I need to get this out. Apologies for those who don't agree with me, but halo 2 sucked.

I was really looking forawrd to Halo 2. I had visions of fighting through ruined cities against covenenat forces, leading marines into battle, maybe even capturing a prophet and using him to force a covenenant retreat by threatening to kill him.
What did I get? I got a weak story, with weak rip-offs from halo; 'In Amber Clad'? Poor name for a ship. 'Pillar of Autumn' sounded dependable, 'In Amber Clad' sounds like a name for a girl's car. I had to play as a covenant soldier, the 'arbiter', in a series of enjoyable-but-frustrating-since-they-took-me-away-from-playing-as-the-master-chief missions which helped to ruin what i had hoped to be a good game.
The lack of direction in missions was something that I had seriously hoped they were going to get over by use of things that have been in games for decades now, called 'waypoints'.
Dual wielding? It was a nice touch. It would have been even better if I'd had a chance to get used to it before all hell broke loose.
More Covenant soldiers? Brutes? Drones? No. Please no. Adding 'more' does not mean 'better'. Instead of knowing my enemies and being able to adjust my tactics quickly, I had to try and work out who i was fighting and what was most applicable to kill them for far too long.
Return of the Flood? You know, I think I'd had so much of the Flood in the first game that if *I* was the master chief confronting them again, I'd just sit down, open my visor, and hope for a ncie quick end because otherwise they'd bore me to death. No one liked the Flood. They comprised some of the most boring parts of Halo.
Poor Characterisation. Oh look at the new Cortana! OMG she has her hair down! OMG she's so sassy now! OMG I can understand her, unlike British comedians which are just too strange to be funny! BTW WTF is sarcasm? Seriously. New Cortana irritated me. New Captain keyes irritated me. Sergeant Johnson I would have shot him, just so I could park a warthog over his grenades and make it jump.
Changes to guns. Changes to Human guns I didn't mind. Liked the battle rifle, found the smg to be fun, understood the changes to the pistol. Changes to the Covenant guns were... bewildering. Covenant Crabine? Apparently entirely against covenant combat ethos. beam rifle? Reactionary change against power of sniper rifle. Brute shot? Pointless. Brute plasma rifle? Fun but again, a role already served by the elite plasma rifle. Energy sword? Nice.
I have unintentionally run out of steam on a positive note, so let me reiterate my main whinge: the story sucked. the chaaracters sucked. the new covenenat armoury sucked.

I don't feel better, but I do feel less like vomiting.

I havent played it yet so I can't comment but I'm hearing the new story isnt all that memorable. little surprise as Bungie had Halo in development for many years while Halo 2 has been all of 18 months.

Just to counter the negative, it wasn't that bad, though it was dissapointing.

Cons:
Story was a bit confusing, ending flat. I do so hate endings that don't end, which this one did. Close this chapter and move on to the next would be better.

Waypoints are BADLY needed. Its confusing and you can find yourself going in circles if you aren't paying attention.

Switching from Master Cheif to the Arbiter seriously affected the flow of the story line. Would have been better to have told Master Chief's story, then unlocked the arbiters story.

Flood was the same old boring Flood, just not as many of them, and they developed a sense of self preservation. They did actually hide from me instead of just getting blown to bits.

Pros:
New weapons. It is nice to be able to use new and interesting stuff.

Love the ability to take damage on the warthog and scorpion. They can actually be destroyed now, which changes how you use them. The stuff breaking and falling off is cool too.

Moveable objects. Barrels and crates aren't nailed to the floor anymore. You can push them, or use explosives to send them scooting across the room.

Ability to board and physically attack the drivers of vehicles. Nice addition, now you can highjack a Wraith and use it yourself.

I didn't mind seeing the covenant storyline, but as above, I wish it had been separate. It is nice to play it from the opposite perspective, just not in the middle of the current side.

Officer Akula on patrol.

http://www.alloutwar.com
All Out War: 4025 - Web based strategy and multiplayer combat

Akula
PUB Administration
"There's gotta be a better way to make a living."

I kinda disagree about having the Arbiter's storyline separate. They kinda needed to be tied in together in order to keep the timeline intact. Although I really wished I didn't have to wait 2 missions to find out what grabbed John-117 after he killed Regret.

Speaking of which, what exactly was that? Having not read the books, that is part of the confusion.

Officer Akula on patrol.

http://www.alloutwar.com
All Out War: 4025 - Web based strategy and multiplayer combat

Akula
PUB Administration
"There's gotta be a better way to make a living."

I think it was known as the gravemind; the gestalt behind the flood.
Two sides of the same story would have been far preferable as well btw.
Or simply one story, but told better

Maybe I should read the books, it might help explain some of this. I am assuming then that the gravemind is responsible for the flood? Is it the flood? Or is it a forerunner?

