Halo Reach Leaked: This Is The Way The World Ends

[Rentafence]

Is there any info on armor permutations, armor effects, multilayer maps, etc someone can compile into a single post? I don't want to inadvertently stumble on campaign spoilers.

[BKBurgerboy]

Two of the FF Maps have blatant campaign spoilers in the background.

[Rentafence]

Fuck it, I'm just gonna stay out of this thread for a month

[Amit]

Fuck it, I'm just gonna stay out of this thread for a month

You'd best do that. There have been several campaign spoilers in this thread with no spoiler tags.

[Rentafence]

Luckily the ones I've seen weren't surprising, such as all of noble team getting killed (no shit, MC was the last spartan), and Keyes being in the game (no shit, it's a prequel to CE).

[Qbob]

Hello,

I have a couple of general game design questions, actually. I recall in their first ViDoc, Bungie stating the game could manage 40+ AI at a time. This number later grew to 60 in a more recent interview, though if that was a typo or if they actually had made more improvements on the engine, well...

I'm not particularly exacting either way, but just how busy do things get in Campaign? Does it ever seem like there are encounters that have dwarfed previous titles in the franchise or do the overall numbers feel more or less the same? Is the feeling of being involved in large-scale combat actually there? For better and for worse, the Halo games more felt like they were geared more towards small skirmishes and guerilla-style pushes. Those are certainly welcome, mind you, just curious about the numbers at work.

More importantly, are enemies equally as engaging as they are numerous? They certainly seemed full of personality and animalistically cunning in the official media.

On a related note, are the friendly AI worth a damn, whether it's other members of Noble Team or grunts? Does it feel like each member of Noble has their own character whenever you're fighting alongside them?

To put it in other words: Is the game as challenging as advertised? Did Bungie succeed in that particular gambit?

And on other side-notes: What does the game consider the "standard" difficulty? Heroic as was the case in the prior two games or is Normal still a challenge as it was in the first game?

Oh yeah, and assuming we'll be seeing urban combat, how involved does that get? Do we finally get to see something on the scale of what the E3 demo of Halo 2 promised? And do we get to fight in a vacuum again? That was certainly a highlight in that one. Maybe some boarding action after the dogfighting in orbit?

Thank you.

[Crowley]

/\/\/\
These are excellent questions.

Any armour abilities we don't know about yet?

[Che Guevara]

Hello,

I have a couple of general game design questions, actually. I recall in their first ViDoc, Bungie stating the game could manage 40+ AI at a time. This number later grew to 60 in a more recent interview, though if that was a typo or if they actually had made more improvements on the engine, well...

I'm not particularly exacting either way, but just how busy do things get in Campaign? Does it ever seem like there are encounters that have dwarfed previous titles in the franchise or do the overall numbers feel more or less the same? Is the feeling of being involved in large-scale combat actually there? For better and for worse, the Halo games more felt like they were geared more towards small skirmishes and guerilla-style pushes. Those are certainly welcome, mind you, just curious about the numbers at work.

More importantly, are enemies equally as engaging as they are numerous? They certainly seemed full of personality and animalistically cunning in the official media.

On a related note, are the friendly AI worth a damn, whether it's other members of Noble Team or grunts? Does it feel like each member of Noble has their own character whenever you're fighting alongside them?

To put it in other words: Is the game as challenging as advertised? Did Bungie succeed in that particular gambit?

And on other side-notes: What does the game consider the "standard" difficulty? Heroic as was the case in the prior two games or is Normal still a challenge as it was in the first game?

Oh yeah, and assuming we'll be seeing urban combat, how involved does that get? Do we finally get to see something on the scale of what the E3 demo of Halo 2 promised? And do we get to fight in a vacuum again? That was certainly a highlight in that one. Maybe some boarding action after the dogfighting in orbit?

Thank you.

you'll def be seeing a lot more active AI characters in reach. i'm not sure if can recall a time when there was 40 characters running about...maybe 30 (not to say they can't support 40+ AI tho, they might have thought after a certain number that things just got too overwhelming, idk)

things get pretty damn busy while in the campaign. i will bet you money that there won't ever be a time where you think to yourself 'man, there are too few enemy characters in this encounter!'. the only exception i think to all of this is probably the first level, but i think it's due to the fact that it's suppose to ease you into the game. on that note, the first level is also a tutorial level kinda but doesn't run you thru the motions like halo1 or halo2 did. the first level basically gives you enough characters to fight to get a feel for the game and ease you into what's going on. for people new to the game, or who didn't play the beta, this will be a good thing. existing users shouldn't mind it tho (gave me more time to enjoy the views)

i've played on heroic and legendary...both are challenging. the AI isn't dumb and will use some smart maneuvers against you. take into account there are a shit load of them and you got yourself a pretty challenging firefight. people who just run and gun are going to have a real hard time playing this game on the higher difficulties.

friendly AI...well they're a special case. why? because they don't die. ever (they're invincible). well, expect when they're killed off but heh, that's a different story! this fact kinda makes some later game play feel like a joke, but i guess it could worse, you could have to baby sit them along with your troopers (when you actually have their support). who wants to babysit a spartan?

the game considers normal the standard difficultly AFAIK, not sure what you mean exactly. if you're a seasoned player then you'll want to play on heroic as you bring to the table a pre-existing know-how of how to fight the enemy or drive a vehicle, etc.

there's def urban combat again (gotta help them civies!). i wouldn't compare it to halo2's e3 demo as reach isn't earth. but you do get to fight in a vacuum again (during some boarding action like you said), and you get some good exposure to dogfighting in space (via the sabre in two battles, but in the same level) and in the air (via the falcon).

i think i forgot to address a question about buggers earlier: yes, they're back in the campaign, but not as ifying

edit: nope, no secret AAs

[BKBurgerboy]

How does the space battle play out? Is it always a small little skirmish or do we get to see the main battle?

[Tremere]

Che Guevara,
what about the forerunner
the game will tell about them?
more iteresting screenshots please