***Official Halo 2 Discussion Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Jay Mitchosky]

That's a riot!

 

[Chad Seymour]

Hey all,

Got a quick question. I've read through most of this thread trying to see if anyone is having this problem but can't find the exact issue. A friend of mine has Halo 2 displayed via the HD pack (component inputs) into his Sony 60" Wega. In the dashboard, setting on the Xbox are Widescreen with all three modes (480p, 720p, 1080i) on. The I do the trigger/button trick and the dashboard clicks over to 480p and everything looks great. But when I put the game in, it immediately gets forced back down to 4:3. I think the Xbox is putting out a Widescreen signal because when I got to split screen mode, it splits side to side instead of over and under. On the Tv settings, Widescreen and 4:3 are both set to normal. Nothing I could figure out would put the display to fill the screen. Anybody seen that or know what to do? BTW, the update didn't help on this one. No HUD problems either. I think the TV is trying to do something, not the Xbox.

Chad

 

[questrider]

I would like to chime in on the 5.1 discussion.

The center channel is outputing dialog and music, so it is present in the sound mix. It just isn't putting any sound effects into the center channel because, (a) as already discussed, it is "matrixed" into the front L/R and surround L/R when something is exactly in front or in back of you at 12 and 6 o'clock respectively and (b) if they placed the sound effects discreetly into the front channel it wouldn't make a difference anyway because most of the time the sound effects are bouncing back and forth between the left and rights (both front and rears) because we're all juking, spinning and strafing almost constantly most of the time in the game. I'm going to guess the XBOX processor would have to do more work defining when we're facing forward to place a center channel effects-wise and this processing power is better used on the graphics and AI.

Just my two cents. I don't really notice that a sound-effects center channel is missing. However, I do notice it is working with the music and dialog, but it's pretty subtle. I'll bet a memory-taxing decision was made early on the game development (both Halo and Halo 2) that it wasn't going to make enough of a difference to put the extra work and processor power into doing so.

That's my two cents, anyway.

 

[David Galindo]

I made a video I like to call "Amazing Sights in Halo 2." It took me quite a while to make, but the result is pretty beautiful (thanks to BLIND mode and, of course, the game itself). Check it out:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/HaloSightsTour.wmv

This really makes me appreciate Halo 2 even more...I hope you enjoy it!

And yeah, the somewhat lacking center channel doesnt really bother me. Its just odd, but the other speakers more than make up for it.

 

[Max Leung]

What is BLIND mode?

 

[Evan M]

It's one of the "Easter Eggs" in the game. THere is a hidden skull on one of the boards which puts you in "blind" mode when you pick it up. It basically means your hud and weapon disappear. You can still fire and fight and everything, but you just dont' see your weapon or HUD on the screen.

Video showing how to do it: (right click and save-as) http://www.prtc.net/~jose85/h2skullblind.wmv

(Posted by XSavage on Bungie forums, here: http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=1029122)

 

[Sean Moon]

Before some funny observations, first I much bitch.

I was playing Rumble Pit earlier and I swear this guy was cheating. Either that or the lag of doom. Before the game, in the lobby, these guys were talking about getting their Action Replay to work with this. As far as I knew, the AR was only a save device, not a cheat device on XBOX. But anyways. In the first 45 seconds or so of this game, this one guy cleans up over 10 kills, ranked at level 4. He never died during that stint. I actually sneak up behind him and give him two good point blank shots with a shotgun to the back of the skull, and he is still standing. Overshields or not, that should have killed him. THen he turns and shoots me ONCE with an SMG and I drop. WTF is that??????? I quit right after that. Not mature I know, but it was ridiculous. I was so mad I cant remember his gamertag. But there were two people talking during it over the headsets about using an Action Replay. Maybe I am just hallucinating.

Now for my observations from campaign. On the Metropolis stage, I managed to keep both rocket launcher marines alive through the tunnels. When you get to the section with the jackal sniper with his back to you, usually one of the marines sneaks up and melees him to death. But this time, I had the two rocket guys (god bless David Cross and the Aussie Marine), and about four other marines alive here. They sneak as a group near the jackal, then I hear one whisper "shh, watch this" as both rocket guys shoot the jackal in the back from a short distance. Was TOO funny.

The other one was I got the warthog soon after that after clearing all the ghosts, and as I pull up to the marines, the Laura Prepon one screams "I GOT SHOTGUN!" and runs for the passenger seat. Then the michelle rodriguez marine jumps in the gunner seat. So I was rollin with the ladies for the rest of the time.

 

[Citizen87645]

Yes, there have been occasions when I've emptied my clip or blasted a person point blank with a shotgun and I still get killed. Some of this may be poor aiming on my part but those occasions are inconsistent with my other experiences.

 

[Sean Moon]

a shotgun at point blank does not require good aim, especially when the character takes up your whole field of vision. It was something seriously fubared.

