Halo 3: ODST Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: The truth about the Sword in ODST
  • Subject: The truth about the Sword in ODST
Subject: The truth about the Sword in ODST

Posted by: Havok417
Posted by: Obi Wan Stevobi
Well, the gifs and medal chest would mostly be made up by the web crew and artists not as involved in designing the gameplay and probably prepared it not knowing if there would be a sword or not. Or it hit the cutting room floor later.


Or it's even possible that the code and files are based upon the Halo 3 service record page and weren't entirely cleaned out. Having done a fair bit of web development myself, I think that's a fairly likely scenario.

i agree, i have my own website, and its alot easier and less time-consuming to copy a template and coverup/add a few things, its very tedious to get rid of everything you dont want, and there is no point, i just unpublish it and its gone (but not really as you guy are finding out)

Exactly.Why make a new page when you already have a template in use.Just copy that one and cut it down to fit your needs.

[Edited on 10.03.2009 10:07 AM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 10:03 AM PDT
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I think the gravity hammer took the swords place which is why theres a hammer spree medal and dream crusher medal.

  • 10.03.2009 10:06 AM PDT

[R.I.P HALO 2]
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One easy way to explore every single place in a map is to use the pan-cam ; i used it on Coastal Highway, and on "Uplift Reserve", i looked around, and, i think, there's no sword in these levels ...

I really believe that, if there is a sword, it could be on Mombasa Streets. But at present, i didn't succeed in using pan-cam on it to get out of the map.

Other point : i said earlier that the area where the Rookie dropped at the beginning became blocked and "black area" when you finished a mission, then come again in Mombasa Streets. That's not totally exact : i tried, in "co-op" , and, i don't know why, this area remain unlocked, whereas this same area become locked in solo. Another clue of this strange district ? Any link with the Sword ? I don't know, but i have to find a way to discover that !

If you don't understand what area i talk about, look at this map i "worked" on, the yellow area : New Mombasa Streets : about black areas

About Banshees : you can't take one on Uplift Reserve, like you say in Coastal Highway and others.


[Edited on 10.03.2009 10:19 AM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 10:13 AM PDT
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Just because the sword shows up in the weapons doesn't mean it's in the game. The elite plasma rifle shows up like the sword, but it isn't in ODST either.

  • 10.03.2009 10:23 AM PDT

Get over yourself - drink vodka!

Crap we got some good stuff here!

Bungie can enable/disable boarding/entering vehicles based on the area you are in. Maybe there's a specific place where you are allowed to board a banshee.

I would like to explore the black areas more in-depth too. Those could lead to something.

I also want to get into some of the clearings throughout the city that are blocked by locked security doors that are shown on the visr map as open.

  • 10.03.2009 10:29 AM PDT
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one thing I hate is not being able to drive a ghost you find on mombasa steets.

  • 10.03.2009 10:34 AM PDT

Posted by: YaShouldaDucked
one thing I hate is not being able to drive a ghost you find on mombasa steets.

You can... I've done it many times.

  • 10.03.2009 10:39 AM PDT
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Posted By: Im SteelAssassn
Thanks for choosing to whine over being a productive member of the community and possible element towards advancing Reach.

You people who think there's a sword in ODST are over thinking about this. Is there a sword in ODST? Probably in the game coding, but like the "Assassin" skull in Halo 3 it has no physical presence. It's a lot simpler to simply not give something a physical presence then going in and actually removing the item in question.

As for the Sword Spree medal for the Service Record, I would imagine that while the game was being develop at one point you could use a sword since ODST is built up on the Halo 3 engine. The web team took the spree medal and put them in the upload packet for the site when the game would be release. When Bungie decided to remove the sword the web team probably didn't think much of it and just left the gifs in the upload packet.

This isn't a case of conspiracy this is just a case of cutting corners to meet a deadline. Like the Assassin skull theory the sword is there, but you'll never get it.

If DLC comes out it is possible for the sword to make an appearance, but I doubt Firefight (or ODST for that matter) will have the lasting appeal that Halo 3 had to warrant making new maps for Firefight.

