RexoftheFord said:
There's a few things that I also couldn't stop paying attention to in Halo Reach. Yahtzee mentioned the whole "lets sit on the edge of moving vehicles without falling out" bit they kept doing, but there are other things that are quite annoying. 1) Why can I survive orbital descent after being tossed out of an airlock in space, but cannot fall 20 feet without magically dying? 2) How the fuck does the helmet allow me to breathe in space when it can be knocked off, taken off, or just plain fall off with the proper angle? Wouldn't that create an airlock problem? 3) When Kat gets sniped, she got hit with a needle from a needle rifle. Now, she's had shields all the way up to this point that would've prevented that needle from killin' her, where the fuck did they go all of the sudden? 4) Back to the whole orbital descent thing. If my armor can stop that from killing me, why do bullets still work?
Someone told me that according to all the backstory material, Spartans didn't have shields on Reach. If that's so, that solves how Kat easily got waxed, but it leaves open the question of...why the fuck am I running around with shields in the game? Pick one. Health or shields. Or do the Doom thing and have Armor that depletes over time, but you must find more in order to keep your health damage at a manageable rate. Keep things consistent if you're going to go to prequel mode, or if you're going to be inconsistent, at least make it make sense. But yeah, I've played all the Halo games. Haven't read the books, the comics, or viewed the his or her beach towels, so maybe I'm a total noobtard when it comes to Halo. But I think the average Halo player hasn't done all the back reading either.
By the way, people keep telling me about all the new weapons and levels. What new weapons, levels or enemies? New Enemies? Do you mean the slightly larger Jackal (aka Skirmisher) or did you mean the engineers (which were in ODST)? New Weapons? Sorry, DMR = BR with its burst fire mode removed. Focus Rifle = Shit Beam Rifle. Needle Rifle = Covenant Carbine. Concussion Rifle = Brute Shot. The only really new weapon would be your grenade launcher. New Levels? Yeah, which one's your favorite? Blood Gulch Remake, Sanctuary Remake, Ascension Remake, or Ivory Tower remake?
The fun of this game comes from the part that isn't true to form Halo, and that's the space mission, but then again, I ended up just playing Rogue Squadron again because of that.
Disclaimer: I am a Halo fanboy. I hated Halo PC (first halo I played), kind-of-liked halo2, then spent a week at a friends' playing 4 player split screen and since then I will prostrate myself upon the floor and worship anything with the name Halo that isn't sacrilege like Halo wars.
I will undertake to address your issues below:
1) Noble 6 was wearing a re-entry pack (watch cutscene again) and has a feature called 'armour locking' which master chief used in the first cutscene of halo 3 to also survive orbital re-entry
2) 500 years in the future = awesome new technology. According to the canon, a spartans armour allows for 90 minutes oxygen and can withstand exposure to space. Also,the helmet does not just fall off. Neither can it be knocked off.
3) Kat's shields were down due to an EMP spike or something...I forget, its in the dialog. However in-game a sniper shot kills with one headshot even with 200% overshields. On previous Halos this would be the beam rifle, though. If you are sure it was a needle rifle (need to re-watch the cutscenes) then the dropped shields still hold, as the NR is a 1-hit kill on an unshielded spartan
4) Bullets do not work if you activate armour-lock. Your comeback should be 'in gameplay i should be able to use armourlock to survive any fall then' but I would counter that going that far is nitpicking. There is a point at which gameplay balance simply supercedes story. The fact that armourlock is not activatable in mid-air and that noble6 was wearing a re-entry pack should cover these problems adequately.
The person telling you that spartans didnt have shields on reach is only partially correct. Their shields are just crap compared to those of the MASTACHIEF (hallowed be his name, May He Forever Reign, etc etc etc)
Finally your points about the similarity of the weapons, levels, etc to classic halo stuff ignores the fact that the similarities are to the *best* parts of Halo over the years.
The appeal of reach comes from the fact that Halo is a perfectly balanced game that does not get old, like streetfighter or poker, and this game is a 'best-of' collection that allows raving fanboys like us to enjoy everything that is awesome about halo in one place, and with perfect balance.
Maybe convert a few unbelievers along the way? Perhaps but I'm not holding my breath. By now halo-heads are neck deep in the stuff and outsiders will just never get the splendour of the holy trinity of weapons, nades and beatdowns. There is however never a shortage of outsiders determined to try, and I have to shamefully admit that I would rather treat them as cannon fodder than gently ease them into a world of pure gaming awesomeness
Man, I need help. Wheres john 117 when u need him....
