Halo MCC/Infinite/general Griefing thread - Six months, two maps, no refunds

[Brabbit Narp]

This is apparently a thing floating around. Dunno if it's legit but it sounds so retarded I 100% believe 343 would do it.

View attachment 6077504

Outsourcing to contractors? Again? That did not work well for 343 last time for their spaghetti engine. If these rumors are true, it's going to be the same song and dance with this remake. I wasn't looking forward to it to begin with, and considering 343's past, I'll bet they'll screw the pooch somewhere.

Mark my words, they'll link this with the Silver timeline somehow. And I'll bet they'll get their lil DEI/BRIDGE shit into it too on top of that.

-

On another note, I was not aware of the issues with regards to Eldewrito's security until just reading this thread. Thankfully I have not played too much of it, and have since purged the local Lutris install I had of it that was on my system. Pity, since it was a relatively nice way to play modded servers. Serves me right for jumping in blindly without paying attention. Seeing as I just grabbed the MCC on sale, I no longer have need for Eldewrito, save for that pesky prompt to login to a Microsoft account on MCC's end.

Has there been any further update with regarding to Eldewrito in terms of any drama or that security stuff? Being on a Linux distro, I am hoping that whatever shenanigans that would have taken place for a Window's install won't happen here, but it pays to be safe and ask anyway just in case there's something I missed. Again, all of the stuff for Eldewrito was confined to a select Lutris installion, not exactly sandboxed, but everything associated with it has been purged on my end.

As a side note, I've taken a cursory glance at their reddit, but it doesn't reveal much beyond what you'd usually expect for something like that, and there's no way I am going to bother looking into another damned Discord server to get the juice. And a quick look on Youtube and elsewhere for those security concernes has not popped up, alas.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

Played the Crash Site/Splash Site demo. Having come off a Marathon... marathon, it's interesting to see how much you can tell that Bungie was starting with Marathon 4 and then it slowly morphed into Halo. I can also think of plenty of Legendary moments in CE that I would have killed for a MA-5 Grenade Launcher. And I'll say it, I love this armor:

It's literally just the Mjolnir Recons armor with extra steps.

 

[Bob Barbas]

View attachment 6099638
It's literally just the Mjolnir Recons armor with extra steps.

Honestly, this was the only fucking good armor they added to Halo 2: Anniversary in the MCC. Everything else just looks like it doesn't belong in Halo.
I wish they added it to a better game like Halo 3 or Halo: Reach though.

The armor is technically canon though. I think in lore it's now the Spartan 1 armor basically.

Played the Crash Site/Splash Site demo. Having come off a Marathon... marathon, it's interesting to see how much you can tell that Bungie was starting with Marathon 4 and then it slowly morphed into Halo.

I remember way back in the day a popular theory was that Marathon and Halo took place in the same universe. Not possible now due to legal reasons but was a fun thing to think about.
I think the emblem for the pillar of Autumn used to be the Marathon logo too but they had to change it for legal reasons when the series was given to 343.

 

[Brabbit Narp]

Been playing a couple mods for Halo MCC. In particular, Revolved and Havoc. Both are nice in their own way, the former having nice tweaks to the usual Halo CE that I am used to from the original, and the latter has marines that are actually worth something of a damn and don't need me to babysit them in order to be of use. Even the regular rifleman are good, at least on heroic difficulty that I am playing on.

But with regards to the latter, their endgame leaves something to be desired.

Namely, they managed to ruin the momentum of the Warthog run.

I repeat, they managed to ruin the Warthog run.

How? Shit enemy placement with a few *too* many rockets and funky momentum on the hog that I swear wasn't in the original Xbox version of CE. Rifle flood managed to flip the hog over through sheer volume of fire, or tip it just so you miss a vital jump. And then the fucking sentinels rip right through your health when going through vital passageways.

Even on legendary, I don't believe the original CE managed to dumpster me over dozen of times in a row. But somehow, this mod managed to do just that. Whatever high I was feeling after managing to get the reactor done and over with over endless wave of respawning flood has been rendered flaccid by what the modders did to the Run.

