What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

Started by Sabby, May 31, 2009, 12:45:35 PM

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Hemingway

Dammit, now I feel like playing Halo.

Have I shared with you guys my Halo Love Story Hypothesis? Under that "generic sci-fi shooter" shell lies a deep transhumanist love story. I hope they continue that in Halo 4. The debut trailer gives me hope. Bungie aren't the ones developing this, so it could go both ways, but I imagine it'd be pretty hard to screw up Halo.

Sabby


Inkidu

Quote from: Sabby on September 18, 2011, 03:46:58 PM
Family Guy -- "Like a Bisexual"
Roll on snare drum.

Well, EDF didn't last as long as I thought it would. If I can hold out until Tuesday then at least I can enjoy Gears 3 on my brother's dime.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Hemingway

Ugh. I remember why I gave up on Reach.

I must have died about 20 times in this exact same spot. The game just isn't giving me the tools I need. How am I supposed to deal with half a dozen Ghosts, several turrets and artillery tanks that move too fast for me to even jump on them?

Sabby


Hemingway

#4105
I almost had it. I almost had it! It took me about five minutes, sure, and I had to go way back to scrounge for ammo ... then a fricking Banshee just comes out of nowhere and kills me. Come on! I'm just one guy, I don't have anything that's actually meant to take out tanks or banshees, yet there's about a dozen vehicles trying to kill me! WHAT THE HELL?

Edit: I did it! I managed! ... and I realize now the reason I stopped playing wasn't because I couldn't get past that part. It was because I did get past once, then quit without saving and had to go through that hellish nightmare all over again.

Sabby

Man up. Your a Spartan, now act like one. You chew up impossible battles, wash it down with certain death and shit Ultimate Victory.

Okay, this is why I love Nuts and Bolts. Same reason people love Legos and the magic in Two Worlds 2. Experimentation. Just tried to make a Wraith Tank from Halo, ended up with someone that kind of resembled it, and it was heavy. Like... really heavy. I put in every engine I've unlocked, and it still wasn't enough to get it going at a good speed. I know why, I don't have the right parts. Simple as that. It's got wheels and engines on it, but until I get some thrusters or something, its not guna move. What am I guna do, stick some wings on it?

...

This is such a bad idea, but it's happening. I put my only four teeny tiny propellors on the back, put a wing on each side. I only have two. I have two retractable wings, but... those are really small. Eh, why not, stick them on near the top.

Load Test-O-Track. On the runway, engine humming, propellors lazily spinning, large drop in front of me. Okay... here it goes. This will definitely work. Yep. It's going to work. Slowly inch forward. I have the throttle on full, max power, and it's like pushing a shopping trolley. Finally go over the edge... and start falling.

This isn't working! D= Initiate the flimsy and miniscule bat wings!

Wings unfurl, and the thing pulls into a sharp rise and soars like an eagle, flipping off physics as it climbs! Fuck you physics! =D it says, as it's propellors all begin to smoke and stop spinning.

Wait, what? Oh God damn it! Dx

Oniya

Quote from: Sabby on September 18, 2011, 05:45:42 PM
Man up. Your a Spartan, now act like one. You chew up impossible battles, wash it down with certain death and shit Ultimate Victory.

Board quoted!
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Hemingway

#4108
Quote from: Sabby on September 18, 2011, 05:45:42 PM
Man up. Your a Spartan, now act like one. You chew up impossible battles, wash it down with certain death and shit Ultimate Victory.

Actually, that has got to be my biggest complaint concerning the Halo games. It goes for a lot of other games, too, though.

I mean, I'm this 7 foot super soldier with thick armor and an energy shield. In addition to that, there's an arsenal of awesome weapons I can use to crush my enemies and see them driven before me. But you can take so little damage, the enemies are always so numerous and so skilled that ... basically, you have to play like a coward to win. There's no point in being a super soldier or having awesome weapons if the best way to play the game is poking your head out and taking pot-shots at enemies until there's a clear path.

