Unfinished: Halo 5: Guardians 10/15/2015

@amyggen: Jeff is consistently the only person on the Internet who can make me #engage with videos of first-person shooters. I don't know why, exactly. Probably because he generally says his game plan out loud beforehand instead of only talking about things he did 2 or 3 seconds ago.

Not so much a retcon, they just redefined what a Spartan is. There was a 30+ year gap between the technology for the Spartan II's and the IV's. Not to mention what was deemed acceptable.

The II's were all augmented with advanced tech, extremely risky stuff. Kind of like prototypes, in a way. The III's were more based on tactics and teamwork rather than augmentation, to be cheaper and more expendable. And this was when Bungie was still at the helm.

The current IV Spartans have augmentations that are less likely to fail, as they've had so much time to perfect the procedure. Still doesn't match those II augmentations. So Buck is a volunteer in a program that is nowhere near as dangerous as the original Halsey methods.

What makes Chief and Blue Team so legendary is that they've had decades to perfect their combat techniques with these unmatched modifications. So even though they're being hunted by "Spartans," I wouldn't put the teams on even ground at all due to a) the years of teamwork of Blue Team b) the physical superiority of Blue Team and c) the field experience of Blue Team, as they were bred for war. Locke and his crew have the backing of the military, which would seem to be their only edge.

Who knows how the campaign will play out, but if the II's run into Osiris, I don't think Osiris would stand a chance.

As far as the current state of the lore, the Cortana love story stuff really bums me out. Hope that isn't a cornerstone of where 5 is going, despite the vision being the catalyst for Chief going AWOL in this video.

How come the footage on this came out so muddy?

@vagrant_gamer: they are the originals.

@mlarrabee: Actually, I believe it was established in the Bungie era that the Spartan augmentations became more chemical based, and capable of being used on older candidates. But perhaps the adult augmentations were introduced by 343. I'd have to do more digging.

Brad's on vacation and to have either Jason or Drew on a video you have to make sure they're both available so one can be on the video and the other one on the control room, if both aren't available you only have Jeff and Dan to appear on the videos.

I know it doesn't ruin the game or anything, but boy that HUD is a mess. There has to be a way to make a fake-helmet-HUD look cleaner and sleeker. Add that HUD to the huge subtitles and the screen gets completely cluttered.

Never stop pushing Fame Douglas!

Maaaan Why couldn't I just resist?

I UNDERSTAND the pacing of this game but these games are slow!

Holy shit, Halsey's journal at 5:12 is identical to the one included with the collector's versions of Halo: Reach. What a fucking astounding attention to detail. Nearly jumped out of my chair when I noticed.

Very delayed. Yeah I have that too but it seems to fix itself rather quickly.

>stop all the downloadin'

I fucking spit my toothpick out. I didn't see that one coming, lol.

Microsoft must really be struggling to give away this much of the campaign. Very evident with their current sponsorship and advertising drive, pretty much Xbox One at the front of every gaming publication. Maybe its do or die time.

@ptys: or maybe they're just doing the same thing they do every time a new halo game comes out. Seems to be working for them so far

@kapelan: Disagree big time.

While I don't totally disagree with your stance on the current story, you need to remember that Master Chief was one of the FIRST spartans, back when it was a new program, and they didn't have better tech to create spartans with less investment. All that happened, what, 30+ years before the events in the Halo games? I lot of advancements can be made in that time. ;)

@wemibelec90 said:

Holy shit, Halsey's journal at 5:12 is identical to the one included with the collector's versions of Halo: Reach. What a fucking astounding attention to detail. Nearly jumped out of my chair when I noticed.

Good eye! Is that the one that was sealed inside an ONI classified bag?

@mrsmiley@csl316 @wagrid@artelinarose yay to Halo lore talk :D

as a fun fact for non-lore peeps, one of the few Spartan I's was SergeantJohnson. He had very basic augmentation early in his career that he volunteered for. If you remember, the reason Johnson survived the Flood in Halo 1 was because of these augmentations and the effects of em an all that~

but ya, as of now, no other Spartan can really stand up to a Spartan II because of the level of augmentation the II's went through and their training from a very young age. The novels showed just how deadly the II's can be even without their armour especially working together~

I am just going to say as a casual Halo player (SP) I liked what I saw. Its still weird seeing Chief become a chatter box from the last three games. I have yet to play 4, but I am adaptable.. I think hardcore fans will have a lot of gripes, and many are going to notice some similarities to the staple MP games that have been out. Personally I don't think a different team can entirely capture the same magic as the previous effort from another and that is going to be the primary reason for many to be dissatisfied. The knowing that despite how good it is, its not genuine bungle game. I also think FPS after a certain point of refinement starts feeling the same across all games. Its inevitable that Halo would start feeling liek COD and COD feels more like Titanfall. New team new ideas and new layers... I can see this game becoming well revered much later down the line when Halo truly gets the COD treatment. But then I like playing the SP in those games too.

Isn't kamchatka a peninsula in russia?

If your Ryckert lasts more than 4 hours, please consult a doctor.

@voidox: I thought that since IVs have more advanced armor that they are pretty much on par with Spartan IIs. At least I remember seeing that somewhere.

I believe so. I remember it being the landing point where your armies arrive when attacking from Alaska in "Risk."

Regarding "argent": while I knew of its silvery definition, I have to admit that my first reaction now whenever I hear the word is "the band that recorded 'Hold Your Head Up' back in the '70s."

For some reason, I'm getting really bored with super tightly orchestrated, balletic fight scenes. That opening and the one ~20 minutes in did nothing for me apart from the nice snow/lighting effects.

