Halo: Combat Evolved Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Why Halo: CE's Legendary towers above them all...
  • Subject: Why Halo: CE's Legendary towers above them all...
Subject: Why Halo: CE's Legendary towers above them all...

Every Halo game on Legendary difficulty, to its detriment, has massively favored the Noob combo (overcharged plasma pistol blast + single head shot). Except for Halo:CE, that is. One of the best things about Halo:CE on Legendary was that you weren't shoehorned into NOOB comboing your way through every Elite encounter. Play it again and see what I mean.

Notice that Elites aren't "frozen" by the initial plasma blast for more than a split second. (It was never a given that your plasma overcharge would hit either - the Elite would dodge it about 50% of the time.) It was a real achievement to head shot an Elite with your first pistol bullet. The Elite would recover from the plasma blast so quickly and duck, dodge, and dive - all while firing at you from distance - that it often took 3-5 seconds of firing at his face before he dropped.

The result of making the Noob Combo so hard to pull off was that other weapons and weapon combos were still feasible on Legendary. To me, this gave the game a lot more replay value and kept it fresh. For example, both the plasma pistol (rapid fire by pulling trigger quickly) and the plasma rifle (full auto) would subtly "freeze" Elites and drop their shields quickly, allowing you to take them down with a melee or just more firing. The needler was another good option at medium range. Power weapons (rocket launcher and sniper rifle) did the trick too, as did stickynades. The player truly had a lot of different ways to take down those tricky bastards.

This was unlike all Halo sequels, where Legendary was designed to cater to the Noob combo. The overcharged plasma blast almost alway hit and its "freeze" effect on the Elite (Brute in Halo 3, and ODST) was overly generous. Further, the availability of the Battle Rifle's 3 bullet spread allowed the player to swipe his reticle over the enemies' head - making it possible to head shot with almost 100% accuracy.

I appreciate Bungie's intent that Legendary require a certain amount of skill to conquer. The problem with the sequels is that they force the player to use that same tired weapon combo again and again. By the fourth level, you're bored out of your mind. How much fun is it to have 15+ guns in a game, but know that 13 of them are basically useless on Legendary? The disparity between how long it takes to drop a shielded elite with the Noob Combo and everything else it too great in Halo 2, 3, ODST and Reach. I think they either should have (1) made the Noob Combo harder to pull off, (2) increased the amount of damage (some) other weapons do to Elites, or (3) strengthened the player's shields slightly. This would return some of the variety and replayability we treasure in the original Halo's gameplay.

Did anyone else feel this way when they tackled Legendary on the Halo sequels? Legendary wasn't the perfect mix of challenge and fun anymore - it was just a torturous exercise in trial and error.

What else do you miss about Halo:CE's Legendary? (Besides Sergeant Johnson's tender moment with that Elite.)

  • 12.21.2010 9:48 AM PDT

I am The Sapphire Knight

The only campaign that seemed to require the noob combo for most encounters was Halo 2.

I had no problems completing 3, ODST, or Reach with whatever weapons I was given at the start of the level.

Halo 2 legendary was really irritating, the only way you could move forward was trial and error or just moving slowly forward with ridiculous amount of caution.

  • 12.21.2010 11:15 AM PDT

Halo: CE's Legendary was fun to do. Didn't require a plasma pistol at all. Of course I treasured each Sniper shot but that was only really towards the end, only to find the Sniper doesn't work on the Flood....

  • 12.21.2010 11:41 AM PDT

I miss the weapons being effective, and enemies not being able to kill you with 6 shots of any weapon.

Seriously, what was the point of that? They didn't make the AI more aggressive or intelligent. They just made them do a huge amount more damage in Halo 2 and onwards. In CE they were more aggressive, more used more tactics, and shot much faster with a little more damage. It's stupid. They intentionally made it so the player has no capacity to fight in the open whatsoever.

  • 12.21.2010 10:53 PM PDT

I knew I had started playing CE too much when I was able to take on a red or blue elite mano Y mano with nothing more than the AR and a few whacks with the gun butt. Legendary only.
MC is a super soldier. He can destroy his strongest enemies with the lowly assault rifle and his skills.
Trying that on the other games will get you dead in a hurry.

  • 12.22.2010 10:44 AM PDT
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I could not agree more with y'all. My play is limited to CE and H2, but I could see the handwriting on the wall with 2 (never bought a 360 since I heard so very few positive things about 3's campaign and that is all I play).

With H2, you are so limited in what you can get use in certain situations, and many of the weapons are very limited in their range of effectiveness. It does become boring after a time, since you feel like you have to limit yourself to what you know works to make any progress.

I have been able to do PoA through AotCR, legendary, with grenades and melee only (that was a serious -blam!-!), I would never even contemplate that on H2. Other than the skulls, you ability to really experiment with the GAMEPLAY, not tricks and glitches, is almost non-existent. Yes, I do find it very cool to have a perch high up off the ground with Sputnik, to be able to pick off enemies from wierd positions, but that is not nearly the same as what you can do in CE in changing things up.

I have a feeling that CE was made for a more mature player. Once they realized that their largest market was younger, they had to make the games more straightforward and geared towards a lower thinker. I cannot speak from experience, but what I read in the forums seems to indicate that the average age of people in Matchmaking is alot lower than those of us who relish campaign play.

I am almost 50, I will be playing Halo till I am dead. Nuff said.

  • 12.23.2010 8:53 AM PDT
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I feel you, womy; will guarantee I'm closer to your age than anyone else here. (Unless Grump is dropping in on us...) I say it's worth picking up a 360 to do some H-3 and beyond. My own focus has been Mythic Legendary timed runs (Rambo style), and it's been a blast. Plus, you've got the saved film to look over and evaluate. Will agree that the game has changed a lot, but I think (and this may be the exact same thing as becoming a younger person's game) Halo has become a multiplayer-focused affair. Is all about quick kills and win/lose situations instead of the strategy of CE. But, that might be a natural evolution for players who've seen & done it all. Whatever the case, don't rob yourself of the greatest gaming experience ever. 3, ODST & Reach still eclipse their contemporaries in every way. Am over 35 and am Reaching almost every day. Nuff said.

  • 12.23.2010 6:38 PM PDT

Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.
Back.. and to the left.

Halo Combat Evolved has a very challenging campaign, its a good thing. I also liked how a lot of it was pretty much free roam.

  • 02.17.2011 4:57 PM PDT