Firellight

To be completely honest, I would not like to see either in the games. The VTOL is an interesting concept, but does not pass for being out in a war. There is no pilot's window (you can't pilot anything without being indoors. Even the Covenant knows this. Your ears can pop. Yes, spartans have helmets, but marines don't. And did you know that the siege bike has no steering?? Look at that, it just drives in one direction. Unless someone can explain how you can steer that linear wheel, then sure... but make a mongoose with a gun that again does not pass for being in a war - and replace the chopper? On top of that, I wouldn't give a pass to vehicles that look "cheaply" made. Imo, those vehicles have no upgrades that allow for the survivability required out on the battlefield. Why would I spend my day driving a small bike with no defense when a mongoose has better defense, and I could just make do on foot? Infinity doesn't spend their money on Dollararmory vehicles when they can easily be upgraded by going to Walarmory for better items. I was earlier going to make a thread on why a new cyclops design should replace the mantis, and I will after this reply, but I hope you get the deal. The UNSC likes to make things better, not revert to lowly designs that can easily destroy its pilot. I mean, the UNSC even have the huragok now. Those guys have invented many things for the Covenant, they are smart enough to make things better than these two vehicles. I hope I didn't offend anyone that like these vehicles, because I do like the designs - they just wouldn't be fit to give to a marine in a war. Anyone would rather just run on foot. :/

... But Chief does rebel quite a bit throughout the series. A lot of times he leaves everyone else, so he could finish some personal business. Look at this, he destroyed Installation 04 by himself. He personally rescued Cortana from High Charity, and destroyed the halo again. Did any UNSC help him in those missions? Johnson and Arbiter, but no one else. In Halo 4 he and Cortana kept their determination to go after the Didact in every possible way, no matter what Infinity tells him... This trend could continue in Halo 5/6, which could be the breakdown you're looking for. _____________________ What would be awesome to me would be Jul reforming the Covenant as it were before (minus the Separatists). Whatever Halsey is up to, Jul is in on it. Jul will do everything in his power to dig deep into more forerunner information the Janus key holds. It's time they seek the answers to their religions, I guess. I would like to see some drone moments by the way. Maybe the return of the San Shyuum. There has to be some kind of reasoning behind that. But whatever reason why they'd come back to the Covenant, it shouldn't be that they were let back in. It would likely be done in secret, possibly a form of Covenant that wants things done. They may not be interested in a great journey anymore, but now with so much more possibilities of forerunner artifacts, who knows what we can come across.

There has to be a stage where Chief and/or the Arbiter gets to fly in a sparrowhawk. When 4 players are playing in campaign on the level, there would be two sparrowhawks available. One gunner and one pilot each. They, and possibly two/three other pairs of marines/ODSTs will take down Covenant flying vehicles in flying warfare. The stage will be big, enough to zoom across when required to travel from one objective to the next, and also be able to hover around during the battles. The gunner can take down phantoms/seraphs/banshees (or new vehicles) while the pilot is thrusting forward. There will also be ground infantry that you can take down, as well. The other pairs the players will be flying with could just be some semi-canon marine pilots or ODSTs, to give the game a feel of recognizing likable characters. Surely this would make the game a whole lot more fun.

