Halo 2 Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Oh man, the campaign of this game kicks ass!
  • Subject: Oh man, the campaign of this game kicks ass!
Subject: Oh man, the campaign of this game kicks ass!

Here's a few things I noticed during my latest Legendary playthrough:

-Cortana says that "The Covenant must be trying to regroup. Don't let them!". However, 'retreat' would be the appropriate term. Pretty much the rest of Outskirts and Metropolis is just the Covenant retreating. The Shadows, the Phantoms, even the Scarab was just trying to reach Regret's carrier. We later learn that this was because he came to Earth for something, and had gotten it. He wanted to escape from The Demon, and only waited to get his valuable Scarab aboard the ship. This is why he escapes right after it blows up. Excellent foreshadowing.

-The Wraiths have a working teamwork AI. It won't fire at you if there are Ghosts near you. Knowing this, you can drive quickly when there are no Ghosts, and use the Ghosts as a pseudo-cover to maneuver or attack the Wraith itself from.

-The big one: The spiral corridor below the hangar on The Arbiter is a functioning stealth game. If you make it undetected, assassinating everyone, you'll have to kill a lot less enemies. But get seen and the enemies will raise alarm, causing a battle-ready Heretic Elite run out of a nearby locked door. I don't think any Halo has anything like this. Sure there are sleep rooms, but an alarm system is something completely different. Why did people miss this in their hate on the Arbiter levels? I now appreciate this level a lot.

-Grunt Birthday Party skull + Heretic leader + subceiling = headshot after headshot of explosions on a trapped target. Worth wasting a clip.

-The beginning of Delta Halo is designed very well. I found myself able to engage the Covenant while moving across the perimeter to the structure. The ODSTs kept making quick attacks from the other side. It was huge fun, and both Troopers made it past the first Phantom.

-"Oh, we gotta ride another of these deathtraps?"
"If you ignore the Covenant an the fact that we're stuck on a freaky alien world, it's really kind of fun."

-In case anyone has missed it, a A New Hope reference is uttered when a Marine spots High Charity.

And this could've been worthy of it's own topic, but I'll put it here. I finally achieved the unthinkable: got all 5 Marines all the way through Gravemind, even the Mausoleum, without using crates or doing anything similar. I blocked the Marines' progress in no way. All that kept them alive was their own weapons, everyone focusing their fire on me and my ability to kill enough enemies before the Marines could get to the battle (only due to natural slowness, I didn't backtrack and leave them behind to catch or anything). Pics so it did happen, although the size is small you can spot all five, 2nd from left is hardest to see.

  • 09.15.2009 1:54 PM PDT
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did you just get the game?

  • 09.15.2009 2:10 PM PDT
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Great post! I bet you could have kept writing (I would have kept reading).

Legendary Marines are cool beans, except you can't let them drive Hogs (they go insane). Working with the Legendary Marines on OS, Met, DH and Regret was pure goodness. It seemed like, if you did the right move, so would they.

Keeping 5 Marines alive is awesome (isn't there more than 5 total?). I've had trouble doing that and I cheated by blocking their path until safe. Was that Legendary?



[Edited on 09.15.2009 2:39 PM PDT]

  • 09.15.2009 2:38 PM PDT
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It's tough to keep the five marines alive in Gravemind, but blocking them is not cheating, its being stradegic, one way to make their survivability go up, is to try to move those weapon crates in the prison chamber, so the marines can have extra cover, but it is time consuming.

As for the Arbiter level, no other level I have seen in halo, besides AotCR level in halo 1, rewards stealth in the game. And the alarm system was a nice mechanic, but I think bungie should have had at least two Heretic guards spawn when you activate the alarm system on that level.

As for the teamwork AI, I noticed this as well today aswell, when I was playing Gravemind today on legendary, at the area where the Arbiter was tortured, their came the Brute with a Brute shot, but he didn't advance or fire, becuase a berserking brute was in the way, and heading toward me, only after killing the berserking brute, did the captain move forward, and started firing his brute shot.

I agree with Grumpy on the Marine driving skills, the only time a Marine should be driving, is on the level, Metropolis, on the Gauss Hog, as for weapons, never give the Marines any Heavy weapons, (Rocket Launchers, or Fuel Rod guns) or any ally in particular, unless they are on a Vehicle, driving by you, but when it comes to Mid Range to Sniper Weapons, the allies will kick ass, and with their decen teamwork AI, they never really have any friendly fire.

If there is one thing Halo 2 has, compared to the other halo's, it consistent AI, that not only makes decent enemies, but has decent allies that work much better, compared to the other halo games.

  • 09.15.2009 2:56 PM PDT
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EXTREME PREJUDICE

Halo 2 is my favorite <3




....atleast until ODST drops.

  • 09.15.2009 6:48 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member
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halo 2 still the best game in the series. long live halo 2.

