Robots Dont Bleed, But They Can Cry
My experience playing Halo 2 online over Xbox Live has been a mixed bag so far. As much as I enjoy the feel of Halo and the array of game modes available to play I can't get over the fact that everyone who isn't on my team is a silent robot, a cold merciless killer. It may sound odd to suggest that Dramatic Marlin or Sway both have it in them to be tagged with such a label but it's very true. In Halo 2 if you're not on the same team the only way to speak to your opponent is to either wait for the round to end or hope they stop for small talk before killing you for the tenth time. You can only "talk" to an opposing team's player when you're within shanking distance and by then it's too late.
Now I don't mind getting killed by people who can hear my wails of despair and anguish. It's actually the most fun you can have dying depending on what the other guy has to say. That being the case, why is it that I'm not allowed to hear Marlin say something self-depreciating after killing me? Why instead does he have to be a silent, cold-blooded killer with no mouth and a penchant for humiliating others? If I wanted to get my ass kicked by silent thugs I'd go to the Mime Bodybuilders Association and start knocking over their invisible boxes.
I hope Bungie gives me a "broadcast to all" button for team games because as much as they're afraid I'm going to blurt out my team's secret tactics I'd rather be having fun getting killed by my friends who last I checked, aren't really killer robots. Except Edwin, I'm pretty sure he is.
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There is no "Read More" button below this article! I expected, nay I desired, there to be one.
Other than that I can conclude that Certis does indeed suck in online games, and that, had there been a "Broadcast to All" option, he would be the victim of relentless and cruel taunting. The recommended course of action? Why an up-close-and-personal shanking by Reaper of course.
Swing harder! Swing harder!
-- Lilarcor, Baldur's Gate 2
That's why there will always be Joint Ops!
PodSix is jerks!
"There is no "Read More" button below this article! I expected, nay I desired, there to be one."
I agree Xan, this post is alarmingly brief for Certis. I think the lack of speaking of Halo has gotten to him.
I'm bringing sexy back!
It's simply a matter of time I'm afraid, sometimes all we seem to have time for is a quickie before work kicks our asses again. Hmmm... Quickie isn't a bad name for an article...
I heard that they were keeping Elysium in the ICU not because he needed intensive care, but because they needed to be careful of his intensity. - Wordsmythe
Actually, I'd be more surprised if there wasn't a "Read More" button under an article by Elysium.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster
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Agreed on two points. One, we want more Halo2 impressions and, two, the voice comm is definetly lacking a way for us to all cut up. That's the reason the team channels for CS:Source fell flat.
The proximity for voice is cool, in a novelty kind of way, but I'd rather just have a team chat and a server wide chat.
So, this article was kinda like a nooner? That's ok, we're cool with that.
I love that word, nooner.
Hey sexy mama, wanna kill all humans?
light explosives now.....and..... ..now.
See I really like the way they did voice chat in Halo 2 myself. For one, you spend quite a bit of time connected to everyone in the party chat, so you can chit chat and generally screw around in there in between matches. Plus in the game you can still talk to anyone on your team, which leaves alot of room for more random chit chat during the game. Not being able to talk to the other team really adds a sense of danger to it for me, they become entirely unknown for the 5 minutes you're in the match. I can't hear them, so they become an entirely other thing, dangerous and silent. I find myself straining to try and hear the enemy, because I'm so used to hearing them in the party chat.
Which is the other reason I can't get too worked up over it, you can still talk to the party when it's time for chit chat, but Halo is too fast paced for me to want to sit there and go on about some random tangent for 5 minutes like I can in Joint Ops. I get in a conversation and the match is over, I like the seperation between the two because it lets me ramble in the party chat and game in the game chat.
The proximity stuff is great because it helps suck me into the game world. I think some of my favorite moments last night were when someone came back with the flag and all the defenders cheered. Or when I suggested we needed theme music for capping the flag and KrazyTaco started singing, which I thought was hilarious. So I proceeded to walk by some of our team singing a random tune, and I heard them all laughing as I passed. It makes it so much more immersive now that it's turned on by default.
Speaking of Joint Ops, don't we spend every week in Joint Ops seperated by team? I don't hear you whining about that. Oops.
"Use ActiveX — it’s the PBR of client-side web technology." - hipstergrammers
"Try to offer a free dessert to the universe, to truth. You will fail." - Yelping with Cormac
Miami, FLSeattle, WAI got mentioned on the front page! My life is complete. Just wait till I get my headset Certis, then you shall see I am MS Sam voice stuck on "f*ck"m "c*cksuckers!", and other assorted profanity.
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Never said I liked it there either but at least we have a choice. Thanks for playing.
I heard that they were keeping Elysium in the ICU not because he needed intensive care, but because they needed to be careful of his intensity. - Wordsmythe
I'm with you Pyro, besides, there's a reason they didn't give a choice, and I'd bet Edwin's pants that this reason is bandwidth. Don't forget we're not playing on a dedicated 3ghz server with a T3 line. They managed to make 16 players session work without any lag. That's simply amazing.
Steam: [GWJ] Mr.Green | Xbox Live: MrGreen | PSN: MrGreenPSN | Wii: 4859 2... oh f*ck it.
