Halo 5 needs Flood that People wont B*tch about

[Backdemon]

Sorry to sidetrack things but OrangeSpartan brought up a point I have seen elsewhere in the forums: The Factions. 3 factions seem to bother some people yet Halo CE had 3: The Covenant, The Flood and The Sentinels. Why not show what the Promethians are built for? To be honest the Storm Covenant and Promethians were really One big enemy since they only attacked each other for two missions. 4 way battles make for more interseting gameplay in my opinion, but again thats my opinion. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass.

 

One thing I dont want to return about the Flood is their squishyness. Halo 3 they were like poorly constructed lego models, one slight graze from a melee and they were a puddle of green flesh on the floor. They are melee oriented afterall, we should fear getting into their melee range like back in Halo CE where they would destroy you...

[BaconShelf]

Agreed. I long for the days of H2 of entering a four-way battle between covenant, sentinels, flood and your player. Aah...

[Chris Hansen]

Halo 2 shotgun and rocket flood were the scariest lol.

[CrimsonVolver]

All I know is I want the Flood to be fast, furious and hella scary. I want to play Halo 5 in the dark with my surround sound home theater system on. Flood me, babe! CV

[Sadly Just AL]

They should be in dark, foggy areas where they jump out of nowhere and scare the life outta you.

[Backdemon]

Ive read up on the new origins of the flood (being precursors) and thought of something WORSE than what the juggernaught could be....

 

Precursors went on a mass exodus leaving our galaxy and to survive some turned into flood. If some of this flood expanded out and collected biomass while the wars between human, forerunner and flood carried on, there would be immense hives, more powerful than the infested High Charity floating around in dead space. If one was outside the Arrays effective range (as the ark was) we could see an entirely new set of flood units be brought in without effecting anything storyline wise.

 

This would also allow for smarter flood ai as they are no longer in the feral stage, and could give us Ancient flood forms. The pure underlying flood structure once all biomass has been formed into flood, a creature that can swat away tanks and devour armies...

 

Any ideas on what else ancient flood could bring us? (sorry I took so long to respond, Apparrently University requires assignments to be completed...)

[BaconShelf]

Especially if there were infected precursors. (Going off description from one that turned out to be a Gravemind) they would be powerful enemies in themselves.

[Backdemon]

The Primordial is the first ever gravemind and last suriving Precursor according to lore at the moment. The only Art/imagery i could find of him is here:

I do not believe we would fight this creature in a campaign, maybe a cutscene. But if he does appear in the games it makes the Gravemind(s) more expendable as Flood would be controlled by the Primordial. This could let us fight a Gravemind, as Bungie had planned for the ending of the Halo 3 Mission "The Covenant" or even the entire Gravemind form that you see in Halo 2

[AnimalDenWinter]

The new flood mode in Halo 5 should have the classic looking Flood combatant forms. Not weird grinning bubbly creatures.

My idea for the new Floods: They look like the proper Flood, the bubbling should still be there, the laugh gives me nightmares so NO! 

One player who starts of as a Flood is chosen to be a Flood tank form, so he's the one everybody's trying to kill and stay away from. 

The new flood mode in Halo 5 should have the classic looking Flood combatant forms. Not weird grinning bubbly creatures.

My idea for the new Floods: They look like the proper Flood, the bubbling should still be there, the laugh gives me nightmares so NO! 

One player who starts of as a Flood is chosen to be a Flood tank form, so he's the one everybody's trying to kill and stay away from. 

[BaconShelf]

We don't mean the crappy gamemode

[ForgeMonitor]

I'm thinking of a Scarab being controlled by the Flood.

[CrimsonVolver]

You mean Flood infected? I think I read somewhere that the collective organisms that make up hunters, scarab, etc are immune to flood infection. CV

[BaconShelf]

The worms can be used as biomass to create a pure form. Like tank and crawler forms. Not combat forms.

[CrimsonVolver]

Gotcha Bacon. Thanks for clarifying. CV

[Backdemon]

Hunters can be infected by the flood but since they are each really a hive of small worms there is no point infecting them. They are normally dissolved into food/biomass to create flood hives and spore pockets like the ones in High charity in halo 3. Great idea though!

 

How do you guys think a Flood boss fight would work without quicktime events or predictable attacks? Im kinda stuck. The normal videogame Boss fights dont really fit in Halo, apart from the fight with Spark in Halo 3 (and even then that wasnt really a boss fight). If you fight a Gravemind or even something smaller I cant think of anything that doesnt turn into a resident evil quicktime event...