Dam, I miss the old days playing halo 2 with my old brothers in arms. Thank you my old friends for giving me this account, I shall continue our legacy.

I gotta say halo 2 on legendary was a lot more challenging then halo combat evolved or halo 3's campaign on legendary. Only last week did I finally beat halo 2 on legendary after 4 years of trying to do it solo, it only took me 1 week to beat both halo 1 and 3 on legendary.

Those elite ultra's hushed me so many times. They put me in my place many times.

  • 09.15.2009 7:38 PM PDT

I'm 23, I have a house, dog, girlfriend, job and I have no interest in any fanboyism so if you're thinking about sending me a childish PM, don't be surprised when I don't call back.

Posted by: JB 199
I gotta say halo 2 on legendary was a lot more challenging then halo combat evolved or halo 3's campaign on legendary. Only last week did I finally beat halo 2 on legendary after 4 years of trying to do it solo, it only took me 1 week to beat both halo 1 and 3 on legendary.

Those elite ultra's hushed me so many times. They put me in my place many times.


Halo 2 legendary was insanely difficult, Jackal snipers anyone?. The last level against tartarus was insane even if you got the banshee in there and brutes berserking on legenedary is a nightmare.

I loved the game though i thought it was really good.

  • 09.15.2009 11:37 PM PDT

Halo 2 will always be my fav of the three....although I got lost sometimes lol great game.

  • 09.16.2009 1:24 AM PDT
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Shouldn't be surprising, but, is fun to hear that other people "block off" Marines in Gravemind. Brute Shot works well for moving the..."crates" around. If Marines survive, the Drone area is so much easier. I always have the sniper when I first come down the lift...(pray that the two Brutes don't turn around)...swap with a Shot, then simply walk off the platform to the left. You'll land on the (ideal) bottom level. On the way back up, re-grab the sniper for the upcoming countersnipe sequences.
Yep, the snipers suck. But they often seem to have a "warning" shot, unlike the ones in H-3.

  • 09.16.2009 10:00 AM PDT
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Posted by: nesteggfailure
Shouldn't be surprising, but, is fun to hear that other people "block off" Marines in Gravemind. Brute Shot works well for moving the..."crates" around. If Marines survive, the Drone area is so much easier. I always have the sniper when I first come down the lift...(pray that the two Brutes don't turn around)...swap with a Shot, then simply walk off the platform to the left. You'll land on the (ideal) bottom level. On the way back up, re-grab the sniper for the upcoming countersnipe sequences.
Yep, the snipers suck. But they often seem to have a "warning" shot, unlike the ones in H-3.
I noticed that MC and Arbiter can snipe farther than Jackals so I spend all my time around snipers at a distance, if I can. I play with Blind so it's tough, it takes 2 shots, one to zero-in and one to the head. Brutes with helmets are tough for the headshots because it takes me an extra shot every time they move around and they move a lot in Legendary.

  • 09.16.2009 10:15 AM PDT

Posted by: nesteggfailure
Shouldn't be surprising, but, is fun to hear that other people "block off" Marines in Gravemind. Brute Shot works well for moving the..."crates" around. If Marines survive, the Drone area is so much easier. I always have the sniper when I first come down the lift...(pray that the two Brutes don't turn around)...swap with a Shot, then simply walk off the platform to the left. You'll land on the (ideal) bottom level. On the way back up, re-grab the sniper for the upcoming countersnipe sequences.
Yep, the snipers suck. But they often seem to have a "warning" shot, unlike the ones in H-3.
I do that too, except I toss the sniper down the lift because I need to have a Carbine and dual needlers too. And the bottom level is fun, because you can just sit under the gravlift and let your Brute blade do the work. I use the needlers to clear the hostile reinforcements coming down the lift and give the PBR to the lifting Marines. I briefly take it to kill the Hunters (makes getting the Marines through that 20 times easier). For the sniper jackals, there's enough sniper boxes in the valley.

For more sniper action, get the PBR Elite to the crashed sentinel factory. The middle rift spawns near-infinite sentinel pairs the Elite can snipe. At least on legendary, that is.

And if you think a sniper jackal is scary, you've never run into a sniper Flood. Especially not an invisible one.

  • 09.17.2009 12:36 PM PDT
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Posted by: Mutoid Log

And if you think a sniper jackal is scary, you've never run into a sniper Flood. Especially not an invisible one.


I've encountered Invisible Human Flood Combat forms in High Charity recently..... While they seem to be random, they put me in my place whenver im unlucky enough to encounter invisible flood.

  • 09.17.2009 2:55 PM PDT
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Mutoid - I know the guy you're talking about. I send grenades into that corner every time now, just in case. Doesn't come up often, but, crikey. Thought it was a glitch the first time it happened.

  • 09.18.2009 8:13 PM PDT