I just did something fun though on campaign. Just decided to experiment like I did in Halo 1 and get the warthog in places it shouldnt go and got a warthog into the scarab tank on Metropolis. Can get it to the bottom of the stairs of the scarab but no further, so I just parked it with the gunner and a rocket marine in passenger where they both had a sight on the stairs. So I went downstairs and lured all the elites upstairs and just watched my marines wax all of them with rockets and the gauss cannon.
Lots of fun, and all I had to do was sit back and enjoy the show. One time while doing this saw an Elite carjack the gunner though. Just jumped up and threw him out, so the gunner just blew the elite and the warthog up with a rocket, taking out almost everything on the deck too.

I need to find more constructive things to do in this game besides exploit the engine and physics.......nah.

 

[Mark Shannon]

Primarily AR is used as a save device, but certain individuals have found ways to hack the code of the save, to allow certain cheats to work. For example, people having Molotov Cocktails in Rainbow Six 3 online.

 

[Jason Borchers]

.

 

[Sean Moon]

Some more dialogue heard from the AI:

David Cross marine (after he, the aussie marine, and I all hit some poor elite at the same time with rockets): "BAM!"

(Before heading into an Elite heavy area)"Hey, let the chief go first. He likes it"

(After being shot)"HELP! I need a nurse! NO! NO! A female nurse!"

Aussie: "Thats ok. I would hide from me too" "Hey, keep that up and you might be as good as me someday."

Reneck Drill Sergeant Marine : "Cmon out boy so I can smoke ya"
(After drilling an Elite with the gauss cannon)'Cut down in his prime. Oh well." "When are you blue bastards gonna learn?"
Although my fav of his is just his yelps of joy when he kills something.

Elites: "Go, flush him out!"(then sends grunts to die)

(After being hit splash damage from a rocket, the Elite hides with his friend)"UUGHH! Im in excruciating pain!" Then the other Elite says "Just get out there coward!"

 

[Kami]

Anyone know when the Halo 2 soundtrack vol. 2 is coming out? Theres a lot of music thats not on volume 1.

 

[Tino]

The ONLY time sound comes from the center channel in HALO 2 is during cut scenes, in between play, except for Cortana (whose dialog usually bridges one sequence into another).

During gameplay, the center channel is virtually silent.

Just wanted to clear that up...again

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

How the hell do you get out of The Library?

I made it through the Flood (as the Arbiter) to a platform that opens into nothingness being patrolled by a "large sentinel". Finally whacked that guy, the Flood in the area, and the other sentinels flying around. Plus taking out the little sentinel regenerators. Now what? There doesn't seem to be any place to go. What am I missing?

 

[Mark Shannon]

Funniest piece of dialogue I've heard so far is one of yhe Elites saying "I think that is all of them" in a voice that I could swear is Arnold Swarcheneggars.

 

[Sean Moon]

Jay, if I remember correctly you have to open another one of the chutes. The pillars in the room should have little icons to show to open them. It has been a while since playing that stage, so I might be wrong.

 

[Holadem]

I finally beat the FIRST game last weekend...

Got started on the second one's campaign, and as hard as it is to believe (well for me anyway), it is an immediate improvement over the original (which I only got last month...).

I must say that my absolute favorite level so far in both games is the urban warfare stuff on earth. That was NEAT.

Question: Do we ever get back to similar levels later in the game? I would suspect so, if only because the first game did sorta come full circle.

Another question, one of the very few flaws I found with the original game was that on quite a few instances, one had to run backwards thru some of the levels. That made the game tedious at times. I hope we don't get more of the same with the sequel?

While my initial reaction to first covenant level was only lukewarm, it grew on me dramatically once we got to the flood infested parts inside the heretic base. I am not a big fan of the flood, it's the murky, nightmarish Alien-like atmosphere that did it for me.

I have been craving some good Sci-Fi lately, it's amazing that I should be getting my fix from a video game, of all places .

These games are absolutely amazing.

--
H

 

[questrider]

You know what continues to drive me mad with Halo 2?

The fact that a player MUST now use the left thumbstick to move instead of there being a choice to use either the left thumbstick or left thumbpad. I know I'm probably one of a small percentage that feel more comfortable using the thumbpad but it's simply placed in a more comfortable place for my left thumb. Also, when I panic and run like a baby (haha), I have a habit of pushing down on the thumbstick on accident and then I end up running very slow and die in the panic.

This will take some time to get used to. Why would they have the "move" function mapped to the thumbpad and thumbstick in Halo and then remove it for Halo 2? My brain doesn't learn new tricks so easily.

 

[Sean Moon]

Has anyone else been talking with others outside this forum or reading other internet forums about this game? It seems that people are really, truly, pissed at this game. People getting mad saying they were lied to since the whole game doesnt take place on earth, that bungie is a bunch of slackers for only getting that level done and nothing else for e3 then scrapping it.

I swear. People can be really stupid sometimes, but their complaints have no real validity in my opinion. Slackers? Do they know what it takes to make a video game? I dont know 100%, but I have enough of an idea and enough knowledge and experience in art to know art takes time.

Opinions on this?