Halo Reach

[Uli]

well, if i was with Bungie i had made Heroic the default or normal difficulty. but i am not. so it's just an advice - no obligation. of course previous Halos can be enjoyed on whatever difficulty the player chooses.

it's just crucial in this discussion to understand that unlike in your average, let's say Call of Duty shooter, the enemies just don't swallow more bullets before going down or rise in number. no, in Halo games the enemies also behave different, they get smarter, more believable. in result fights get much more intense, the satisfaction of overcoming a single Elite officer, who chooses wisely if to attack you (in numerous, even unforeseen ways) or stay behind cover depending on the situation, is so much bigger. there are so many Aha effects when Halo is played on Legendary that it really seems like a new experience.

[nakamura]

well, if i was with Bungie i had made Heroic the default or normal difficulty. but i am not. so it's just an advice - no obligation. of course previous Halos can be enjoyed on whatever difficulty the player chooses.

.

That would alienate so many players that are not as skilled at fps games. Normal shouldn't be hard, that is what hard is for. The fact Halo offers 2 higher difficult levels shows that Bungie catered for all angles perfectly.

Personally I found normal to be perfectly challenging at the time and exciting enough.

[_y_]

well, if i was with Bungie i had made Heroic the default or normal difficulty. but i am not. so it's just an advice - no obligation. of course previous Halos can be enjoyed on whatever difficulty the player chooses.

it's just crucial in this discussion to understand that unlike in your average, let's say Call of Duty shooter, the enemies just don't swallow more bullets before going down or rise in number. no, in Halo games the enemies also behave different, they get smarter, more believable. in result fights get much more intense, the satisfaction of overcoming a single Elite officer, who chooses wisely if to attack you (in numerous, even unforeseen ways) or stay behind cover depending on the situation, is so much bigger. there are so many Aha effects when Halo is played on Legendary that it really seems like a new experience.

I thought it was widely acknowledged that it is in fact precisely the opposite of this which is true. The only difference on the harder difficulties are the enemies take longer to kill. The fact they take longer to kill means they have more time to demonstrate their interesting AI routines, and gives you more opportunity to deal with them in more creative and exciting ways.

[Uli]

@ nakamura

let's make it clear and not talk about difficulty anymore but about AI and experience. of course i would have lowered the difficulty to make the game as accessible as possible while at the same time showing more of what the AI is capable of.

[Uli]

The only difference on the harder difficulties are the enemies take longer to kill.

enemies get in fact harder to kill. but from my humble experience this is definitely not only due to swallowing more bullets or your own character becoming more fragile. it's like Bungie saved the best of their AI code for Heroic or Legendary. but whatever the way, more important is the result. do yourself a favour and check it out by yourself

[rmoxon]

I thought it was widely acknowledged that it is in fact precisely the opposite of this which is true. The only difference on the harder difficulties are the enemies take longer to kill. The fact they take longer to kill means they have more time to demonstrate their interesting AI routines, and gives you more opportunity to deal with them in more creative and exciting ways.

I didint actualy know this, but it makes sense, the enemies never seemed that dumb in Halo to me, even when playing on normal the enemy A.I. was one of the more impressive things about the game.

I never really noticed that they took longer to kill either though if I'm honest, i just thought that on higher difficulties your health bar depleted faster when getting shot. I think this is why alot of people say its meant to be played on Heroic, on Normal you can take a few too many hits from gun fire but will still die in one hit from a grenade, normal is actualy slightly unbalanced.

[Uli]

i've read conflicting reviews as to whether the difficulty changes dynamically with additional players in campaign co-op or, just like in Halo 3, does not adjust at all - making even Legendary a breeze. the latter would be a shame, really.

anyone can comment on this from first hand experience or has read a more reliable review source?

[Matt]

To those saying you must play on Heroic and Legendary - have you tried Normal? Of course it's possible the AI changes accordingly, but is this a fact or just a widely held myth? Certainly is makes sense on Easy for the AI to do nothing but stand still for you.

Also it's quite possible you simply see more impressive AI on the harder levels as the enemies don't die as quickly / you have to take cover more, giving them time to do more. If you know what I mean.

I've completely H1 and 3 on Legendary. With Reach, I'll co-op on Heroic to start with as I want to enjoy the game, not get frustrated constantly dying as may well be the case on Legendary. Though that's just my style of play, I'm not one to be cowering behind cover every 5 seconds while my shield regens.

[EvilBoris]

There is an Intrestimg article about Halo 3's AI here

http://aigamedev.com/open/reviews/halo-ai/

[Uli]

To those saying you must play on Heroic and Legendary - have you tried Normal? Of course it's possible the AI changes accordingly, but is this a fact or just a widely held myth?

Matt, please see my posts above, i think i've answered your question. in the end it doesn't matter whether or not Bungie actually implied different AI routines for each difficulty or we just get the impression they have. the experience is a different one, wouldn't you agree?

[rmoxon]

There is an Intrestimg article about Halo 3's AI here

http://aigamedev.com/open/reviews/halo-ai/

Havent read it in its entierity but that article is actualy quite amusing, they basicaly seem to say that the A.I. really isnt smart, they just pretend it is by making it do loads more random stuff than the enemies in other games do.

Basicaly, the A.I. isnt clever, bungie just do a good job of hiding the fact that its dumb.

[Uli]

Basicaly, the A.I. isnt clever, bungie just do a good job of hiding the fact that its dumb.

well, that's what AI programming is all about in the end

[Brats]

To those saying you must play on Heroic and Legendary - have you tried Normal? Of course it's possible the AI changes accordingly, but is this a fact or just a widely held myth? Certainly is makes sense on Easy for the AI to do nothing but stand still for you.

Also it's quite possible you simply see more impressive AI on the harder levels as the enemies don't die as quickly / you have to take cover more, giving them time to do more. If you know what I mean.

I don't know about the sequels, but in the first game it was exactly as you describe. Basically the difference with Legendary is that the enemies are a lot more accurate.

However this has a dramatic effect on the gameplay, as Halo is all about use of cover (both by the player and the enemy). The times when the player is out of cover, they are a lot more vulnerable (especially to multiple enemies) and must use better tactics to get the enemies shields down before their own. The rush tactic that is so effective on lower difficulties just doesn't work on Legendary.

[Matt]

Actually, I can recall the Legendary snipers in H3 being far too good, to the point of frustration.

[Matt]

well, that's what AI programming is all about in the end

Yep. It's not like the AI is actually Intelligent. It's not learning. It's procedures and scripting.

I found it a very good article, detailing the observations the devs made from playtesting and the "perception" of increased intelligence in the enemies. The fact in their tests, enemies with increased health were perceived as having better "intelligence" does not surprise me one bit.