Honestly, I don't know how much a fresh setup is their motivation. Ogre 2 still holds CE LANs for a reason. Tbh I thought that Warlock sucked, and agreed that Element is better. I still kinda do, but watching SQ play Dynasty on it showed me one thing that it has going for it: the portals. I mean damn, tele's haven't worked very well since Halo 2 at best, arguably Halo CE in terms of competitive 4v4 maps. It's a fine line between neat meta game and out right abuse-able, but seeing SQ work those teles did make me smile, gotta say. Thanks man, I'm still working up the resolve lol. As for the bolded statement, I've been saying the same since I first got in to H3 Forge and my conviction has only strengthened with time. I couldn't agree more even if I somehow transformed myself in to a being formed solely of the pure energy conveyed by that idea. Imagine if you didn't have to build the map after making a sketchup, imagine that just was forge. Just imagine... EDIT: Another one that I just thought of: Cold Storage. That didn't even get a shot on the circuit, and Chill Out was a freakin amazing map, NO CE fan would deny that.
I highly doubt that a new Forge will be included in HCEA. If it is, it will be the same Forge released in Reach. Why would they give the virtual finger to Bungie in that way, given that a fine, albeit slightly flawed, map "editor" was released just more than a year over when HCEA will be released? In all likelihood, a new Forge will be implemented in Halo 4 (guh, that name doesnt exactly roll off the tongue), and hopefully, they will address the issues Forgers had with the last version. Regarding the actual HCEA game and gameplay, I dont know if Ill be able to get used to playing the original style of Halo. Ive grown accustomed to the play style of Reach and it may be hard to re-adapt. But Ill get it anyway, and reminisce for a little while, until I get bored of it, which will inevitably happen. Chief looked a bit blocky to me, as well. They should have gone with the Reach version of the MkV MJOLNIR, looks a bit better. Anyway, the maps will be good to replay on, though, but IMO they should make at least 15 of the best maps from CE, 2, and 3 available. Who cares how long it would take to remake them, it would make it more worth buying. And even throw in a few of ODSTs Firefight maps. Reach needs more FF maps. Badly. Crater, Last Exit and Lost Platoon would be viable candidates. And finally, on Halo 4, Im not entirely sold, to be honest. I know its just a teaser and it teased very well. But I cant see myself getting as excited about this one. I liked how H3 ended and knowing that its not the entirety of the Bungie force going into this game, I dont know if itll hype me up as much. I know Im going to get it, but my point still stands. Anyone else feel the same?
Maybe you're right. I'm probably overpreacting (copyright on that word btw) to what I think the HCE die hards at MLG will do. I truly believe that KC wants what's best for the circuit and I have faith that he can make good decisions, but I've also felt firsthand the effects of how limited his power really is. If the people above and behind him in the PPA and the MLG offices want something, Killa KC's hands are tied and we're left with inexplicable decisions. The Midship map request, having Sanctuary in the first place, keeping the dull and inaccurate Sanctuary remake over the better ones, Warlock, the rejection of Android and Retroactive, excluding oddball and king of the hill from MLG settings, all decisions I don't believe KC really wanted to make. Anyway, time will tell, and I'll keep forging regardless. The MLG forge forum was so nice in Halo 3 when nobody expected their map to get on the circuit and instead forged for the love of design. Maybe this will bring a return to that atmosphere if I happen to be right about my doom and gloom.
The editor itself is fine (well, aside from overly jumpy up/down controls on the bumpers and a stupid coordinate system, both of which are more niggles than deal breakers by any means), it's the canvas and object set which defy belief in how close they come to being awesome whilst utterly failing in a few very key ways. Give us a canvas that doesn't make the 360 hardware cry, and objects that have distinctive, standout textures which merge with one another and don't make the 360 hardware cry even more with all the lights and glass etc. and the insane potential for awesome community design is given free reign to take community content near to the level of PC contributions. Just look at the awesome stuff produced for CE on PC (or even the 10 maps produced by a couple of guys which you can play on the console version if you've got a modded xbox) and you'll see what's being wasted by having to trim and compromise just to make a map fully playable in terms of framerate. Yeah, I do know what you mean. The logic is there to assume the best and there are even plenty of strong indicators. But there are also those serious WTF moments that just leave you questioning any faith. As for Sanc, I've convinced myself that the vote was basically put 'new one or current one' and the grass issue that many seemed to have (ie. people who are unquestionably and objectively WRONG) in the PPA sealed it towards what we have. Idk, maybe it seemed too late to build a new version and put that in to testing and voting etc. I maintain hope that, even if the grass objection sticks, the current one will be modded to have better Cars etc. and maybe even be compressed that little bit from end to end, for v5. Idk, we'll see. Lol, yeah I guess you could be right. Silver lining and all, eh?