Uhhhh, you play as Arbiter's men. The elites are good guys. o.o

I am determined to get the idea of the three Ops campaigns developed far as to get it right. So here I am with yet another revision. Previous threads for reference: v1: http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/26508-elites-odsts-warfronts-and-other-ideas/ v2: http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/26808-spartaneliteodst-ops-in-depth-details/ Because of the data, there would be roughly three discs in the game. One full disc for campaign, one for multiplayer, and another for Ops campaigns. In order to make campaign the best yet, a disc by itself would be a fit, as well as Ops campaigns getting their own disc. So you can play as spartans, elites and ODSTs in Halo 5 (according to this thread). Here are their ups and downs: Spartans - No health bar - Armor abilities - Equipment - Sprinting - Faster running - Bulky bodies - Human loadouts Elites - No health bar - Unique armour abilities - Equipment - Sprinting - Faster running - Semi-slouchy bodies - Covenant loadouts ODSTs - Maybe no health bar - Maybe no armour abilities (unless unique) - VISR - Equipment - Maybe no sprinting - Halo 3 running - Normal bodies - Human/ODST loadouts Armour Customizations (Universal) - Helmet - Helmet attachments - Left shoulder - Right shoulder - Body - Elbows - Knee pads - Visor - Wrist - Utility - Primary colour - Secondary colour - Voices Weapons/Equipment - Halo 3 ODST weapons are in Halo 5. - Jetpacks look different for Covenant and the UNSC. *Covenant Separatists have different armours than Storm Covenant. Separatist grunts, hunters and elites look less intimidating, but intimidate when need be. **Jetpacks are not armour abilities anymore and are just equipment in Halo 5. Halo 5 has these gametype settings: - Assassinations on/off - Sprinting on/off - Loadouts on/off - Ordnance on/off Each gender of a race can have 5 different voices. In the last thread I got into a large number of variables when it came to cutscenes with a player's preferred character personality. This thread will decrease the variables largely to a much more doable scale. When a player chooses a voice for their character, it comes with a name (or codename). Cutscenes would have a Halo Reach approach to how the voice operates. Actions do not change, but exact lines do. However, the point of the conversation is the same. In the last thread, I made it so that each voice has a different personality, and makes each cutscene different. That is not the case here. If someone said, "Hey Serge, get on that Pelican and start flying!" A different voice may say, "Serge, get on that Pelican!" We're going home." And each voice chosen will come with a name. One voice could be Rookie, and characters will call you Rookie. If you choose Jon-117, then people will call you Jon. Of course these would be unlockable voices, possibly DLCs. Upon launch each player would have 5 brand new voices to choose from for each race, making it 15 voices. Variables Now that is 15 voice actors. 5 voice actors per campaign (except last mission) (double these numbers with females added to the list). Let's say an Ops campaign can host up to four players. The cutscene must be different depending on how many players are in a game. That means 4 different cutscene possibilities. Depending on who picks who to be players 1, 2, 3, and 4 will depict who plays as who in the cutscene. So that means 10 voice actors act out 4 different cutscenes, 10 times each for each player taking each role (for name calling). One voice actor will be required to voice 120 possibilities for each mission. That's not so bad. It triples to 360 for the last mission I think, which is a challenge, but more doable than the last thread I made. 4 players = 120 different scenes per actor per mission 3 players = 60 2 players = 20 1 player = 1 Total = 201 different scenes per actor per mission 5 missions per episode = 1005 10 missions per season = 2010 (+402 = 2412) 20 missions per game = 4020 (+402 = 4422) Last mission = 603 (the big one) 343 could pull off a no voiced custcene for the last mission, like Halo 3 did (kind of). The math above is based per actor. 30 actors at launch of the game, and DLCs would add to each calculation). Now Ops campaigns can have Reach-like cutscenes for every mission (discluding beginning and end). To save 343 from overworking themselves, each Ops compaigns only need video animations for the first and last missions of their series. Only Chief/Arbiter's campaigns would have the video animations. Keep in mind that the last mission will merge the three Ops campaigns for a really epic feel. Should ODSTs have equipment in their loadouts, while spartans and elites get armour abilities? Should loadouts work similar to how Reach did? Set loadouts for each race?

It could alternate sides each round. Here is what I think should be done if that happened: Red could feel like protecting the flag, and blue would be trying to steal it. If so, then red would need a reason to keep going. Red would slightly get more points for killing blues, while blues would be required to capture the flag. Now that is an objective. But that sounds like a new gametype entirely.