To be frank, I am absolutely furious and seething at the moment. I can *probably* get through it eventually through a little luck, but whatever feeling of accomplishment that I would have gotten has been severely diminished. Of all the things that mod did right, Havoc *had* to ruin the final run, especially in a few where the Flood managed to flip my hog as I am driving through them. Or my particular "favorite" thus far, that bullshit exploding tunnel that stops your momentum dead in its tracks, sometimes flips the hog, or on low health, even kills you outright. That was *definitely* not in the original, legendary or not. I want to reach through the goddamn screen and throttle the dev who that that was a good idea.

I'm going to get back to it, but good lord, I just want to have a good Run to finish the climax. Is that so much to ask for?

Edit: Finished early than expected. Got a lucky break, and the latter half the run wasn't too bad at all after Echo 419. But Jesus, I am not going to be doing that version of the run again for a while.

I'm gonna run through the rest of the mods I have downloaded. Thus far, Ultimate Firefight has been fun, if a tad frustrating in places with questionable player respawns on legendary. Not too surprising, seeing it was meant for coop, but doing it solo can be tricky in places. Seeing as I don't have any mates that play MCC, I have to go it alone. It's still fun, but I have to wonder if MCC has a server browser that allows for modded servers. Haven't checked multiplayer yet, so I guess I'll have to find out.

One thing to note though was that Eldewrito was quite nice in what mods they managed to seamlessly integrate on the fly. MCC, I hope, allows for that. Though I can't imagine the community being as tight knit, seeing to MCC's ToS and player conduct rules. By contrast, Eldewrito didn't appear to have any on the servers I played on during my short run of it. If it weren't for the security issues, it would be a solid choice.

Oh well, back to the grind.

 

[Brabbit Narp]

Right then, currently running the Mythic mod on Halo Reach at legendary difficulty.

It's... Okay. But it's been over a decade since I last played the single player, and I have been firmly reminded *why* I hate the single player of Bungie games sometimes.

It isn't so much the weapon sandbox that irritates me, but rather your useless allies. Weapon sandbox design is understandable, not giving much to the player so they're forced to adapt in a hard environment, even if it means dying over and over again. I can deal.

But good fucking lord, you can't tell me your supposed allies are supposed to be Spartans of one sort or another. They can't shoot for shit at any range, and even when they *do* shoot or have the good opportunity to do so, they dilly dally and fuck around doing fuck all. You'd be lucky if they can kill a grunt or two, *maybe* an elite minor if you are very lucky.

Mythic at least gives you the option to arm them with different weaponry, but that hardly solves their non aggression when it comes to fighting at any range. The only good they are for is as distractions, and nothing more. I am playing on legendary, and have played back in 2010 on heroic, so it's slightly understandable. But it's hard to buy lore wise that these folks are supposed to be the creme de la creme of the UNSC.

It's downright infuriating how useless and incompetent your comrades are in this game and the rest. When contrast to Havoc from CE, where you marines actually kick all sorts of ass even on legendary, difficulty or no, it just drives home the pain that they might as well have removed those allies for all the good they do you. They are supposed to be set dressing, I get it. But would it have killed Bungie to give you some allies that can actually kill the enemy worth a damn? Maybe have a few snipers in overwatch positions, or aggressive ODSTs with shotguns and grenades that could actually do some real damage?

As for your Spartans? I expect Jun to make excellent headshots at any range, Emile to at least get in close to fuck shit up, and the rest of your Spartan cohort to actually live up to the name.

Which reminds me of the useless Halo 4 Spartans. Again, I played on legendary, but they didn't even redesign those to be anything good. They were just marines with shields, nothing more.

I know these games are a certain power fantasy, but it's hard to feel like a badass when even a grunt can fold a supposed elite trooper. I feel the only competent man that can actually shoot worth a damn in the entire UNSC. Might be the sandbox design not giving the allied AI a chance, but it's irritating nonetheless.

