Halo 4 - Catch All

Just did the first level solo on Legendary with the Thunderstorm skull on, whose description is "Major upgrade to the capabilities of enemies". Even with the skull the first level was easier than the first level of Halo 2 on Legendary, though it certainly had its moments. However, it reminded me of why I always played the original Halo on Legendary, and that was to force me to experiment with whatever weapons I found lying on the ground.

With that in mind, I want to treat whoever designed the Needler in this game to some sensual erotic pleasures, because this weapon has been so nerfed throughout so many iterations and yet finally gets the love it deserves. Once I nabbed a Needler taking out Elites was no problem.

The plasma pistol, on the otherhand, has been nerfed even further than ever before. I know people say the Magnum was broken in Halo 1, but (on a campaign player's perspective) the plasma pistol was the most versatile weapon in the game. If you had Grunts and Jackals in a bottle neck and a quick enough trigger finger, you could crouch and become a turret. Even on Legendary it could make short work of the enemies, took forever to overheat, and had several shots per single percentage point of battery. Team it up with the magnum and all it took was a single charge to wipe out an Elite's shields, a swap to the Magnum and a POP! to the skull for a quick, two-second kill.

Well, you can still do the charge-POP! combo, but each shot with the pistol is now 1% of the battery (I believe. That battery died awfully fast).

So of all the weapons to be seriously nerfed, the plasma pistol is the one to get it the worst. That and their sorry, inaccurate, ineffective excuse for a plasma rifle.

I'm not sure how much ammo it takes to take down an Elite on Legendary yet. As I said, I was playing with Thunderstorm on ("Major upgrade to the capabilities of enemies"), and sticking an Elite with a plasma grenade didn't even wipe his shields out.

Anyone looking to play, just add me.

GT: Garreth Keenan

Just watched the Terminal videos on YouTube.

This continuity has become so convoluted when it started out so straight forward yet interesting.

Catastrophically disappointed by the inability to save films in Campaign or Spartan Ops mode.

I enjoyed composing and framing screenshots of notable moments, like the half second before I finally got a killionaire medal...

That reminds me, does Spartan Ops have scoring? They dropped Campaign scoring, which is awfully unfortunate as it could be rather useful as feedback and just plain fun as well. It seems campaign also contributes nothing to your EXP. unless you complete challenges.

Which means they took all the non-competitive friendly gameplay options that helped make Reach a lot of fun and removed them.

Also, I forgot to try and access the theater after Glanton and I played last night. Does it really not record campaign videos? Even Halo 3 managed that. Though I'd feel less bad for forgetting to nab a clip of my Ghost getting launched across a map from a closing door.

ccesarano wrote:

That reminds me, does Spartan Ops have scoring? They dropped Campaign scoring, which is awfully unfortunate as it could be rather useful as feedback and just plain fun as well. It seems campaign also contributes nothing to your EXP. unless you complete challenges.

Which means they took all the non-competitive friendly gameplay options that helped make Reach a lot of fun and removed them.

Also, I forgot to try and access the theater after Glanton and I played last night. Does it really not record campaign videos? Even Halo 3 managed that. Though I'd feel less bad for forgetting to nab a clip of my Ghost getting launched across a map from a closing door.

Spartan Ops does have kill counts, but I haven't seen scoring other than that. It's a real bummer about campaign videos.

I've been surprisingly taken by this game, so if anyone wants to do more co-op multiplayer (campaign or Spartan Ops) later tonight let me know.

I've been playing a fair amount of multiplayer and I did the Spartan Ops on Heroic. Feel free to add me for MP, Legendary Spartan Ops, or Campaign Co-op. I should be on tonight for some killing action.

Could someone please post the GWJ MP spreadsheet? We need to be much more organized if we want to get some MP going. I don't have time to go through 7 pages and search for Live tags.

I suppose gains could always add names to the front page? Only thing I've seen is people using XBL clans, and I'm not certain how those are supposed to work.

Hey all, I'm fairly new to the Halo 4 Catch All. I joined GWJ due to Dota 2. Does anyone want to party up and play multiplayer?

Live gamertag is Fibonacciii

I will be on and playing mp quite a bit. Send me friend requests. I have a lot of the mp shooter fans here on my xbl friend list, and you can network that way.

Slapped in a column for Halo 4 on the GwJ MP spreadsheet and took the liberty of adding everyone on this page who's got an exposed XBL gamertag.

I'd really like to invest myself into the progression system this time... rank up, unlock stuff and get better at the game.

Is someone on here "Mr noob" on xbl?

I've been playing this a lot, so if anyone wants to play some MP, I'm down.

CptGlanton wrote:

Is someone on here "Mr noob" on xbl?

Yup! Remind me never to play KotH again, that was brutal.

I played some Spartan Ops split screen last night with a friend. Halo has always had great split screen support until now. We were playing on a 50 inch plasma which has been a great screen to play Halo: Reach and Left 4 Dead and many other games on split screen but we were both getting some terrible eye strain and having trouble reading HUD elements while playing Halo 4. Also we could barely make out the aiming reticules while in vehicles. Really sad to see that one of the last great bastions of split screen gaming has really phoned it in this time.

Spartan Ops was fun though. We were playing on easy because she is used to laying waste to enemies in Reach's Firefight mode with unlimited rockets but she really took to the the DMR, Carbine, and Light Rifle. Really missed having a mode we could configure for maximum fun though.