  • 10.03.2009 10:39 AM PDT

Slay your friends
Slay your enemies
Slay your friends' enemies

It's Halo: Reach

On the mission ( can't remember name )
where you must find Dare's crash site, as Buck, there is an area where dead elites are and where Buck asks: "what's with all these dead elites?" ( "believe" is painted on the wall here )There is a dead Elite, white in colour. NEXT TO HIM LAYS AN ENERGY SWORD, BUT ONLY THE HANDLE IS VISIBLE.( it has no ammo, i suppose) this confirms there is an energy sword in ODST, but it seems that it isn't playable.

  • 10.03.2009 10:39 AM PDT

http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/kotor/Group/GroupHome.aspx

Posted by: Tepec Harkness
One easy way to explore every single place in a map is to use the pan-cam ; i used it on Coastal Highway, and on "Uplift Reserve", i looked around, and, i think, there's no sword in these levels ...

I really believe that, if there is a sword, it could be on Mombasa Streets. But at present, i didn't succeed in using pan-cam on it to get out of the map.


If there is anything hidden in this game it's going to be like the H3 IWHBYD skull where you have to solve a puzzle for it to appear. Otherwise we definitely would've found it by now.

  • 10.03.2009 10:49 AM PDT

My friend is gonna look through the map files for ODST and see if it exists in the Mombasa Streets map. I'll get back to you with what he says.

[Edited on 10.03.2009 10:57 AM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 10:56 AM PDT

Posted by: SeasonedVeterans
Sorry, forgot to include this at first: This is all work done by I adJACENt I, and Pope Rex. Pope started the idea by looking at the Medal Chest, and then we both worked on it from there.

As most of you are aware, there is no Energy Sword in ODST. Except for this guy, but he doesn't count. ;) Energy Swords are the signature weapon of the Sangheili (Elites), and since all of the Elites featured in ODST are already dead, it's no surprise that you cannot find a Sword anywhere. There is, however, and empty Sword hilt near a bunch of dead Elites and Brutes in the Tayari Plaza level, when Buck asks Dare "What's with all the dead Elites?"

Well, as some of you may know, there are two medal GIFs in the ODST GIF database pertaining to Swords. The Sword Spree, and the Slice and Dice. In Halo 3, the Sword Spree was obtained by killing 5 enemies in a row with the Sword without dying, and the Slice and Dice bumped that number up to 10.

Those images were obtained by viewing the Page source of a person's ODST medal chest. These pics are not to be confused with the Sword Spree and Slice and Dice from Halo 3. Completely different URLs and sizes. If you attempt to go further up on that url, and try to view all medals, you get a "Sorry, but you are not authorized to view this page" message, which is understandable. Whether there's a secret or not, I doubt Bungie wants us viewing every single little GIF they have for the stats.

So the question is: Why were there Sword Spree medals made up for ODST, if they did not include a Sword in the game? There are three viable options here...

1. The medals were made due to someone initially thinking there was a Sword in the game. Maybe Elites were in the first stages of the game, maybe we could have stumbled on that fight between the Brutes and Elites, and picked up a Sword off a dead Elite. Maybe they were there just in case someone decided to put a Sword in later. Definitely plausible.

2. Two words, three letters: DLC. Maybe a Sword will be included in some DLC further down the road. DLC has not been confirmed at this point, and there are currently no plans to release any. So...

3. There is a Sword somewhere in the game, that is meant to be either unlocked or found, and this is what I will focus on for the rest of the thread.

Our first clue to there being something unlockable was the ODST Medal Chest. If you look at this picture, you will see two areas I wish to draw your attention to. First is the Weapon Spree medals. Notice how there are black boxes to the right of the sprees of 10. Now, on the bottom, after Hero, the medal box ends, and the last two slots are just grayed out. Why would there be black boxes in the Weapon Spree block, but not at the bottom of the chest?

Also, I forgot to add the following in, Pope reminded me of it...
In the source code of the ODST medal page, the black medal boxes appear as an object type "hidden medal" as part of a "medalblock" class.

Here: <div id="ctl00_mainContent_psPlayer_rptMedalRow_ctl01_rptPlay erMedals_ctl02_ctl00_pnlMedalHidden" class="medalBlock">


Well, we figured there must be some other medal, that no one else has found and unlocked yet. Since these blocks were next to the Weapon Sprees of 10, we first assumed that there would be a spree of much more than 10. Pope tested this theory out, and found that 100 straight splatters will still not give you any extra medal (we tried that here). We next thought that maybe there was something outrageous you had to do, like playing an entire Round/Set on Legendary while only getting Splatters.