Will keep you guys posted as it goes on, but I don't expect things to get better. I am dreading the Autumn mission. Gave me hell with those elites back in Heroic console Reach. So I can only imagine they're worse on Mythic Legendary.

Currently storming the anti air gun with a driver that won't hold the fuck still. I am tempted to cap the marine, but it'd just end with Kat driving instead. Wish the mod increasing the engagement distance for the allies here. That'd be nice. Died... Seven times thus far and counting. Holding firm till I kill the covies inside.

Edit: Oh brilliant fucking surprise. Cutscene just robbed me of my power weapons that I chose for this occasion. Brillaint. There'd better be some more power weapons around the corner.

 

[Midnight Cooking]

I know these games are a certain power fantasy, but it's hard to feel like a badass when even a grunt can fold a supposed elite trooper.

Halo seems like it wants to be a power fantasy, but they gave up on that idea halfway. You're really fragile in most of the games and can be killed in a second or so by regular enemy fire. I don't have much of a problem with that, being a glass cannon can also be fun. But they don't nail the "cannon" part. Even rebalance mods fail at this, which annoys me greatly. The slow movement and floatiness of the jumps encourages you to play around cover and seldom break it to kill a few enemies. Enemies leading their shots against you makes it all the more annoying.
Maybe I've been spoiled by other shooters, but I find it very difficult to get back into playing a Halo campaign because it's so stop and go. You pick off the bigger enemies one at a time and it seldom feels like you're a super soldier and humanity's best. CE and (strangely) ODST don't have this problem because the health pools are so large. CE's AI not leading their shots also lets you reliably avoid damage in most fights and is a massive contrast to Reach's Elites that fire their plasma rifle twice as fast as yours can and with perfect accuracy. Enemy weapons behaving differently when you pick them up is another tangent I could go on. If I want to shoot at the Covenant, I'll just play firefight.

 

[Brabbit Narp]

Annnnd done. Well, that was a bit of a slog to get through. Mythic didn't change *too* much to be honest. A few mechanics here and there, but nothing to really write home about. Luckily, the last boss scene wasn't as bad as first thought. Managed to kill the elites with plasma and a follow up sniper shot.

But yeah, overall, I can't say I am too impressed by Mythic. Maybe I am jaded from my last heroic experience with Reach, but Mythic didn't do too much to differentiate itself,. Which was the point of the mod I presume, just poking in a few balance tweaks here and there.

But jeez, was it ever frustrating to get through at some parts.

6/10, it was okay.

Halo seems like it wants to be a power fantasy, but they gave up on that idea halfway. You're really fragile in most of the games and can be killed in a second or so by regular enemy fire. I don't have much of a problem with that, being a glass cannon can also be fun. But they don't nail the "cannon" part. Even rebalance mods fail at this, which annoys me greatly. The slow movement and floatiness of the jumps encourages you to play around cover and seldom break it to kill a few enemies. Enemies leading their shots against you makes it all the more annoying.
Maybe I've been spoiled by other shooters, but I find it very difficult to get back into playing a Halo campaign because it's so stop and go. You pick off the bigger enemies one at a time and it seldom feels like you're a super soldier and humanity's best. CE and (strangely) ODST don't have this problem because the health pools are so large. CE's AI not leading their shots also lets you reliably avoid damage in most fights and is a massive contrast to Reach's Elites that fire their plasma rifle twice as fast as yours can and with perfect accuracy. Enemy weapons behaving differently when you pick them up is another tangent I could go on. If I want to shoot at the Covenant, I'll just play firefight.

Pretty much, yeah. On legendary difficulty, I find that Halo turns into an impromptu cover shooter, which wreaks the primary design philosophy of the gameplay.