Gameplay looks like Halo though and the structure seems interesting so cool~

@mlarrabee said:So, since Halsey is your mother (literally, George calls her mom in Halo: Reach) and Cortana is a memory imprint of her, you're basically lightly flirting with your mom for three games. Also, a close friend and co-worker, Sergeant Johnson has a thing for Miranda Keyes, the daughter of Halsey and Jacob. So your mom/AI is in your head while your co-worker tries to date your half sister. This is less space opera and more soap opera.

Fucking what? You put that much credibility into Jorge's shitty accented "ma'am" when literally one chapter in the first book shoots that whole thing down? And even without the lore, how could you think she was Master Chief's mother? Master Chief is the 117th spartan. There's no way she has that many kids.

The only thing that worries me about this game is the thing that Dan says he likes about the colors. I hope the whole entire game isn't blue. Other than that it looks really fun to play and the visuals look technically great.

This just in, Halo fiction sucks you guys. Because it was totally flawless shakespear before.

Personally I am 100% for them embracing more and more stupid, why not get as dumb as possible with this kind of stuff. It's literally a franchise built around the idea of toy space soldiers and goofy colorful aliens smacking each other with 80s-kids-cartoon lasers n shit. It's never been respectable or well thought out, its just a bunch of dumb sci-fi tropes and adolescent male power fantasy silliness like any other game series. The whole fiction of it all is one big joke and its amazingly funny to see how intensely serious some people get about it when its always been so dumb.

Yeah, I had a similar feeling. In some instances (like in certain Anime or Action games like Bayonetta), this sort of OTT flipping/shooting choreography makes sense. However it seems so out of place in Halo and made that sequence look a little too cartoonish compared to how the game plays.

as someone born in the Pittsburgh area I feel the urge to post this photo as soon as I hear Bettis. I'm sorry.

I don't really get the disdain for "The way it's meant to be played", it seems like most AAA videogames do that in some way or another. I thought it was obvious that the "Normal" difficulty is usually designed for people who only casually play videogames, and might be less likely to know what they're getting themselves into. I don't see anything wrong with designating a higher difficulty as the one you intended when you were designing the game, while understanding that it's not going to be ideal for the majority.

That being said, I never really look at pre-release content for Halo games, and I've never been to a press-conference so it could just be the really lame way it's been presented through marketing channels that the guys hate so much.

I wouldn't buy an XB1 just for this game, but then again I was never a Halo fan to begin with, but if I already owned the system I'd probably buy this. It still seems to have the same problems I always had with Halo, but it does look nice and I haven't played one of these in a while. In a way the gameplay seems really throwback in style, these empty rooms and kind of rubbery enemies that bounce around in ragdoll after you kill them.

Hopefully Halo fans will enjoy this one since most people seemed kinda lukewarm on Halo 4 and I know what it's like to wait several years for your favorite series to drop a big sequel only get something that kinda falls flat.

@mlarrabee: The books set up that Oni was making new spartans way before 343 got their hands on the game. The entire point of the new spartans is yes they don't have to have been engineered that way, but as a result they aren't even close to being as strong, fast, or smart as the ones who were originals. Spartan IIs are the last ones that are legitimate super soldiers and the new guys owe most of what they are to the suits.

@ronniebarzel: @moerktus: It is a peninsula in Russia, but turns out it's also a planet in the Halo universe according to Halo wiki.

Jeff seems to be a lot happier person lately

@kapelan: Brad is out, Drew comes in later, Jason is probably manning the control room. Not much left for options. I agree though, a little Dan goes a looooong way.

No one else mentioning they modeled Laura Bailey, aka the best Saints Row boss, as one of the characters?

I wonder if they had to pay her extra, like they talked about on the Beast Cast

Couldn't give less of a crap about Halo, but that is one slick start screen.

As a huge Halo fan and someone who thought Halo 4 was merely okay...Halo 5 is looking great! The story still hasn't hooked me, but I like how the environments seem much more open/large than those of Halo 4 and the game just looks so smooth. The Hunters have crazy new attacks in this game (one Hunter goes berserk after its mate is killed, plus they have a new rapid-fire attack) and I noticed a few new enemies. The multiplayer beta proved that Halo 5 is going to play fantastically in a multiplayer setting, but this video shows that the Campaign is looking pretty darn impressive, as well.

It's really weird to see Nathan Fillion just straight up in the game.

I really hope they change how those subtitles look before release. They stick out way to much.

I hope GB is getting paid for this, because it is already the 4th unfinished halo 5 video.

Jeff's taste does not always align with mine but when he gets excited about a shooter, I know I need to pay attention to that shooter.

Halo 5 looks pretty damned cool.

@boss_wreckman: ok thanks for the reply. It's been way to long since I've read the fall of reach. I could have sworn that by the end of it John was the only Spartan left.

That was fun!

@mems1224: hmm,neo's post brings up a strong point~

though the wiki has a some info taken from interview with Frank O'Conner and a gameinformer thing about Locke's Fireteam:

An average SPARTAN-IV in GEN2 MJOLNIR armor can take on an average SPARTAN-II in GEN1 MJOLNIR armor and has the capability of being a little better off due to the GEN2 armor being more advanced. However, without armor, SPARTAN-IIs are superior to most Spartan IVs

but when looking into things a bit more, it's pretty much said that "Everything except for GEN2's better strength enhancement was given to the Spartan II's Mjolnir Mark VI PAA" so basically they now have almost the same suits and the II's many enhancements push em way past the IVs... especially when II's are paired with their AIs with dat combat reaction time o:

lore wall end~

Looking at the mocap sessions

It seems like he might have just been the face model for the character but they had a different guy do his mocap and facial capture? So I can imagine it being a bit odd if they had to piece it together.

game looks awesome. looking forward to it!