night when I have nothing going on and I hate myself enough to finish off Pillar of Autumn...yup... 
 
Just go through it slow, hide behind a rock usually and just come out focused on one guy then go back and recharge. Rinse and Repeat...super fun.

I love how people bitch about how the hardest difficulty in a game is actually hard. 

Hate to sound like a dick but i found Legendary solo that bad. Compared to Halo 3 solo Legendary it wasn't much of a problem.

Reminds me of the time I was assassinating an Elite and Jun sniped the Elite in the head, killing both of us. I laughed and tried again. You just have to ignore the bad AI and try to focus on playing it as if it were just you.

I have to say, Legendary really wasn't that hard.  Hell, it's only considered an "uncommon" achievement on here. 

Yes, your allies don't help much, like the Arbiter didn't in Halo 3.  In most levels, you have at least one other Spartan with you, if not a whole team.  If they were that capable of finishing the whole game for you, what would be the point?  They definitely provide some much needed support in a few of the later levels though.  But if you're falling back on them that much, you're doing something wrong.  You shouldn't need Jun at all for that mission and even if he disappears for whatever reason, he should respawn later on.

The friendly AI isn't meant to do the work for you, jackass. Monument is meant to be a test of your own skill, and it's seriously not even that difficult for a good Halo player, which you should be if you're attempting it. Stop being a whiny bitch.

(Some elites take 3 charged Plasma Pistol shots to take down their shield) 

I was having trouble with Heroic Solo so yes, I can sorta see where you're coming from. Though, Reach's campaign is still freakin awesome.

 
i finished it on heroic, but even then elites took long to kill.  it just wasn't that fun for me to play. 
 so Legendary? no.  i decided if its not fun, don't do it. 

 bungie taunted me into playing heroic, i think i would have honestly had a better time had i chosen normal.

" I love how people bitch about how the hardest difficulty in a game is actually hard.  "

Hardest Difficulty is Hard? wow that's weird....
 
 
 
be better at video games

" I just finished the campaign on legendary and it gets a lot harder in the later missions but I thought it was really fun to do "

Well don't fucking play it on Legendary if your not good enough to do it.  It's called Legendary for a reason.

" @xyzygy said:

" I love how people bitch about how the hardest difficulty in a game is actually hard.  "

People these days think they can automatically or magically become good at the game these days. Gamers are becoming more and more spoiled. Halo: Reach is like playing a FPS Demon Souls, minus the fantasy setting. When you die, it's actually and usually your fault. "

" The friendly AI isn't meant to do the work for you, jackass.

I'm really not that good at halo but, I didn't have any problem beating it on Legendary. I could barley make it through Halo 3's first level on Legendary and I drifted past reach in a few days. I really don't understand why people have trouble with it at all. 

it was a bitch on co op. but solo i got through it in about 8 hours. DMR + Plasma Pistol = WIN

"  i finished it on heroic, but even then elites took long to kill.

@Doctorchimp

" Reach isn't hard, it's cheap, there's a different.  I'm almost done with it, just need to pick a night when I have nothing going on and I hate myself enough to finish off Pillar of Autumn...yup...  Just go through it slow, hide behind a rock usually and just come out focused on one guy then go back and recharge. Rinse and Repeat...super fun. "

I dont really get "legendary" in any Halo.. like why would you do that? it is not fun PERIOD!  
  
My biggest complain is that skill doesn´t even matter my cousin who is horrible for halo have it all.. he just play the whole day.. this achievments are just a challenge for your patience and nothing more.  
 
I do respect people who find joy in unlocking achievments.. my case after 29 years of gamming kinda dont care. 

" @OwnlyUzinWonHan said:

(Some elites take 3 charged Plasma Pistol shots to take down their shield) 

I'm calling bullshit on that one. Plasma Pistol always removes a full layer of shields and I never came across an elite who had more then one layer in campaign. Even the Zealots or other high ranking mofo's.  Legendary is freaking hard aye, but I loved it. I did what I missed doing in other games, shooting! Careful aim, tactical use of grenade or plasma pistol, using range and not charging blindly all did their jobs in this case. Yep it was insane at some points, but its called Legendary for a reason, it's not impossible really. "

IIRC when an engineer is around, the enemy shields shimmer in a blue/purple color when they are being hit by your rounds.  i never had a problem finding the right weapon for dealing with a specific enemy type in reach.  whenever elites were around you can always find PPs and either a magnum or DMR.  it really is a 2-shot kill.  whenever brutes were around, i never had a problem finding needlers or needle rifles.   
 
the only time i felt abused was the last battle in exodus.  i died during that portion the most and spent several hours clearing it.

I beat the game on legendary solo. A couple missions I never died, a couple I died once or twice. But two I died like 40 times on because brutes kept coming out of no where and I had to memorize where they were.

" I dont really get "legendary" in any Halo.. like why would you do that? it is not fun PERIOD!    My biggest complain is that skill doesn´t even matter my cousin who is horrible for halo have it all.. he just play the whole day.. this achievments are just a challenge for your patience and nothing more.   I do respect people who find joy in unlocking achievments.. my case after 29 years of gamming kinda dont care.  "

I chose Legendary for my first playthrough. It was certainly challenging, and quite frustrating in places, but I managed to complete it. It just takes patience and some planning.

" Hate to sound like a dick but i found Legendary solo that bad. Compared to Halo 3 solo Legendary it wasn't much of a problem. "

" @XenoNick said:

" Hate to sound like a dick but i found Legendary solo that bad. Compared to Halo 3 solo Legendary it wasn't much of a problem. "

Compared to halo 3?  Halo 3 Solo Legendary was a cakewalk, Reach was a bit harder you have to admit. "

 The plasma pistol should be your secondary weapon without a doubt, some sections will take multiple times and as you say the AI isn't much help, they cant die but by te same token they are not aggressive either. 
 
As for the armour abilities, this is probably obvous to you but anything outside of the drop shield, sprint & maybe armour lock is really not worth having outside of the specific situations. Even against the enemy AI hologram is pretty limited.

 
The mission where you are paired with Gorge on the cruiser instantly springs to mind when thinking of the hardest section, it's surprisingly one instance where the AI comes in good use. You are rushed by about 8 or so Elites but if you remain around the edges they have a habit of being drawn to Gorge who constantly runs around the centre of the map.
 
Good luck if you plan to stick at it, I know how much of a frustrating experience it can be.