If I weren't so lazy, I'd go by the books, I even know where to find them. LOL



Officer Akula on patrol.

http://www.alloutwar.com
All Out War: 4025 - Web based strategy and multiplayer combat

Akula
PUB Administration
"There's gotta be a better way to make a living."

I believe it *is* the flood - their combined consciousness.
And like you, i've not read the books

I totally agree with most everything here, with a few points of my own,

1. The whole "dual wield" thing was overated
2. I also noticed how the handicapped some of the vehicles in multiplayer, The wraith tank does not have the little pulse lasers in multiplayer as it does in the regular game and the banshee does not have the fuel rod cannon as well.
3. Didn't like the battle rifle really either. Liked the addition of the scope, hated the 3 round burst, needed a selector switch or something.
4. They really screwed the pistol taking off the scope. In the original the pistol was one of the handiest little guns in that game.
5. Liked the faster recycling rate of fire on the tank's main gun.

did anyone watch the end after the credits had rolled and it showed the Flood "king" ( as I like to call it) talking to cortana? I didn't think the master chief was supposed to let her out of his posession? he's gonna get court-martialed. lol...



They have us surrounded again, poor bastards... - General Abrams.

I agree that the pistol in h2 was weaker than the original, but I didn't mind that so much, since it helped to improve overall game balance. In the original I almost always carried a pistol (unless i was fighting the flood), and i probably would have again in h2 if it wasn't for the lack of pistols to be found.
Battlerife *would* have been better with a selector, but iirc you can't dual wield the battle rifle like you can with the SMG, so it would have become too much of an 'everyman' weapon with that function. As it stands, i prefer the battle firle over the original assault rifle. General balance of weapons was right, in reference to the human guns. The covenenant guns... well i don't know what was going on there.
But my main gripe was an easy one: the story was weaker than my nanowrimo effort, and I've come up with that in the space of a month. Bungie had a lot longer than that.

PUMA PUMA PUMA

The books won't explain what the gravemind is, don't buy them for that. They are good for a backstory and a time killer, buy them for those reasons.

Lonegopher
"Ah behold, the power of cheese"

I only played about half of the original Halo, I'll probably reinstall it and replay it sometime soon or borrow it from my dad for the Xbox.

Finished Halo 2 a couple nights ago. Thought the game was fun, and I personally enjoyed the story, but I'm a simple man.

My two gripes were the ending, and the aformentioned lack of waypoints. Least they could have done was had a compass type o thing, and have you be told to meet up with so and so south of yer current location. Woulda helped in a few spots. One mission I backtracked about 5 minutes before I realized what I'd done.

I've got a bus trip to go on this weekend, so I'm going to pick up the novels at yonder Barnes and Noble (assuming they have them still) for some time killing.

There are 2 places in Halo2 that I am garraunteed to spend 15-20 minutes looking for the exit and going in circles, and that is after having played it several times now. Waypoints are needed.

Officer Akula on patrol.

http://www.alloutwar.com
All Out War: 4025 - Web based strategy and multiplayer combat

Akula
PUB Administration
"There's gotta be a better way to make a living."

If the story hadn't been so wholly awful, I could have forgiven Halo 2 its shortcomings, much as I forgave the original Halo.
I wrote a better story in one month, start to finish, 50k words. Bungie had years and they came up with what I'd regard as a low-brow hollywood blockbuster. Like the Phantom Menace.
And yes. Waypoints. or maybe even better use of the map? heck, if they're 'upgrading' Master Chief's top-of-the-line armour, the least they could do would be to throw in a three-dimensional terrain scanner with it. Little wireframe map in the corner, little dots for enemies and allies, little arrow for the waypoint...
Damn bungie. Now I can't work up any enthusiasm for the inevitable Halo 3.

Hey Meth, wanna post that story?

Like to read it



They have us surrounded again, poor bastards... - General Abrams.

It'd need some serious cleanup first my good man
I probably won't get around to that for a few months, but you never know...

Hey just figured this one out.

In the Halo books they say that the MAC Guns (magnetic accelerator cannons) on the the orbital defense platforms fire a 3,000 ton projectile near or about 1/3 the speed of light. Now I was trying to figure out something that weighs that much and I was reading through one of my BTech source books and I think it was either the Union or Overlord class dropship weighs close to that.

So If you think about it, Those MAC guns are dropship cannons





They have us surrounded again, poor bastards... - General Abrams.

well meth you do have the advantage of not having to make decisions through committee. or at least your committees have a draconian despot sitting chair

that terrain scanner sounds a lot like the sensor display from terra nova.

well yes im a big fan of halo, campaign did suck a bit, but how could u say the online multiplayer sucked, that is the best multiplayer game i've played yet.