What are your opinions on how spartans and elites look as far as how their shapes and movements are animated? For example, in Halo 3 the spartans in multiplayer looked like Master Chief copies (kind of) that move away from that to more epic looking spartans as you get more armours. In Reach they (imo) had chunky bodies. But then again, the spartans in Halo 3 had chunky meshes - which were good at least. Then Halo 4 came out and all the spartans looked like all their body shapes were practically the same. Then the elites in Halo 3 have somewhat slouchy stances, and yet their walking and running animations look pretty cool. Then in Reach they all looked like ninjas with stiff backs, and instead of cool looking running animations they were more amusing. Halo 4 had a kind of in between style, but their amours were different. So in Halo 5 what should the body types be like for spartans and elites? Also discuss how to compare and contrast with previous versions, as I did a terrible job at doing it myself. Also what about the armours themselves? How do they differ from your likings and what should the style be like in Halo 5? Btw no offence to those who like it, but when I first saw how spartan IV animations were around the hip area, it made them look a bit feminine (by this I mean the hardlight shield).

I believe if there are separate discs to a game, you can hold more inside of it. However, they are the same games. If there was a separate game for campaign, multiplayer, ops compaigns, and maybe something else (different disc for each) then 343 can get a whole lot of stuff in Halo 5. It would be so good that they can add in everything that we want. Each disc would have maxed everything, maybe even being different games entirely. If different, your human/elite would be saved via system, your gamertag, or online. That might lead to some issues (which could be fixed), such as requiring an internet connection when recovering what you've achieved. But nonetheless, wouldn't this make for the ultimate Halo experience? Disc 1: Campaign Disc 2: Multiplayer Disc 3: Ops Campaigns I know Halo 4 already does this for campaign and multiplayer, but we can break down the game even further to maximize the experience for each. Btw, how many Ops missions should there be compared to Halo 4? 7 missions per episode? With longer objectives?

Or a vehicle that moves like a ghost/warthog mix and you shoot either a beam or plasma charge, which puts down someone's shield or EMPs a vehicle. Possibly the passenger can shoot something else. The bike I haven't played Saints Row, but I can imagine something like this from Jak and Daxter; http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/582/177114270951aa638e7co.jpg but looks forerunner and has more parts to it for fighting. Probably just a regular gun like the ghost. What I was thinking for driving mechanics though, what could be used for races and stuff - you can have a boost, as well as a jump that can leap over objects while you drive. A maneuvering action can also be added that slightly boosts the bike to the side for side dodging. I don't know how significant that could be in Halo 5, or if it fits, but it's a vehicle. Airborne vehicle: You can idle with this. I don't know what it looks like, but it almost looks like a vampire, but you hold the up button to just drive through the air. Your gun can only shoot straight, but you can turn around in place like a ghost. No booster, just flying at a speed somewhat close to a warthog. Airborne vehicle v2: Same thing, but you can drive sideways at a slower speed. The driver can't shoot, but the passenger can shoot the same gun (equivalent to banshee/ghost gun). Two-manned vehicle. I don't know if this makes it OP, but a second part for the passenger gun is to hold down the L button for a charge that works like the plasma pistol, but with a blast radius. By the way, I wouldn't make any of these vehicles look like they were made for the prometheans because Requiem is gone. Anything forerunner should be made for them. The prometheans didn't need vehicles anyway.

Should the Spartan IVs have some kind of conflict with the rest of humanity or at least the UNSC in Halo 5? As in something will go down, or there is some kind of discrimination going on - just how the Spartan IIs were arguably transformed to not be human anymore. The player would have more of a reason to participate in things for having the drive to try and fix this conflict. This will also allow for inside UNSC conflicts. Any ideas?

This is just something creative I thought of right now. It's something that you'd see happening for a different game than Halo. One player controls as this flying sentinel with lasting health and flowy controls. They can shoot a sentinel beam. The objective is that the sentinel is supposed to kill every player before he is hunted down himself. You can have a shield to keep you company if you get overwhelmed. That's R button for shooting beam and equipment button for shield. Now you need an area attack. This one requires charging, but it would be an attack like the pulse grenade. Max players: 16 (1 hunter, 15 hunted) How's the idea? Or maybe there could be 2 sentinel drones? For pairing tactics.