I agree that the editor part is fine, I was just quipping at the fact that its not a true editor, basically a map modulating tool ; ). A true map editor would allow us to completely change every facet of everything on a map, including textures, terrain layout/structure, and events etc. I understand the limitations of the console are whats stopping it from being a true editor, but Im not complaining by any means. And the issues I was referring to were a few movement bugs and, indeed, the lack of texturing/skin swapping, and basically every other reason why people have mentioned all around the interwebzs. An awesome thing to do would be to have a Halo map maker on your PC which gave you create reign over absolutely everything, which you could then download to your Xbox. But, again, limitations and copyrights and all manner of other legal and hardware limiting crap would get in the way, so its never going to happen. *cries a little*
I didn't see much of SQ during the Columbus live stream. This perfect work of the teleporters that you're talking about makes me wish I did. I saw almost no games of Impact either, but they weren't very good anyways. I made so many armor lock jokes about them it isn't even funny. Well, it might be, but it eventually got old. Well, I hope you release a map soon. You'll do well with practice and dedication to that practice. Just keep trying and eventually you'll become a great forger. For the statement you bolded, I actually like to think a lot of those "what if" questions. Examples of things I asked myself early on would be "What if I could design a map on a console?", "What if Star Wars: KotOR had co-op?" I asked myself this question barely a week after release. I'm glad Bioware eventually realized how great this would make their games. The Old Republic will definitely succeed in the MMO genre thanks to those early people who made this suggestion to Bioware. I was among the first to pose this question to the Bioware community, but not the absolute first. It's great how developers take such old ideas and use them in their future games. I just wish they would have done it sooner. KotOR II could have been so much better with co-op. Those "what if" questions can really last a long time before finally going off to make video game history, but when they do the game almost always succeeds. From my experiences, Cold Storage didn't play well with team games. In FFA, it was the king, but in team-based games, I just felt that there was very little teamwork involved and that it was very ineffective to use teamwork. I think they should have given it a chance, but I'm doubtful it actually would have gotten into the circuit. The MLG FFA playlist, which actually got removed for being so unpopular, could have used that map though. Chill Out was a different story. I think Chillout was good enough for team games and FFA games. Again though, it was far better for FFA games. Avarice needs to be in the playlist. It was the best KotH map at release, and I'm almost sure it hasn't been topped. Countdown and Zealot could both work fairly well for KotH. If Fiction is in the playlist, Oddball needs to be in too. There are so many decisions that would benefit MLG that aren't being made. I believe Killa KC may not be in control of this too, but let's hope someone is smart enough to make these decisions. Oddball on Guardian was amazing, and I'm sure Fiction will come close to that. Off-topic: Did anyone else experience that reset glitch that went on today? I was playing matchmaking in the DMP playlist against my will (I don't know how Fritzster can stand that playlist), and we ended up carrying our team along with a random. Most players sucked and varied wildly in skill. It reminded me of release, but that's besides the point. I actually had a much better feeling without all the ranks and armor and credits. It simplified the game and I think it played much better. Players wouldn't get intimidated and quit because of one's rank, because there were no ranks. I just think that Bungie should shut that system down. It worked so much better that way.
Just to clarify that what everyone is saying is correct... So, "Firefight mapS". Like I said earlier, hopefully they will be maps from ODST. I miss playing them, and playing them with the Reach engine would be a blast. But theyll likely just be one or two new maps, which isnt a bad thing. I would still miss my Lost Platoon though... *sad face*
I really don't see either of these as problems anywhere near the level of the fail textures. I want featureless, modulated, Lego-styled blocks to build with. Somewhere between Reach and Halo 3. I personally co-ordinate ***** to a fault, because I can be certain that every object will easily align and I can rebuild anything with very little effort; I am all about ease and speed with forging. Which in turn makes the up-down system no biggie. Honestly, I have a far greater beef with the "Reset Coordinates" button. Its actually quicker for me to delete then spawn a new object than it is to navigate to that button, I've never actually had to use it once, and the only times I do click on it are when I am changing off my 45 editing angle for a difficult merge, much to my dismay. All I want is a far less retarded pallet really.