30 seconds of fun each time, right? Not on legendary. If you try to be bold and aggressive, chances are it'll end up with you getting plastered by plasma, needled by jackals, or getting one shotted by a love tap. In Reach, a seemingly harmless grenade in Mythic killed me outright despite being a fair distance away, and close to full health. That was not fun, let me tell you. And the lack of appropriate power weapons where it would have *really* eased the flow and frustration just adds on to it. Not to mention, your troopers being useful for fuck all. If they were equipped appropriately, had their engagement distance adjusted, and were more aggressive/hardy in a fight, I'd think more of them. But overall, besides strict lore immersion, I think your allies just harm the sandbox, being little more than a distraction in game.

Of course, this is just mentioning legendary, and to a lesser extent, heroic. Normal's fine, but that isn't the intended difficulty that you are supposed to play on. Honestly, I have more fun screwing around with mods than the base Halo game when I tried it. Or better yet, with pals. I think coop really adds to the campaign in some places, perhaps being designed with it in mind as a preference. Not enough to fully damper the single player mind you, but still.

Goodness me... I managed to burn through the midnight oil. It's already 9:00 AM here.

Well, I gotta hit the sack. I'll come back more once I awaken.

 

[Bob Barbas]

I miss when Halo had soul to be honest.
I miss the days when the devs were self aware and knew how fucking cheesy what they were making was and didn't care.

343 either doesn't try at all or they poorly attempt to emulate this feeling but it just comes off as insincere.

Before it was:
"Yeah! We know how fucking stupid this is and it's awesome!"

Now it's:
"See?! We know it's fucking retarded too! Right fellow gamers?! Please laugh..."

Well, that and the plot just being absolute shit now. Tbh, Halo imo is one of those series that didn't need to continue after probably Halo 3 or something but they insisted.
The spin offs were alright though like ODST and Reach. But now they're bringing Cortana back and shit and now there's Cortana's evil twin? Like.... come on.
At least they haven't bought Johnson back and made him a shell of his former self. (Yet)

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

I miss when Halo had soul to be honest.
I miss the days when the devs were self aware and knew how fucking cheesy what they were making was and didn't care.

343 either doesn't try at all or they poorly attempt to emulate this feeling but it just comes off as insincere.

Before it was:
"Yeah! We know how fucking stupid this is and it's awesome!"

Now it's:
"See?! We know it's fucking retarded too! Right fellow gamers?! Please laugh..."

Well, that and the plot just being absolute shit now. Tbh, Halo imo is one of those series that didn't need to continue after probably Halo 3 or something but they insisted.
The spin offs were alright though like ODST and Reach. But now they're bringing Cortana back and shit and now there's Cortana's evil twin? Like.... come on.
At least they haven't bought Johnson back and made him a shell of his former self. (Yet)

Knowing Marathon, when Halo Infinite was announced, I was certain some form of time travel would show up, hopefully to unfuck everything after 4.

 

[Gog & Magog]

This is apparently a thing floating around. Dunno if it's legit but it sounds so retarded I 100% believe 343 would do it.

View attachment 6077504

JUST RETIRE THE MASTER CHIEF ALREADY AND MOVE ONTO NEW CHARACTERS!!! I just want new Halo campaigns I can play with friends.

 

[Dynamite Bean]

When it comes down to halo campaigns CE and 2 is all i really replay and maybe 3 and odst if i have nothing else to do
CE despite the flaws of reused levels during the 2nd half is just balanced and 2 is just peak cozy early 2000s game for me, every setpiece and level is just heavy nostalgia to me and comfy
it's also fun to run through the levels when you know certain skips and can explore out of bounds

 

[Bob Barbas]

Hopefully I don't have alzheimers and didn't already say this in the thread but I find myself playing Reach the most. Despite it being the game that introduced sprint into the series. As an armor ability at least. I still find it to be my favorite gameplay wise purely just because of all of the content available. I'd say it's probably one of the best from a gameplay perspective besides maybe Halo 3. But Halo 3 doesn't have firefight mode unfortunately so Reach wins out in that department for me. Firefight mode is great for if you just want to cave in covenant skulls without going through the hassle of replaying the campaign.

In terms of pure story/campaign though? I'm gonna be lame and say Halo 1. Second place being Halo 2. I know it's probably cheating kinda because it was the first game but there's something special about it because of that. (Fuck the Library though.)