I like it. I have a universe of my own in development that I plan to turn into a novel series. But mine takes place in modern times and combines almost all of the faiths and religions, spiritualities, scientific theories, mythology, and history to make a fictional fantasy series that follow what we thought 2012 was supposed to bring us. I've been developing it since September of 2011 and it's gotten so far that new animal kingdoms are created with scientific backing and stuff, including the scientific existence of using magic (spirit) and utilizing higher dimensional energy (consciousness). It's gotten so far that sometimes I start to believe in the stuff myself. I do some research and it just so happens to fall into place with the story. So I add it in. When I plan on adding something interesting I have to actually invent it, it's that real. And I've said too much. I'm trying my best to get it finished before 2012's 7 year prophecy is done. And it's a 6 book series. I don't like writing novels, but I'd rather not have a production team tamper with the whole thing, so I choose to do it myself lol. So are you making this a novel, movie, game, etc? I'd like to see it done. It seems so justice-like. It's like one of those stories that are filled with super heroic stories, with one central hero. And not to mention, action packed warfare.

Something's telling me that 343 is much better off saving the action for the start of Halo 5's campaign... We've come to a huge turning point in the story considering the epilogue, so it seems right for the success of the franchise to begin the chaotic beginning in Halo 5's campaign. Is anyone else having the same thoughts? Another season just seems like an unnecessary filler until Halo 5 comes out. :/ It just feels like the right time.

Come on Hornet! You can win! XD (Hornet loyalist here)