Also something I wanted to mention is interface reasons. How many people switch around what team they're talking to in Joint Ops? How many remember what key they bound it to, if they bound it at all?
In Halo, you have one button, and you can talk to anybody in the game at some time or another. So far, it's worked pretty elegantly for me, I've never had a moment where I was like "man I really want to talk to person X but can't". Matches are so short, you'll be in the party chat soon enough.
"Use ActiveX — it’s the PBR of client-side web technology." - hipstergrammers
"Try to offer a free dessert to the universe, to truth. You will fail." - Yelping with Cormac
Miami, FLSeattle, WAYou can't bet something that doesn't exsist.
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I'm not a big gambler
Steam: [GWJ] Mr.Green | Xbox Live: MrGreen | PSN: MrGreenPSN | Wii: 4859 2... oh f*ck it.
I see the shock of me having a few well placed kills on you last night has shattered your otherwise confident veneer. Well, if it'll make you feel any better I can provide a brief script you can run through your head after I get the occasional kill on you (see? self-deprecating!). Something like: "nice try, just a lucky shot on my part", or "wow, I barely got you there", or "that was close. I'm so close to dying.".
Hopefully That will fill that gap for you while I, in the meanwhile, revel in my newfound cloak of silence and I scream out "yes! take that you bitch! who's your daddy now, huh Hockey boy, huh?"
Meanwhile I agree a broadcast-all option would be a nice one, although easily abused. Perhaps an option that can be toggled by the party host would be best. The proximity voice chat is very cool once you get accustomed to it -- the brief time I played tonight it worked to great effect. I haven't experienced the hilarity that evidently took place after I left last night (odd, that), but I can see its potential.
Overall, although not flawless, the Halo 2 multiplayer experience is certainly the best I've seen. The first few rounds we played last night I wasn't getting into it, but as we played more (and we switched out of conventional slayer mode) I started to enjoy it more and more. Territories is my favorite thus far, and playing it on Zanzibar is indeed Halo 2 multiplayer bliss imho.
no particular interest, no particular talent
Marlin, yes Zanzibar is a great map.. I love Lockout as well, nice tight spaces for maximum mayhem
As for the voice, I'm glad it's not broadcast all because it would definitely be abused. The proximity is very cool, it's neat hearing people laughing or what not when you've done something.. adds a lot to the experience so far
XBL/PSN/STEAM iPhone (Game Center): swatr2
Hmm, You mean I am going to need to start yelling "Peek-A-Boo!" when I club someone to death from behind?
The proximity chat is indeed very cool, when I get killed at close distance it's a little consolation to hear someone's voice coming out of my speakers. It definitely immerses me in the game more. Like when Grumpicus was in a ghost, zooming back and forth in front of me, guns blazing. "Come and get it, bitch" he taunts. Oh, I came and got it, didn't I.
I called it, just sayin'.
Proximity voice is something I've been waiting to see in games for a long, long while. It's a good thing that they finaly decided to implement it for the first time. Pyro is right, it's a wonderful immersion tool.
Panem et circenses
"You really need to smoke a tree first to appreciate that one." - Sanjuro
el_dino is right, Pyro is right.
Steam: [GWJ] Mr.Green | Xbox Live: MrGreen | PSN: MrGreenPSN | Wii: 4859 2... oh f*ck it.
You left out the fact that it was the exact same ghost that I'd just carjacked from you. I wonder why. Hmm...
Yes, you came and got it... once you fetched the entire Red Army.
Steam
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Well, we usually don't separate out until there's a good number of us on and we start trying to actually use tactics. Less than 10 of us, though, and we're generally on the same channel.
Steam: duckilama
T.Rex is more impressive than a cockroach, but that doesn't mean it aged better. - CheezePavillion
I like the fact that when I was looking for an enemy flag I went into there base, couldn't find it and then heard a voice. It said, "man, some guy just ran into the base took our banshee and left without the flag." It was at that point i went back in, killed the S.O.B. and took the flag. Damn straight.
"Thanks, KrazyTaco, thanks. I'd put it in your pooper too." -Mex
"Oh, KrazyTaco, you fulfill all my wishes." -pneuman
"I sometimes hang awake at night dreaming of being called a dumbass by KrazyTaco." -Gravey
I, too, am a big fan of the Halo2 style of voice. Perhaps it does isolate one from the opposing force, but I find that this reinforces the team aspect of team play. I'm willing to suffer the indignity of being considered a voiceless robot by my friends for a round or two to get that extra level of immersion.
Besides, I'm sure there are nuances to proximity voice that we have yet to discover. Can't wait to see how this develops over time.
Don't be saucy with me, Bernaise. - Count DeMonet
FalseGravity - My first blog.
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I like the Halo 2 voicework too. Sanjuro driving around in a warthog screaming about wanting a truce because the game was taking hours was far too funny.
He drove past me once and I heard it fade into the front right speaker, get louder, and then fade back out the left rear speaker. It was hilarious. Meanwhile I hear my teammates in the earpiece cracking up as well. Good funny, and one of my favorite moments from the game so far.
XBLive: Thin J | PSN: Thin_J | Battle.net: ThinJ.284
You know stuff. - MannishBoy