Sabby

Quote from: Hemingway on September 18, 2011, 06:17:54 PM
if the best way to play the game is poking your head out and taking pot-shots at enemies until there's a clear path.

Spartan's are not one men alien genocide machines... something the games have forgotten so they can appeal to the idiots who now make up the majority of the games fan base. Spartan's are SPEC OPS. They are a WOLF PACK, not an angry Rhino... they were bred together, grew up together, had their fear and inhibitions erased and learned to act as one perfectly co-ordinated unit, even as 13 year olds they were able to infiltrate bases covered by hardened Marines that were doing this their whole life.

But fuck all that team bonding shit! Says Halo. Let's just turn John into the guy from Doom.

Hemingway

( I edited the last post and ... well, it was complicated, you wouldn't understand. )

Well, I beat the game. What a terrible ending. I mean, I get that it's supposed to be sort-of-kinda ambiguous, except we all know what happens to Reach and ... still. It basically just fades to black in a complete anti-climax.

Reach is a good game overall, though. I mean, I'm not a huge Halo fan. I definitely like the games, and consider them to be good games ... but it's not the same without the Master Chief. Because they actually managed to give him some semblance of character and personality, toward the end. In Reach and ODST, everyone around you is an actual character but you're just a faceless guy who barely speaks. I get what they're trying to do, but it just doesn't work for me.

OH, and after the credits there's some sort of ... eh, whatever. Why couldn't this just have been the ending?

Anyway.

Quote from: Sabby on September 18, 2011, 06:23:11 PM
Spartan's are not one men alien genocide machines... something the games have forgotten so they can appeal to the idiots who now make up the majority of the games fan base. Spartan's are SPEC OPS. They are a WOLF PACK, not an angry Rhino... they were bred together, grew up together, had their fear and inhibitions erased and learned to act as one perfectly co-ordinated unit, even as 13 year olds they were able to infiltrate bases covered by hardened Marines that were doing this their whole life.

But fuck all that team bonding shit! Says Halo. Let's just turn John into the guy from Doom.

Sabby, who is it that pisses in your cereal every day? I am amazed. I am also amazed at how often you know things better than the developers.

Sabby

Just quoting the lore, man. Spartan's aren't one man armies, were not designed to be, but instead of emphasizing this, and getting some kind of 'fish out of water' narrative from John, since thats exactly what he was in Halo 1, they decided to not elaborate, and let people think John is a murder machine. They took out an entire subplot in Halo 1, about the Marines banding together to organize a base, and being constantly under siege. But it got cut, even though Marines stranded on Halo is... kind of a big part of the whole story.


Hemingway

I'm playing Reach, though. John is nowhere to be found. Noble Team do work as a team, ... sort of.

Inkidu

Quote from: Sabby on September 18, 2011, 06:23:11 PM
Spartan's are not one men alien genocide machines... something the games have forgotten so they can appeal to the idiots who now make up the majority of the games fan base. Spartan's are SPEC OPS. They are a WOLF PACK, not an angry Rhino... they were bred together, grew up together, had their fear and inhibitions erased and learned to act as one perfectly co-ordinated unit, even as 13 year olds they were able to infiltrate bases covered by hardened Marines that were doing this their whole life.

But fuck all that team bonding shit! Says Halo. Let's just turn John into the guy from Doom.
Eh... now I've never played a Halo game, accept for like 3/4s of the first one, and I kind of got the feel that what Bungie was trying to do with the first one is kind of a Last of the Mohicans vibe. Master Chief is the last of his kind, a lone soul, in a war that had been going on long before him. He does what he's trained to do. I mean his enemies literally fear his very presence (which has to say something about what Nobel Team did on Reach... or it should). So yeah, his games should probably play a bit more to the super-soldier vibe. The Reach game should definitely play to the team.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Oniya

The more I hear about Halo, the more curious I am about that deep transhumanist love story you mentioned.  O_o
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby

#4115
Cortana and Master Chief xD She's another thing thats important to the plot but most of her story is lopped off and confined to the books. Too much narrative might scare the frat boys away.