This ^^ Btw thnx SweatyBagels

Taken from my previous thread introducing Elite and ODST Ops; http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/26508-elites-odsts-warfronts-and-other-ideas/ This version has more details than the other, and is more developed. The flaws are recognized and I hope to get more fixed if there are any. I noticed that when you are in the cutscenes with your character you are given a fixed personality. The point of being your own character is having your own story. So I worked around that to still allow for the player(s) to be integrated into the cutscenes of their Ops missions. While customizing your character you can choose which voice you want. At the launch of Halo 5 there would likely be 5 voices per race per gender. That's 30 voice actors in all. Others may be unlocked or DLC. How this breaks down for Ops missions is that the voice you use also determines the personality of that character. In the previous thread you would be placed in the cutscene based on which player you are. Player 1 would be talking to player 2, and both would be discussing things with the shipmaster, while player 3 would be standing aside, possibly looking at the view. Luckily with this thread added to it, the dialogue would be enhanced with your character's voice. Each race would be given 5 voices: - 2 cool personalities - 1 leader personality - 1 bad@ss personality - 1 other This shapes the dialogue to what your character says during each moment. Let's say player 3 approaches player 4 about said discussion. Player 3 has one of the cool character voices for his ODST. It kind of resembles a comic relief character. Although, player 4 chose to use the bad@ss personality. Player 3 mentions stuff about having a dog. Player 4 just doesn't care. However, if player 4 used a cool personality too (maybe the same one lol, who cares), then the conversation would continue. This adds a lot of variables to a mission's coding, but it's worth it. You could be playing the mission with your friends and the same moment would feel ENTIRELY different had you done it yourself. And there are more variables if you choose to fight with 1 player or with 2/3/4 players. Player 3 and 4's conversation wouldn't even exist if you play solo. And I have a feeling that the new xbox is going to allow for 6 players to be playing online together in Ops missions. I doubt that, but I think it's going to be an upgrade. So that means 4 different cutscene possibilities, with 30 different conversation scripts per character per role per cutscene, with up to 4 roles per cutscene. How many possibilities is that? If the new xbox does support 6 player campaigns then that's 2 more cutscene possibilities entirely added to the list. Not to mention, you need the interaction variables, that say; player 4 doesn't say anything about dogs, player 3 wouldn't be saying "I know right!" after that. Who says "I know right?!" after not even getting a response? Sergeant, you're drunk. Go home. I can't even begin the math of the whole thing, but with the interactions that's like 4 times more than what is said above. It looks like 343 will have to get their actors to voice each starting line, with their conversation going into 30 different ways. If someone else interacts later in the cutscene (or a new event happens) then that goes into 30 more directions. But the acting's the easy part. It's just a lot of work. But keep in mind that 30 stands for all Spartans, ODSTs and Elites. There would be 30 different variables during the last mission or episode. On a regular basis you'd have 5 different voices for each race per gender. That's 10 different possibilities for each interaction within each cutscene. So that means this: 343 will have to get their actors to voice each starting line, with their conversation going into 10 different ways. If someone else interacts later in the cutscene (or a new event happens) then that goes into 10 more directions. This will be done for each campaign for Spartan Ops, Elite Ops and ODST Ops. There, that doesn't seem so bad. ________________________________________ Now for the other stuff. Ops missions intertwine during the last mission or episode. This would create an ultimate experience for the players who like to use their different characters in all three of the stories. But what about the stories? When do they take place? Personally, I wasn't fond that Spartan Ops took place 6 months after Halo 4's campaign. It was good, but that should NOT be the case for Halo 5. If the flood arise, where's the biggest threat coming from? If the flood return, human-covenant warfare halts in all events involving the flood. Why would Infinity and a bunch of ODSTs be focusing on putting the Covenant to justice when their existence is being threatened again? Six months after the campaign isn't great for that. Humans and Covenant wouldn't be fighting each other at that time. The flood would be at an amazingly high advantage by that time. The whole campaign would have to be flood, which isn't a Halo game. That's a flood game. So for the sake of what I just mentioned, Ops campaigns should be happening from multiple perspectives along with the campaign. In the previous thread I mentioned that it would be a good idea to have the first campaign level be focused on the Arbiter being threatened, resulting in the events of the game starting. Then it moves on to Chief. Elite Ops would start directly after that first level, with your group being introduced and the players would be introduced to the shipmaster and all that stuff. Away you go on your missions. ODSTs would start from an alternate beginning that doesn't involve the canonical events at all. They could be doing something else entirely, until you start operating alongside the background of Chief's missions. This improves the first release of the flood again. Each campaign (all 4) would have the player experience each first strike - which is usually the worst time, which is good for the game. Let's say the Elite Ops first mission starts somewhat close to the Arbiter's campaign story, and branches off for a few missions. This way you can alternate from canonical events to just arresting (or hunting) brute terrorists or protecting territories or homelands. Then the flood come about and your shipmaster is ordered by Thel 'Vadam to aid in urgent matters. You join in the main events once again. The ODST storyline could go into two different directions, one could be like the Elites' storyline by being elsewhere when the flood is released, or your ODST squad could already by stationed on the same mission when the flood are released. Assuming that Jul M'Dama will be involved with the release of the flood, your squad could be taking part in Jul M'Dama missions by that time. Infinity's Spartan fireteams will have front row seats to the release of the flood, no question about that. That is, if Jul M'Dama is involved. As far as the ODST squad storyline goes, it could be offensive or defensive - but most of all, tactical. Storm Covenant in Halo 4 seemed to be defensive as a whole, but offensive through opportunity. They don't seem to be threatening humanity since following Halo 3, but things could go wrong every now and then. Your ODST squad would be sent on practical missions that aren't usually offensive, but have a real purpose. I don't have any ideas for this, but I can assure you that players would like to have this kind of experience once again. Offensive missions could be trying to recover some forerunner technology that is guarded by Covenant. Defensive missions could be you guarding the forerunner artifact. Perhaps the ODST storyline would have the oracle of said installation involved. I'm sure there would be missions around him/her. ____________ There is but one problem that still bugs me, and that is how other NPCs will call you names. In Halo 4 you are constantly being called Crimson, which works. However, your player will be involved in cutscenes (according to this thread). You will have to be called individually accordingly to the voice acting of the characters. I have three solutions to this problem (that might make Halo feel a bit different, but cool anyway): - You can use codenames that are customizable for your character. (Different for each race) - Your ranks will be used to describe your name. - Actual names (or last names) that are also customizable for your character. (Different for each race) With a codename you will be called a certain name when someone's line mentions the player's name. This will again add many variables to the dialogues of the cutscenes. It helps for calling players in the middle of the missions, though. Calling you by your rank would likely be more plausible and realistic. If a marine calls you over saying "Hey, Sergeant!" Then you can understand that they know you are a sergeant but not your name, and it would also be more proper to call you by your rank. Unfortunately, this is how cutscenes will work too. Although, your ODST and Elite team/squad could have a name by itself like Crimson does, but I doubt that would seem at all realistic. Your Spartan might need to be called upon as well, for realistic purposes. __________________ And that should be all. For now. Comments and debate plz!