[BaconShelf]

I would've preferred to have to manually jump on the Didact to plant grenades, rather than just a video. Still, two buttons is better than no buttons, I guess.

 

I think it would work by cutting the tentacles off with a sword or something if we go off of the 2/3 era Gravemind. It would depend on what it looks like.

[Son Of Anarchy]

The Flood. You either Love or Loath it. Many people loath it due to the library missions in Halo CE/Halo 2 as well as Cortana from Halo 3. I admit Cortana was tedious at times and the Libraries could become frustrating, but thats no reason for pulling one of the most dangerous threats (in theory) from a game where all the awesome ancient tech is based around combating it.

 

The flood in the original trilogy was good, but after reading the books and terminals about it, the fungus zombies didnt seem to portray the unstoppableness-ness that overwhelmed the Forerunners and caused them to commit cosmic suicide. In game i think the flood needs to become scaryer. Slithering in the dark, ambushing you, literally tearing through allies. The spartan flood in the Infection gametype of halo 4 has a giant claw, so lets see it put to use. Another thing is the weakness of flood. In halo 3 you could almost dissolve combat forms with a nasty look. Halo CE had it right. 2 clips of 60 round MA5B ammo and the ******** can still hop up off the floor.

 

Now in many topics Ive seen Deadspace fans gloating how their necromorphs are scaryer. And to be honest I have to admit the flood isnt as scary in game. But in concept the flood should be able to make Chief nervous. Im trying not to express my sadistic side, but i think non scripted marine deaths by infection forms in Halo 3 were amazing. Graphics and gore upated with modern software and you have a greusome yet amazing incentive to protect your AI buddies. If 343i made you respect your marines (rather than using them as meat shields and ammo mules, get them to give you ammo or help you in some way without the scripted cutscene like events so you DO want to keep them alive, even for just sentimental reasons) then when they are tron in half and eaten in front of you, you might exact revenge rather than laugh. I know I beat the crap out of Spark when he killed Johnson.

             -Imagine this. You are running along through Halo 5 with a couple of AI buddies [that arent in any way significant to the mission], theyve been talking to you, weakening and killing enemies, supplying you with ammo and generally being helpful [yes i am still taling about Halo marines here] when suddenly jimmy-bob AI is grabbed by a Combat form and torn in two, while the other AI is making horrible gurgling noises as an infection form burrows into his rib cage. This would make me go on a rampage. Why not make us care about our AI buddies, then have the flood come rip our bromance apart? 

 

Gameplay wise we need variaton with flood. Halo 3 should be seen as a concept point for 343i. Pureforms were a good idea but never seemed to be as big a threat as they were made out to be. Why not have a stronger flood force where most infection forms were tank strenght. Not requiring a rocket launcher to take down [thats just crazy] but making them bullet sponges. Force a player to fall back as a staggering wall of flood marches at you. Infection forms can stay as popcorn, its part of the games now and actually suits them, but noone seems to panic when they are around. If you have AI allies around these little guys should become your worst nightmare. Buddies now oozing with green slime and floodflesh turn and rip into you. Wall to wall popcorn is never a bad idea. new types? Take a leaf from Halo wars and have infected grunts/jackals in game. I know in the lore they are infected to become food and flesh for the hives of the flood, but we should get to see this. Flood growths could also be interesting. Halo 3 gave us the Mature spores that released infection forms but why not the stalks and tenticals of halo wars? the ranged pureforms could become stationary and allow for proper assault flood controlled areas objectives in campaign. Summing it up, scary and overwhelming is what it needs to be. 

 

With promethians and covenant requiring tactics and flanking to overcome, this updated flood should be the break from noobcombotakeoutthewatchersthenknights tactics and it should open up your inner Rambo. Tactical decisions would still be needed, but more along the lines of 'do i have enough ammo' or 'which flood should I avoid and which do i shoot at from range.' Another benifit of Flood returning would be the return of sentinel weapons. The sentinels in Halo 2 were awesome, and if you havent already you should look up the concepts for other in game sentinels. I can imagine massive fights between variations of flood and sentinel and promethian that you must navigate. It also means flame weapons can make a return. The bodies dissolving from forerunner weapons in game actually serves a purpose (apart from us thinking 'Ooh.... pretty...) by destroying bodies so flood wont infect them [this could aslo allow for a flood firefight- check out some of the other topics ideas on this, people come up with good stuff].