So along this line of thinking, we started trying out various URL's to find a GIF of a medal not on the medal chest. At one point, I started trying some of the Halo 3 MM medals, just for the hell of it. Sure enough, I found the Sword Spree and Slice and Dice. As pointed out earlier, these were part of the ODST GIFs, not the Halo 3 GIFs. Two completely separate URLs.

So now we have these two medals, and no way of achieving them. If we are correct in our assumptions, there is a Sword somewhere in this game, most likely Campaign. We scoured the streets of New Mombosa, looking for any sign of this Sword. We found the empty hilt in Tayari Plaza, and we also came across an odd saying from the Superintendent on this same mission. When we first meet a local guy, he sends us into some buildings to flank a few Brutes. While transitioning from one buliding to another, we hear Buck say something like "What the hell happened here?" And the SI responds "Slow down. Final notice: Bill past due." Could this be a clue? Does anyone know why the Si would say that?

Another possible clue is the little "Stonehenge" room with the two dead Elites. It has 6 pillars, with the 'Y' markings on them, two dead Elites, two Engineers floating around, and a Carbine on the floor next to one of the Elites. What are those markings for? Do they show directions to anything, similar to all of the SI symbols around the city that point to Audion Logs and Beacons? Why do they look different, without anything between the prongs?

These same symbols are located in the Tayari Plaza section at night, while playing as the Rookie, where all the dead Elites and Brutes are. Why are these special symbols only where Elites are at?

There are a couple of other similar rooms around, too, all accessible through a Security Door. Some of them have Engineers, some with Audio Logs, some with other enemies. On the VISR map, these rooms show the pillars inside of them, but when you get into the room, all you can see are shadows where the pillars once stood (Mickey's pod crash site is one example). What's the deal with that?

So, we're left with many questions. Why are there spaces for medals next to the Weapon Sprees of 10? Why are there Sword medals when there is no Sword (that we know of) in the game? What are these symbols that only show up near the dead Elites?

yEAH

  • 10.03.2009 10:58 AM PDT

Posted by: Omnicoder
My friend is gonna look through the map files for ODST and see if it exists in the Mombasa Streets map. I'll get back to you with what he says.


Ask him to check the medals. If the Sword Spree is in the actual game, then it is much more likely that there is a sword.

  • 10.03.2009 11:01 AM PDT

[R.I.P HALO 2]
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Please read what people said before you, that could be helpful ... And you won't repeat what was said 2 pages earlier !


As for the Sword Spree medal for the Service Record, I would imagine that while the game was being develop at one point you could use a sword since ODST is built up on the Halo 3 engine. The web team took the spree medal and put them in the upload packet for the site when the game would be release. When Bungie decided to remove the sword the web team probably didn't think much of it and just left the gifs in the upload packet.


Someone said this before you, and the problem is : why don't they simply delete this ? Now they're absolutely sure, like you, there is no sword in ODST ; so why did they let these medals ?
We're not saying that is sure there is a sword in ODST, we just say there are some interesting things that make us think about that.


This isn't a case of conspiracy this is just a case of cutting corners to meet a deadline. Like the Assassin skull theory the sword is there, but you'll never get it.


Moreover, the game is just ... Well, two weeks old for us ; I think, if any guy said, 2 weeks after Halo 2 came, "hey mates ! There's a Plasma Rifle which shoot like those Scarab machines !" , everybody answered the same thing as you replied to us.

Let's them believe what they want : it's fun, and we'll probably abandon the idea in a few months, with or without your "closed" opinion.
But we're not sure about anything without proofs, us. Work with us to proof that there is no sword in ODST.

Tepec, working on it, but not sure there is a sword.

  • 10.03.2009 11:03 AM PDT

Posted by: PlasmaGlory
Posted by: Omnicoder
My friend is gonna look through the map files for ODST and see if it exists in the Mombasa Streets map. I'll get back to you with what he says.


Ask him to check the medals. If the Sword Spree is in the actual game, then it is much more likely that there is a sword.