I would make loadouts based on race. Humans get human weapons and elites get covenant weapons. Other than that, let it be an ultimate sandbox. Except for having power weapons. It's hard to balance. But if someone chooses to use a spartan laser and a rocket launcher, so be it. As long as it doesn't put you at an unfair disadvantage. A team that uses spartan lasers and rocket launchers? Oh no, what do we do now? That's when things get unbalanced. I like your idea for ordnance drops, but I would modify them. The thing about ordnance drops is that they consist of almost all of the game fails for Halo 4. I like watching Machinima and RoosterTeeth videos and when 9/10 fails on Fails of the Weak are just ordnance drops landing on banshees, it doesn't get any more exciting than that. So my addition is to have the ability to edit the spawns of ordnance drops - basically giving them a more campaign feeling when ordnance arrives. In Halo 3 when weapons and ammo arrive, they usually come with a pelican drop with troops and a warthog. In Reach they seem to be coordinated on your visor that this is what you need to pick up at this location, which is an objective. In Halo 4 they just magically appear in front of you... What kind of sense is that? Lol let's put this to detail; you can place in forge the spawns of ordnance. There are two kinds of ordnance: ammo, and weapons. They will be coordinated on your visor. On default maps the ordnance drops will spawn near the defaulted spawn points - and in the game, the spawn point nearest to you at the moment of dropping. In forge this makes immersive battles, because people can decorate their ordnance spawn with crates and stuff near it, so when you get ordnance it's like a refill station. Except for dropping form the sky that is. Maybe we can be able to change that in forge, as well. the crates could be the ordnance. And the option to take out ordnance completely would make for great custom game variants. Ordnance = On/Off I would also make the option to turn off sprinting, too. Back in the days of Halo 3, one of my favourite things to do was to play on Sandtrap with my friends with super speed and jump, and give ourselves swords and/or rockets. We'd either have sword fights or rocket battles, or both. I'm pretty sure others out there in the world liked to do the same thing. But sprinting makes modified speed almost completely obsolete in Halo 4. There's no sense in it. It also restricts the feeling of being chased by your friend with a sword, which was one of the most invigorating feelings in all of Halo any of its players would have while playing multiplayer. Especially with infection! Sprinting = On/Off Oh and, the custom option to have sword assassination animations should be added, as well. I said this in another thread. It slows down gameplay when having sword battles. Slicing them in the back was the way to go in Halo 3. That way you wouldn't die yourself, because assassinating someone just makes you a vulnerable target to other enemies nearby. I also enjoyed dying right away when getting assassinated, because you'd react to it faster and better than say, you are given an extra second that allows you to relieve you from the ungratefulness your friend just performed. Sword assassinations = On/Off And all assassination animations should join in, too. Just for the players' preference. Assassinations = On/Off ___ Then there come armour abilities. I'm with you on that one, but it doesn't allow jetpack users the freedom to use their jetpacks. So I would make for a Halo 3/4 mix, by adding in equipment such as the bubble shield and stuff, and have the armour abilities. Some things should be able to spawn with you, some shouldn't. It depends on your loadout options. I have no idea right now how this could be done, but those are my thoughts.