 

Story-wise i think the flood should remain as an extragalactic parasite. A biological weapon from the precursors? Thats kinda lame to be honest. I would prefer that when the precursors buggared off to the other galaxies to explore and do precursory things that they came across an entire galaxy that was consumed by flood. Not knowing what the flood was they were overwhelmed and consumed. Now the flood has the ability to travel the distance between galaxies ['cept the precursors sabotaged their engines to save life here in the milky way]. The flood manages to send one small cluster of spores and hive on a ship back to the milky way where the humans found it.... And the cannon story follows from there. This -and i know its a stretch- could be the return of the flood in Halo 5. A precursor vessel filled with highly evolved flood slips into the milky way after jul m'dama activates a forerunner device that could contact the precursors. The Ship offloads and starts a massive infection of covenant space. **** gets real and the Array become an option for the UNSC to wipe out the huge flood incursion. Promethians can get involved somehow. Everybody wins, original trilogy and new age fannon fans.

 

Id Like to see your ideas on my ramblings and any additions/subtrations you would make to the halofanboy opinions i vomited in the essay above.

I think what Halo 5 needs is a team that's not too butt high over Call of Duty, it's pretty sad when one of 343's employees can't stop talking about how much he loves other games besides his own game that he worked on. I think what influenced Halo 4's suckiness is the all around attitude that the employees at 343 have. They're too serious while watching their videos, almost no humor or excitement whatsoever in their ViDoc's.

[BaconShelf]

Please stay on topic. Don't use this thread to comain about 353 and Halo 4...

[xxBEASTLYBOYZxx]

These are all such great ideas. When I was 7 I got an XBox and Halo 2 (don't know why they didn't get me CE first) and as soon as I got to the flood levels I pi**ed my pants. It was so fun and terrifying at the same time, especially the Library level, where there was endless hordes. Because Im older, the flood just isn't scary and I want them to get a lot scarier and have some more of those "holy s**t" moments.

[Backdemon]

Good point xxBEASTLYBOYZxx, alot of Halo's campaign fanbase has grown up alongside the franchise. Everyone is older, and even new fans are normally around the age. I was well under 16 when i first played Halo CE but Im perfectly fine (he says from his padded asylum cell...) so i think scarier flood is a natural step. They were first put into Halo CE as the tension building point. With the composer stunt they pulled in Halo 4 (the ONI crew of Ivanoff station dissolving before your eyes) they could easily get away with viceral flood combat.

 

With Fighting a Gravemind i think attacking the tenticles would be a cool idea Baconshelf. I always like cutting the arms off flood in Halo 1, 2, and 3 with the assault rifle (SMGs in 2, but you get what i mean). I think an awesome boss fight could take place in a room piled with bodies and flood biomass with the Gravemind inside. With peoples ideas of dormant flood like the sleeper mentioned earlyer you could be attacked by even the walls themselves. Great way to include vehicle combat also...

[Gojira]

Good point xxBEASTLYBOYZxx, alot of Halo's campaign fanbase has grown up alongside the franchise. Everyone is older, and even new fans are normally around the age. I was well under 16 when i first played Halo CE but Im perfectly fine (he says from his padded asylum cell...) so i think scarier flood is a natural step. They were first put into Halo CE as the tension building point. With the composer stunt they pulled in Halo 4 (the ONI crew of Ivanoff station dissolving before your eyes) they could easily get away with viceral flood combat.

 

With Fighting a Gravemind i think attacking the tenticles would be a cool idea Baconshelf. I always like cutting the arms off flood in Halo 1, 2, and 3 with the assault rifle (SMGs in 2, but you get what i mean). I think an awesome boss fight could take place in a room piled with bodies and flood biomass with the Gravemind inside. With peoples ideas of dormant flood like the sleeper mentioned earlyer you could be attacked by even the walls themselves. Great way to include vehicle combat also...

Removing the tentacles and gunning down hordes of combat forms while you make your way up the body or to higher ground to engage with the head of the Gravemind would be the best way they could pull off the bossfight. Or they could just pull an anticlimactic quicktime event (looking at you Didact fight ) which would be miserable. 

[Backdemon]

I agree. Quicktime events dont really belong in Halo. The Enemies and Environments are dynamic enough as it is, and I would probably prefer an epic cutscene to a mediocre quicktime fight.

[Frankenzer]

Bringing the juggernaut back would be good

[CrimsonVolver]

Bringing a lot a gametypes back would be great! CV

[scullshark]

Spartan ops + flood= epicness