Rykin wrote:

I played some Spartan Ops split screen last night with a friend. Halo has always had great split screen support until now. We were playing on a 50 inch plasma which has been a great screen to play Halo: Reach and Left 4 Dead and many other games on split screen but we were both getting some terrible eye strain and having trouble reading HUD elements while playing Halo 4. Also we could barely make out the aiming reticules while in vehicles. Really sad to see that one of the last great bastions of split screen gaming has really phoned it in this time.

Spartan Ops was fun though. We were playing on easy because she is used to laying waste to enemies in Reach's Firefight mode with unlimited rockets but she really took to the the DMR, Carbine, and Light Rifle. Really missed having a mode we could configure for maximum fun though.

Noticed the same thing regarding split screen. Campaign was almost unplayable compared to Borderlands 2 split screen.

cyrax wrote:

Could someone please post the GWJ MP spreadsheet? We need to be much more organized if we want to get some MP going. I don't have time to go through 7 pages and search for Live tags.

Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...

mr_n00b wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

Is someone on here "Mr noob" on xbl?

Yup! Remind me never to play KotH again, that was brutal.

Even more proof that I spend more time remembering avatars than screen names. I had no clue who you were until this post.

Trashie wrote:
Rykin wrote:

I played some Spartan Ops split screen last night with a friend. Halo has always had great split screen support until now. We were playing on a 50 inch plasma which has been a great screen to play Halo: Reach and Left 4 Dead and many other games on split screen but we were both getting some terrible eye strain and having trouble reading HUD elements while playing Halo 4. Also we could barely make out the aiming reticules while in vehicles. Really sad to see that one of the last great bastions of split screen gaming has really phoned it in this time.

Spartan Ops was fun though. We were playing on easy because she is used to laying waste to enemies in Reach's Firefight mode with unlimited rockets but she really took to the the DMR, Carbine, and Light Rifle. Really missed having a mode we could configure for maximum fun though.

Noticed the same thing regarding split screen. Campaign was almost unplayable compared to Borderlands 2 split screen.

Yep, the improved graphics comes at a price. Draw distance for enemies is also atrocious split-screen. I think as a technical marvel, Reach did much more then Halo 4. You could play 4 player split-screen with no slowdown and no noticeable draw distance sacrifices (and use the footage in Theater mode too!). Not that this isn't a really good game, it just gives me a new appreciation for Bungie.

Edit: Its not unplayable for me, but the draw distance thing has got me killed by an invisible baddy quite a few times.

@Fibonacciiii

Sorry I never jumped back on. I'm getting over a cold and ended up passing out early. Also, I feel like I need to complete the campaign before I face the inevitable teabagging in VS.

ccesarano wrote:
mr_n00b wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

Is someone on here "Mr noob" on xbl?

Yup! Remind me never to play KotH again, that was brutal.

Even more proof that I spend more time remembering avatars than screen names. I had no clue who you were until this post.

It's entirely my fault, this is what I get for picking the most generic handle way back when in high school. Such is life.

Similar to the Sabre mission in Halo: Reach the Broadsword level in Halo 4 really has me wanting a new Rogue Squadron type game. Flight missions are usually some of my favorites and the last Halo games haven't disappointed.

Finished the campaign and I really like it. I like the enemy having a face and a name. Regret was never a strong enough character and the Gravemind was even less of one. The next game should be pretty cool. At this point I think it is very safe to assume it will be a next gen game. Hopefully they can do better on the split screen issues and maybe be a little more generous with ammo for human weapons (at least it makes sense story wise why human ammo and weapons are the rarest).

Well back to Borderlands 2

mr_n00b wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

Is someone on here "Mr noob" on xbl?

Yup! Remind me never to play KotH again, that was brutal.

I played some KotH yesterday to get the daily challenge. I kind of liked it...especially playing with a coordinated team. Playing with random people kind of sucked because everyone just ran around like idiots.

Hey guys, new to the site. Always up for some halo when I'm online, which varies from early morning to late at night. Having a 5 month old definitely changes your gaming schedule ha. XBL tag: MidniteMaverick

Finished the campaign, probably the best Halo campaign of the bunch. 343 did a fantastic job

on the ending..

Spoiler:

ow, right in the feels. they say that halo 5 is gonna be pretty dark compared to the rest. ptsd master chief?

See, when I saw the ending...

Spoiler:

...all I could think of was this song. According to Glanton I have no heart. Or soul. I can't remember. Either way, it just seemed weird and funny to me simultaneously, even though I know this is where they've been going since Halo 2 (Hell, maybe even Halo 1).

ccesarano wrote:

See, when I saw the ending...

Spoiler:

...all I could think of was this song. According to Glanton I have no heart. Or soul. I can't remember. Either way, it just seemed weird and funny to me simultaneously, even though I know this is where they've been going since Halo 2 (Hell, maybe even Halo 1).

Spoiler:

I thought they gave themselves some wiggle room at the end. Doesn't Cortana say something along the lines of "Most of me is down there already". Most isn't all if I'm remembering it right. I would prefer the darker path, though.

Spoiler:

The ending truly hit me right in the feels. They take away his long time BFF and now he's left to figure it out with possibly a new AI. Master Chief and Capsicle should be war buddies and talk about losing their friends. I know they'll understand each other.