So pumped up that 343 Industries is starting where Bungie left off. & isnt there a Halo movie coming out sometime next year?!
Fair enough Peg. I have reason to doubt myself on the toggle thing. I think its a pointless feature, but I can see it going either way now. That multiplayer maps though, if you couldn't tell they were for reach just by watching the footage, that's your problem. lol
Well I suppose the feature would be to satisfy "purists" who like things the way they were. (I'm not sure why those people would pay for game they already own then...)
Hmmmm. Quite a bounty of information to parse today. Regarding CEA, I'll definitely be picking it up and playing it, as I loved the CE campaign unreservedly and finished it like five or six times. New graphics look nice. No mention of forge or anything related, so I'm guessing we'll still be using Forge World. I also suspect that the multiplayer mode will be a separate Reach disc with the default maps and the remakes - and unfortunately, Pegasi, I'm not nearly as certain as you that they'll include all the DLC like ODST did. Back in those days they were still making DLC free after a certain period; there has never been any indication of doing that in Reach, so I'm guessing they'll still want to charge for it until XBL shuts down. I foresee a disc with the default maps and remakes only, and if you want the DLC you still have to buy them. Luckily, I already have them - but it would be nice to have them all on one disc so I could free up hard drive space on my box. A true CE multiplayer with Live support would be awesome, but I can see why they don't want to do it. Reach is still kind of young and Halo 4 is around the corner, with presumably an all-new multiplayer in it - they don't want any kind of transition state for a year where the fanbase is split down the middle. Unfortunately a remake of this sort is never going to get feature status like a major title (Reach, Halo 4) does; it's definitely more in the ODST-like expansion pack. But since it's CE and has Damnation in it, I'm certain to like this better than ODST. Halo 4 teaser - I have no real thoughts at all. I'm sure almost nothing in it will factor into the eventual real game. The only thing I can say at this point is that I'm happy there's more Halo games coming and happy the Chief is back. And as for my hopes and dreams? I hope it lives up to the Bungie games, and I also hope they get back to basics. I'd love to see a fresh, but simplified and fundamentally old school, approach to what made CE such a great game. I've enjoyed my time with Reach and Halo 2 & 3, but it really has felt like the series kept getting more and more complicated, and each time marginally less fun. For my part they can ditch armor abilities, equipment, dual wielding and bloom - just give me back a powerful pistol and that simple, rock-solid gameplay. (Whoops - somehow this turned into a second paragraph about CEA, didn't it...?)
This was exactly what I was thinking. But then I thought, perhaps he wished to sneak onto that forerunner world undetected. And then I realised that wouldn't be happening, BECAUSE HE IS IN A GIANT BURNING FRIGATE. And then I laughed because if someone shoots him in the groin, he's ****ed.
As I said, there's a distinction between the editor itself and the canvas. The object set is part of the canvas, not inherently part of the editor, thus is a much easier change. Considering that the biggest problem is therefore the easiest to change, it gives more hope for longevity and even redemption, just through a single more functional canvas map. As I said, I could tell, just took me a second to realise since they needlessly avoided actually stating it and instead just talked about 'the included multiplayer.' I had moment of WTF thinking they'd added animations to CE before it clicked. I can therefore understand why some people were left a little confused even after having watched all of it, and thought that a condescending and abrupt tone was just slightly unnecessary.
That's the problem. People just read my **** and insert a condescending tone. It was more of a "Please, stop and think about what you're thinking so you don't disappoint yourself or set the bar too high, won't somebody think of the children" type of tone.
So I made a long and extremely speculative post about how these maps could translate into an actual attempt at remaking Halo: CE multiplayer in the Reach engine over at MLG, and I'm wondering if you guys had any thoughts on it. If I'm anywhere near right, yay. If i'm wrong, then I gave some MLG guys some false hope trolololol