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Schooly D's PAX 2012 Rap-up | |
Posted By: Schooly D <schoolyd@teamschoolyd.org> | Date: 9/5/12 1:30 a.m. |
I've never really done a legitimate chronologically-oriented write-up before. And I'm not going to start now. So in keeping with my usual style, this will just be random thoughts, observations, and memories interspersed between pictures of myself. Halo 4I was asked more than a few times over the weekend to share my thoughts on Halo 4 now that I've played it. I like to think this was because people see me as a skilled player and thus value my opinion. This isn't the reason though, and the reality is they know I'm a critical asshole and want to know if they should expect 2 more months of relentlessly negative posts from me. Executive summary: Halo 4's core gameplay (guns and movement) is extremely solid and feels like Halo 2, but more time needs to be spent with the armor abilities and specializations before I can tell if we're in for more wackiness ala Reach circa Fall 2010.
The player's movement is much much much quicker than in Reach. Strafing, jumping, and shooting have been rolled back to the Halo 2/3 days and the core experience feels more like Arena in that Arena/Tactical spectrum Halo has balanced over the years. The DMR and BR seem to be the new... BR. I think they'll be the new go-to weapons for skilled players, but they really have adjusted them to make them better suited for different ranges. The BR has some inherent inaccuracy that makes it difficult to kill at long range, but the stream of bullets makes it easier to use in close range. The DMR does have bloom, but it's small enough to only be an issue at long range. In close-mid range, the limiting factor is always going to be your ability to land every shot on point, and you will need to land all your shots because weapons, in general, are more powerful in Halo 4 than they were in Reach. Kill times are quicker across the board, so every shot counts. I really can't stress enough how happy this makes me if it plays out how I expect. But you knew this post wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows: - For those who haven't watched much gameplay, let me prepare you: whenever you do anything (not an exaggeration) in-game, you will be seeing text pop up above your crosshairs telling you exactly what you did and how many points it was worth. And in case you were too busy playing the game to read the text, the announcer will inform you verbally for anything rarer than a headshot. I was honestly taken aback by how prevalent this system is -- I thought it would be reserved for events that are actually rare or important. Not the case. Headshot, assist, distraction, fuel rod kill, grenade kill, vehicle kill, wheelman, revenge, etc etc. - Indicators are everywhere. Some of them I have issue with: power weapons and grenades are now permanently listed as waypoints on your HUD. If you're playing CTF, both flags are permanently visible to you (including accompanying text specifying how that waypoint concerns you: "CAPTURE" "RETRIEVE" "DEFEND" etc). So if you want to capture the enemy's flag and sneak it out of their base, you're out of luck: the enemy team will always be able to see you on their HUD no matter how many times you say "sneaksneaksneak" during the attempt. - When you walk over the enemy flag, you will automatically pick it up, no ifs, ands, or buts. And when you do pick it up, it's impossible to drop it without dying. You do automatically spawn a special magnum though (the magnum, I'm told, has unlimited ammo, but disappears when you drop the flag). - I think there might be other reasons the flag system has been changed the way it has (concerns about griefing and such), but I think the overall thinking behind the above two bullet points it obvious: the game needs to be made easier for casual, solo matchmakers. You no longer have to learn the weapon spots on a map, and you're no longer as reliant on your teammates to capture a flag (since you now have a way to defend yourself). - The weapons that appear as options on Ordnance Drops are random, and this randomness will present a problem later on down the line. - I'm not a fan of the grenade indicators. There were a couple of times when I was saved by them, and a couple of times when I stealthily planted one at an enemy's feet, only to have the game ruin the surprise by telling him "HEY, CHAMP, GRENADE AT YOUR FEET" so he could hit the jets (thrusters) and escape. In general, though, I would prefer to err on the side of preserving the level of skill required to learn to keep track of little clanks and burning fuses that could betray a potentially explosive situation right under your balls. - I didn't get to spend enough time with Armor Abilities and Specializations to figure out all the little things HAWKEN is shaping up to be an amazing game. Now we all know how much I love robot fighting, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that this game caught my interest. To put it simply, it feels kind of like MechAssault (for Xbox), but first person, in smaller arenas, and with features/abilities to make it competitive (e.g. thrusters). In my first game I got trounced by the lowly TDSpiral. I came back later though (without TDSpiral) and was promised I would win (unintelligible) if I won my FFA group. Well I won my FFA group by a metric mile but, when I asked the booth lady where my prize was, she simply said they ran out. She has already been contacted by the TSD Litigation Crew. If you haven't already, you should sign up for their closed beta in which you will surely be destroyed by myself and the rest of the TSD Robotics Crew.
If you went to PAX, you've surely seen this shirt being worn by 343i employees. The problem is it's impossible to buy it, and it will always been impossible to buy it. But thanks to the TSD Sweatshop Crew, you can buy this reasonable approximation. And let me tell you something: you need to buy this thing fast before someone important tells me to take it down. I'm stealing fire from the gods here. Leviathan and myself are now best friends. He's a really really cool guy, and his girlfriend is probably even cooler since she put up with all of us and our shared idiocy. It was a moment to remember when he bid us farewell at the pub on Sunday and the room erupted into a thunderous chant of "Le-vi! Le-vi! Le-vi!" In related news, Leviathan now thinks I'm the coolest person on the planet. When we were walking down the street Sunday night after ingesting far too much ice cream we ran into RvB's Gus and his crew. Then this happened: Gus: What's up guys? *shakes Schooly's hand* Who might you be?
And then we walked along the street talking about things, including my complimenting of the Jet Set Radio shirt he wore on Friday. We had a Dreamcast Bro moment, then he left. This all happened in full view and earshot of Leviathan who didn't say anything because he was so in awe of what transpired. As long as I'm talking about myself, it occurred to me one night during conversation with padraig, Levi, and postmortem that most of the videos put out by the TSD Whatever Crew have been ignored. So I said I would do a forum post where I bascially dump them. This is that post. TSD= (produced by NartFOpc)
You idiots need to watch and love these because we put some moderate effort into them. About that Nak3d Eli video. I met him on Friday and he's a really chill and amiable guy. I didn't know if he knew who I was or if I had done that parody video, so I got it out of the way in our first meeting. He laughed and said he didn't know about it but that I should tweet it to him later. I did, but I don't know how he took it. It's possible he really resented it. To make up for it, here are links to his internet presences so you can go to them: http://www.youtube.com/user/Nak3dHalo
I had lunch on Monday with Hypertrooper (from GAF) and Nexy (from MLG). Both really great guys. Nexy seemed to like what I had to say about Halo 4, but he still thinks I was ncsuDuncan (who is also cool but couldn't make lunch). Alas, my best shot at networking for the whole convention and I blew it. Crew RoundupLeviathan is a sunnier retsamolah
Sonic the Hedgehog!! Shortly after this picture was taken, I started pummeling him until he revealed to me that this article is confirmed to point to an HD re-release of Skies of Arcadia sometime in 2013. My body is ready. Is yours?
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