 

[The Doom Slayer]

JUST RETIRE THE MASTER CHIEF ALREADY AND MOVE ONTO NEW CHARACTERS!!! I just want new Halo campaigns I can play with friends.

Whatever new characters they try and replace him with will likely be written terribly and get rejected by everyone, as was the case with Locke/Osiris.

I just think MS thinks Halo = Chief and are going to milk him as long as humanly possible. Even with Gears they're now bringing Marcus back as the main character after trying to replace him.

If 343 was actually talented/competent you could absolutely create another character to play as. But... they're not, and Halo 5 likely soured a lot of normies on the idea of someone else taking over due to how shit it was.

If they ever do retire him I'm pretty sure they'll just have you play as your own created Spartan instead like in Reach/Spartan Ops/Destiny etc.

 

[Bob Barbas]

If they ever do retire him I'm pretty sure they'll just have you play as your own created Spartan instead like in Reach/Spartan Ops/Destiny etc.

I wouldn't entirely mind that. Better than continuing to drag Chief through the mud in my opinion.

 

[Gog & Magog]

Whatever new characters they try and replace him with will likely be written terribly and get rejected by everyone

Better to ruin new characters nobody cares about than old characters people actually like.

If 343 was actually talented/competent you could absolutely create another character to play as. But... they're not, and Halo 5 likely soured a lot of normies on the idea of someone else taking over due to how shit it was.

I've never played 5 because Microsoft never ported it to PC. The gameplay is still fun, right?

 

[Brabbit Narp]

Better to ruin nobody new indeed.

There are some in 343 that give a damn, but they are few and far between. Most notably the dudes behind the support of modding tools and other juicy stuff in the MCC. But beyond that, I have no hope for this franchise to rise in the future. If recent news about Halo being regulated as a second rate franchise are to be believed, I'll bet when, not if, the next Halo game fails, we won't see any more of it to come. After that, it'll be just be up the fans to do what must be done to keep that flame alive.

Most recently, that New Covenant mod seems the most promising. It isn't any grade A production, but you can see the passion behind it. The deliberate deviation from 343's canon, going its own way in the sense of what we thought the next Halo game might be like back in the day.

And there are other projects peddling along the way, big and small. Nothing substantial compared to what could have been, but I am happy that we have anything at all.

Take this one that just popped into my feed for instance.

It's definitely something, and whether it'll turn out hot garbage or not remains to be seen. I have not bothered to look too deeply into this one, but it engenders a certain excitement from me that 343 no longer does in any capacity. To be honest, I strictly rely on fanfiction and other fan content these days to keep me occupied as far as Halo is concerned. There's nothing to look forward to in 343's path. It's a dead end, filled with people who either hate the franchise for what it used to stand for, or are apathetic and only use it as their next paycheck. In contrast, a fandom can keep something like Halo and others alive long after all official material has ended or has turned sour. Say what you will about their reputation, but I enjoy the glorious autism and passion put into such works, good or bad. At least I can safely say that theirs is a product of passion and joy, no matter how misplaced. Even the most degenerate fan creators for this franchise I will rate higher just on the metric they at least give an actual fuck to create something people will enjoy for it.

But for Microsoft and 343? No, they don't care, and have not for a long time. Obviously, this is not a universal phenomena across the board. But when you are outsourcing the production of what is supposed to be your own game to various contractors? I think that speaks for itself that this franchise ain't long for this world in an official capacity.

-

As a side note, there are decent fanfiction of both the crossover and non crossover variety lingering about here and there that I have come across over the years. While they aren't going to rock your socks off, they're a good way to spend the evening dazing the day away, and I come out of them feeling quite pleased.

And even in animated form, that exists in the form of Sodaz of Warhammer 40k fame.

Simply kickass.