--P§ychσBÅllistiC-

halo2 was a huge dissapointment, the drones sucked and the battle rifle and the pistol SUCKED i feel sick thinking bout it.halo 2 was strange, they sould of let played as the arbiter after your through with master chiefs campaighn, to add to the mystery.nobody mentiond the hunters new look and weapon, they both stink.and destructible vehicles suck to . this game was an almost complete ballsucker

Hmmm...necropostage, spam, complete bullcrap...

***
SWM looking for fun-loving, stable, over-clocked Athlon. Turn-ons include hours of gaming, surfing the web, hitting IRC and hunting pedos with Cheese. Turn-offs include system crashes, overheating, low FPS, lag. Gateways need not respond. -Shrike

Ditto.


I bow to no one and give service only for cause.

Necropostage, true, but it served to remind what an angry man I was about Bungie's betrayal of us all.
They'd better not make Halo 3 suck as hard as Halo 2. I think i'll be a-renting that one before I rush out blindly to buy it.
I'm all angry again just thinking about Halo 2.

your right, hlao 2.5 and 3 better be good ... OR ELSE.no crappy weapons and crap



I LISTEN TO MY ANTS. OW, IT BIT ME!!

Halo 2 is one of the most elite games ever created. It is revolutionary in almost every aspect, but, if for no other reason, it is revolutionary in the fact that it is the first 1st person shooter ever in which you can view your legs. Period.

WRONG
BREED
2003
PC
OWNED
OWNED
OWNED




Phew...sorry for that little outburst there...yeah anyway Breed for the PC came out before Halo2 and it allowed you to see legs when you looked down. As I remember, There were a few even before that but the names escape me.

Oh yeah, and Halo 2 sucked enourmous. Instead of giving us the same old weaponry we love plus new ones, they made the old ones suck and force fed us these POS new weapons like the Battle Rifle and the Brute Shot. Same thing with enemies; the old ones become all faggified (since when do elites talk like god damn english knights?) while the new ones simply suck on nutsacks. The multiplayer is flawed, as it does not contain a xbox-live co-op mode. Then again, who would want to play SP co-op anyway? That would involve going throught the painfully simple and stale single player mode. The destructable vehicles is probably the stupidest idea ever, and the "improved" graphics can lead to an embarrassing loss of framerate during movies. The whole Arbitrer thing was about as entertaining as gonorrhea, and you didn't even get to fight human soldiers during that campaign. No, just the insufferably poor new flood AI that made a once-revered enemy into an annoyance. Speaking of flood, whats up with that Gravemind thingy? It's a giant F***ing magic-turd that speaks in rhymes. If I wanted to see that I would take Ex-Lax and Ecstasy simoultaneously.

Halo 2 was a poor excuse for a sequel, and I do not look forward to Halo 3.


Ah, one more thing. Something has bothered me about Halos storyline:

Planet Reach was attacked by the covenant because the covvies knew about the spartans being created there. There were at least 117 spartans, each just about as good as Master Chief.

Now, Seeing as how much damage ONE spartan caused already, how in the hell could the covenant destroy 116 master chiefs in one battle, yet fail to successfully capture ONE FREAKING CITY in halo 2? Maybe I didnt pay enough attention to the storyline, because by the end of the 3rd mission I was too busy trying to stab my brain's memory core with various objects to hear anything too well.

Did you read the novels, or are you making this **** up? Reach was attacked because it was a major logistics and shipbuilding center.

There were never anything like 117 Spartans. At least 117 people entered the program, but by the end of it there were only something like 30 people. Everybody else washed out or suffered deablitating side-effects from the enhancement.

Also you may have noted it was one Covenant carrier's troop complement versus the entire UNSC Marine Corps, and while the Covenant have traditionally been victorious in space, they have rather more trouble with their feet on the ground.

***
SWM looking for fun-loving, stable, over-clocked Athlon. Turn-ons include hours of gaming, surfing the web, hitting IRC and hunting pedos with Cheese. Turn-offs include system crashes, overheating, low FPS, lag. Gateways need not respond. -Shrike

I didn't even think there were novels. Also, I don't own halo 1, so the only time I got to see the cutscenes was when I played co-op at a friends house, and they almost always skipped them. I heard something about the covenant being able to destroy planets from space or something like that, but I wasn't sure it was true.

They can glass a planet, given enough warships and two or three days, but they can't blow it up.

***
SWM looking for fun-loving, stable, over-clocked Athlon. Turn-ons include hours of gaming, surfing the web, hitting IRC and hunting pedos with Cheese. Turn-offs include system crashes, overheating, low FPS, lag. Gateways need not respond. -Shrike