A machine that is strangely human falls for a man who is more machine.

Oniya

Hm.  Might have to crack open the Halo novel that one of our ex-roommates left behind.  Never suspected it had an actual plot to it. 
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby

Quote from: Oniya on September 19, 2011, 02:29:09 PM
Hm.  Might have to crack open the Halo novel that one of our ex-roommates left behind.  Never suspected it had an actual plot to it.

SEE?! D= This is what I have to deal with >.<

Oniya

Well, I don't expect a plot in an FPS.  I expect a lot of shooting everything (or most things) that move.  It means I'm rarely disappointed on those occasions when I play an FPS.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Inkidu

Quote from: Oniya on September 19, 2011, 02:35:08 PM
Well, I don't expect a plot in an FPS.  I expect a lot of shooting everything (or most things) that move.  It means I'm rarely disappointed on those occasions when I play an FPS.
Play Metro 2033. It's often described as the "Thinking-Man's Shooter". It's got a really good plot.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Oniya

Having a plot is a bonus, of course - I'd just rather be pleasantly surprised with its presence than disappointed by its absence.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby

Quote from: Oniya on September 19, 2011, 02:56:14 PM
Having a plot is a bonus, of course - I'd just rather be pleasantly surprised with its presence than disappointed by its absence.

This is true of any game.

Oniya

Well, certain games carry an expectation of plot.  RPGs, for me, need to have a plot of some sort to be enjoyable.  Tower-defense games don't, but I've run across a few that add a bit of story to the 'how fast can you get enough artillery in place' gameplay.  Platformers ('jump games') don't - really - require one, but I like having a touch of 'what's my motivation?'  Racing games - no plot required.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby

About Cortana. I may be wrong, its been ages since I read the books, but this is how I remember her...

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
She's really not possible. An artificial intelligence of her power and sophistication isn't something we should be able to even come close to with our level of science. She's honestly a fluke, her entire existance is one huge wonderful accident that we cannot hope to replicate, and since we don't understand how she works or how we wound up with her, we have no way to preserve her. She's dying, just by being alive. She will literally think herself into disrepair, become a corrupted mess of memories and thoughts and cease to function.

But it goes deeper then that. A.I. constructs can have simulated emotions, persona's, and even learn and adapt their emotional responses to fit the personality they've been given, thus forming real, meaningful friendships or rivalries. Thing is, if the program above that A.I. tells it to blast the woman it's come to know as a friend out the air lock, it will do so without a seconds hesitation. May feel bad over it, but it's a machine. Cortana is different. Her emotions are her own, and trying to enforce behaviour on her would be sending a program to a slaugter. She could break it in half, reprogram it into something else, send it back to deliver an expensive and perfectly timed "Ahem" to the general who was just stupid enough to try and make her do something she doesn't want to. She does what she does for the same reasons any human does in the military. Because it's right. Thats unique to human computer intelligence, but it's not what makes her such a baffling accomplishment. She is, quite literally, a Prophet.

She doesn't understand it herself, but she has intuitions at times, and when she follows these, things always work. Humanity has quite literally been saved by her hunches, and the UNSC knows damn well that when she says to do something, you damned well do it, and to hell with Protocol. Whats that Cortana? Open a Slipspace to these co-ordinates? You don't know where they go? Yes ma'am, right away!

Her intuitions knew the path humanity needed to take to oppose The Covenant and join them against The Flood, and she subtly lead events. Without her, they'd have never found Halo, and thusly all humanity would have been exterminated by The Covenant.

In the games, however, she's just that hologram girl who tells you what to shoot at.

Hemingway

If you don't mind spoilers:


And the moment that cements it all.


And the Halo 4 debut trailer is just awesome:

Halo 4 E3 2011 Debut Trailer [HD]