And this little Star Trek Voyager x Mass Effect crossed with Halo was also enjoyable. Again, nothing that will rock the world, but I am pleased to see the author giving at least some form of a damn into how this little universe works.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13258001/1/Voyage-unto-Infinity

It's nice, seeing both the Infinity and Voyager crew put their unique strengths and know how together to survive this new universe, as well as the chemistry of the two bouncing off each other. It hasn't gotten too deep as of yet, but what I have found is pleasant enough.

I've got more recommendations I can make, but I think these two will keep you busy for a little while yet.

 

[Bob Barbas]

Take this one that just popped into my feed for instance.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7w9Q8JLmgFc

I actually just got recommended that today as well. Can't lie it looks somewhat promising. If nothing else that trailer definitely captures the spirit of some of the old Halo advertising, so I can at least appreciate that.

You have no idea how much I miss this shit.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

New MCC waypoint dropped. All Digsite material, maps and such, cut content that may be interesting for modders. Oh and an APC for Halo 3.

That's about it. Yeah.
To make up for lack of content, here's a pic of best girl from Legends.

 

[Brabbit Narp]

I actually just got recommended that today as well. Can't lie it looks somewhat promising. If nothing else that trailer definitely captures the spirit of some of the old Halo advertising, so I can at least appreciate that.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=efMH5bWdQuwYou have no idea how much I miss this shit.

We can only hope. Problem is on Microsoft's end. It wouldn't surprise me if the copyright ghouls on their end became antsy, or their shareholder executives wanted more, and decide to go on a C&D sphere just for the hell of it. They aren't Nintendo, but...
-
In other news, booted up Ultimate Firefight, and... Well, I am not having a blast to be honest.

It's decent enough, but there are several questionable design decisions within the mod as far as single player is concerned. considering it is Firefight we're talking about here, I am guessing the dev put little to no thought with regards to how a single person might do on legendary. Which shows, seeing as the spawns are quite shit in spawning you out in the open close to several hitscan enemies to shoot at you, spawn subpar weapons in areas where they shouldn't be, and a dearth of power weapons to make it slightly easier, on the account that the NPC allies you do get are the dregs of the UNSC, Banished, and Sanghelili Separatists/Swords that serve little more than bullet fodder out in the open, forcing you to use them in close quarter stations around a couple areas of the map in hopes they might kill at least a few enemies before falling. If you are to put a Zealot, something that should be the baddest of the bad, against the rank and file Sword banished, the Zealot will lose every time.

It's goddamn infuriating, seeing how incompetent your allies are, and seeing as I don't have anyone to play with me for the game, I am stuck relying on imbeciles that can't kill for the life of them. Heores? They have them, but are similarly worthless combat wise. They have no special attributes to them to make them special, save for their revive ability. Which would be great, *if* they stayed on one place like you ordered.

But if you happen to die, guess what happens to all the allies you managed to carefully cultivate?

Would they stay put, on the account of their fragility and utter incompetence out in the open? Nope! They come out of their carefully chosen hidey hole to get shot to fucking pieces by jackals, grunts, brutes, or smashed and absorbed by the goddamn Flood.

There's something good here, and I'll bet the experience is always going to be better on COOP. But seeing as I have no mates to play with, the mod itself rates a 6/10. I've seen better with the Trooper Firefight mode for reach. At least there, you can count on your allies to kill several squads worth if properly positoned and armed, fragile though they may be.

 

[King Dead]

New MCC waypoint dropped. All Digsite material, maps and such, cut content that may be interesting for modders. Oh and an APC for Halo 3.
View attachment 6108271
That's about it. Yeah.
To make up for lack of content, here's a pic of best girl from Legends.
View attachment 6108293

I was wondering recently if the Digsite team had been quietly axed, but good to hear they're still at it. Still no sign of the E3 2003 demo, so looks like we'll be waiting even longer for that.

It's unfortunate that none of this was put on the workshop. Maybe it all just needs more work to be playable and they didn't want to release something for players to download that wasn't ready yet? At least modders should have some fun poking around at the new stuff, and I did enjoy perusing the design docs that they included in the article.

Now if we could just get an actual MCC update, that'd be great. It's been almost a year since the last update, barring a bugfix patch back in February.