Halo Reach

[nonny]

The only problem I am having with this game is Multiplayer, I have never played any game where so many people quit so early on.

In any team game type other than arena it seems as though around 80% of the time someone quite because they dont like the game selected, or 2 minutes in when they are doing badly.

I have never given so much bad feeback within a short space of time, I have never been randomly disconnected so assume that it is not network problems and it is never someone who has a positive kill ratio that quits.

Is anyone else seeing the same thing, because its turning the team based side into a mis matched frustrating joke.

I dont remember Halo 3 being this bad

It's probably a little of column A and a little of column B. I've had several matches where some of my mates got disconnected even though they were host and had open NAT and green lights across the board.

In several matches last night I experienced half a team disappearing after it stops and tried to migrate to a new host so I suspect there might actually be an issue in there somewhere where once this is triggered the new host cant always resolve all players and a catch 22 evolves where more are dropped.

On the bright side a patch is looming in early October so that may fix something if there is an issue and as for quitters... they get punished for it and get banned for 15 minutes if they continue to quit matches. You can actually see peoples quit ratio on bungie.net, mine is 88% at last check and I havent actually quit anything!? So something is up somewhere.

Its early days basically so take it all with a pinch of salt. I think every popular game has suffered stuff like this on XBL the past few years.

[rmoxon]

I can't get it working either way, if I sign the other player out then try to start it wants them to choose a profile or temp profile. Whichever I choose, it doesn't seem to work unlike previous games which allowed you to have guests.

John

Havent tried it yet myself but Ive seen people playing with guests online... so it must work.

I suggest you dont sign a second player in at all in the first place, that way you wont confuse it.

[englishbob]

Apologies if its already been posted...

Graphical comparision between Halo 3 and Reach

http://www.lensoftruth.com/?p=22315

[JohnMcL7]

Havent tried it yet myself but Ive seen people playing with guests online... so it must work.

I suggest you dont sign a second player in at all in the first place, that way you wont confuse it.

If I don't sign in or join the second player then it's just me that goes online.

John

[Charlie]

You need to sign in first with your Gold account, then have your friend sign in as a guest (scroll all the way down to the bottom and it should say Gamertag Guest) then, hey presto, you're off and running.

[JohnMcL7]

Yeah, just finally found that solution on Gamefaqs and it does appear to work - thanks, hopefully it will be useful to others.

John

[FelixofMars]

There is no competition really, Halo 3 looks really dated. Its a bit pap that the final image from Reach (environments) looks really bland. They mostly look really interesting but the lighting make it look washed out and plain.

There is absolutely no contest between the human models either. Previous to Reach they have all looked really deformed. They are still not perfect but most of the women especially no longer look like they have been punched in the face.

Apologies if its already been posted...

Graphical comparision between Halo 3 and Reach

http://www.lensoftruth.com/?p=22315

[Wools]

I completed the game last night in Co-Op.

Like every Halo, there's so much to the game that it only shows itself on repeat plays but I really enjoyed the main campaign.

->Open Spoiler<-

None of the levels have the same open and lush mountainside that Combat Evolved had but it has a interestingly muted and atmospheric style. As the levels drew to a close, we were taken from one brilliant set piece to another with the combat and AI never tiring or becoming generic. As the final scene rolled me and my brother set back and briefly discussed the decade we've been playing Halo together and how enjoyable the entire series has always been.

Then as the camera panned back to the final Spartan left on Reach, with the Covenant multiplying and drawing closer, the final moment was magic. I actually lent back to my brother and shook hands with him as I guessed how the final scene was going to play out! It was a great way to end the series and a surprisingly dark final act by asking the players to fight for their life with dwindling ammo and ever increasing enemies. The pass over from Noble Team's sacrifice, Coratana being given to the Pillar of Autumn and Reach's fall was a fantastic link to tie the series up with a bow.

All in all, a brilliant campaign and a great way to end the Bungie developed series.

[fishbowlhead]

Is there anywhere i can view all the cut scenes?

[JohnMcL7]

->Open Spoiler<-

I wasn't that keen on the end, I disliked the Pillar of Autumn being on the planet and launched off as it just looks stupid for a massive spaceship with virtually no manoeuvring capability to be taking off within a gravity well. After Eric Nylund's superb combat descriptions of the various UNSC ships it's a shame Bungie always make them look so laughable including the frigates hovering in the atmosphere and the MACs which Bungie clearly don't understand how they're supposed to work.

I am disappointed with the storyline in Reach because it initially looked like it was being taken more seriously than in previous games as it features mk III Spartans which are Nylund's creation, Dr Halsey, the interactions between the mk IIIs and Halsey were spot on. However most of it was the usual nonsense, I didn't like the cheesy deaths of each of the Noble team and the story made little sense - Reach housed all the orbital construction platforms for the UNSC ships and with most outer colonies falling, most of the big ships were recalled to Reach. It also had an orbital defence system comprising a large amount of high power MACs which kept Reach defended until Elite strike teams broke through and went planetside to take their power offline - before this point, their ships had to stay clear. By the time the Pillar of Autumn abandoned Reach, the planet was pretty much lost as the whole system had been flooded with Covenant ships as was seen at the start of Halo 2 but in Reach the Pillar of Autumn just takes off and seemingly arrives at Halo without a scratch. Even simple things such as at the end Cortana refers to Noble6's relation to Reach which was also wrong, mk II's belonged to Reach but Mk III's were based and trained on Onyx.

I've never understood why they commissioned professional authors to write the books and do a decent job of it but not have them involved with the games

Is there any way to use the active cloaking when against AI? In both campaign and firefight they seen to have no problem spotting you with the ability engaged even at range. From reading up on it the system is supposed to be optimal at low speeds but less so when walking or running however that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, what is the best way to use the human grenade launcher? It seemed stronger in the beta but I have a tough time getting it to inflict much damage as it always seems to bounce so I must be using it wrong as the manual refers to different modes.

John

[rmoxon]

Is there anywhere i can view all the cut scenes?

Having trouble sleeping are we?

At a guess I would say you tube?

[Charlie]

I'd imagine they're all up on youtube by now.

[rmoxon]

Is there any way to use the active cloaking when against AI? In both campaign and firefight they seen to have no problem spotting you with the ability engaged even at range. From reading up on it the system is supposed to be optimal at low speeds but less so when walking or running however that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, what is the best way to use the human grenade launcher? It seemed stronger in the beta but I have a tough time getting it to inflict much damage as it always seems to bounce so I must be using it wrong as the manual refers to different modes.

John

You are only fully cloaked when standing still, you become more visible the faster you walk.

As for the grenade launcher, dont use it, its crap.

[JohnMcL7]

You are only fully cloaked when standing still, you become more visible the faster you walk.

As for the grenade launcher, dont use it, its crap.

That's what the manual says but even standing still the AI don't seem to treat you any differently?

John

[ItsThere]

That's what the manual says but even standing still the AI don't seem to treat you any differently?

John

If they have seen you move before hand they will remember where you are.

If they haven't, you can blast them.

TO HELL.