He's checking out the .map files, not the game's binaries.

edit: He has confirmed if there is an energy sword, it is not in mombasa streets


[Edited on 10.03.2009 12:00 PM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 11:06 AM PDT

Get over yourself - drink vodka!

Posted by: Omnicoder
Posted by: PlasmaGlory
Posted by: Omnicoder
My friend is gonna look through the map files for ODST and see if it exists in the Mombasa Streets map. I'll get back to you with what he says.


Ask him to check the medals. If the Sword Spree is in the actual game, then it is much more likely that there is a sword.

He's checking out the .map files, not the game's binaries.

edit (so I don't double post):
He found something odd in the mombasa streets map. He says there is a tag in the map labeled "There they are all standing in a row"

No idea what it means but thats all he has for me right now.

edit2: He has confirmed if there is an energy sword, it is not in mombasa streets
Just don't have him pull any info that could spoil any puzzles. We don't want to repeat the Hayabusa incident. Clues are good - spoilers not so much.

[Edited on 10.03.2009 11:48 AM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 11:47 AM PDT

Posted by: The MLG Pope
Posted by: Omnicoder
Posted by: PlasmaGlory
Posted by: Omnicoder
My friend is gonna look through the map files for ODST and see if it exists in the Mombasa Streets map. I'll get back to you with what he says.


Ask him to check the medals. If the Sword Spree is in the actual game, then it is much more likely that there is a sword.

He's checking out the .map files, not the game's binaries.

edit (so I don't double post):
He found something odd in the mombasa streets map. He says there is a tag in the map labeled "There they are all standing in a row"

No idea what it means but thats all he has for me right now.

edit2: He has confirmed if there is an energy sword, it is not in mombasa streets
Just don't have him pull any info that could spoil any puzzles. We don't want to repeat the Hayabusa incident. Clues are good - spoilers not so much.

He won't tell me anyway so you don't need to worry about that :/

also, he says some living elite stuff is still in there... eg. Elite Hijack animation

[Edited on 10.03.2009 11:50 AM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 11:49 AM PDT

I wasn't able to find Energy Sword pic from weapon URL, but I was able to find pic of normal Plasma Rifle! Here's the link I haven't yet find this one, should I say normal plasma rifle, from game itself. Please tell me, if you have found normal Plasma Rifle from ODST. And could someone tell me location of these "stonehenge" rooms, please, 'cause I haven't find those rooms and I would love to check them out for some clues. And did someone from Bungie mention, before the game was published, that there will be lots of secrets in New Mombasa?

  • 10.03.2009 11:49 AM PDT

Posted by: sane888
And did someone from Bungie mention, before the game was published, that there will be lots of secrets in New Mombasa?

I believe so.

  • 10.03.2009 11:52 AM PDT

Get over yourself - drink vodka!

Posted by: Omnicoder
Posted by: sane888
And did someone from Bungie mention, before the game was published, that there will be lots of secrets in New Mombasa?

I believe so.
That's what Bungie does!

  • 10.03.2009 11:54 AM PDT
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Posted By: Im SteelAssassn
Thanks for choosing to whine over being a productive member of the community and possible element towards advancing Reach.

I did read through the thread and I'm reiterating what people said to bring on a point. You're over analyzing what Bungie did with their web design methods.

Why didn't someone delete a small insignificant gif image? Because it only takes about about .05 Kilobytes worth of data and it's not a glaring issue on the website.

We're going to go back to my comparative of the Sword in ODST to the Assassin skull in Halo 3. Halo 3 is what? 2 years old. People still firmly believe that the assassin skull is in Halo 3 and the only evidence is the data for it. But no one has found a physical skull for it in the game.

This is why I'm lead to believe that the Sword may have game data on the ODST disc, but I'm sure, like the assassin skull, it has no physical presence in the game.

You can cling to your thoughts on it, and if you truly believe in it then my opinion shouldn't bother you. If you find a working sword in ODST then I will admit my mistake. Until then I'm sure there is no sword that's usable in ODST.

[Edited on 10.03.2009 12:00 PM PDT]

  • 10.03.2009 12:00 PM PDT

Odd, according to my freind, the ability to wield an energy sword doesn't exist in the Tayari Plaza level, either. He did say that there is a weapon named "Security Camera" though.

  • 10.03.2009 12:11 PM PDT