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This topic has moved here: Subject: Actual constructive criticism of Halo 4 trailer
  • Subject: Actual constructive criticism of Halo 4 trailer
Subject: Actual constructive criticism of Halo 4 trailer

I enjoyed the wakeup sequence. The whole transition from cryo-sleep to full consciousness was epic, as was the starting "I need you" dialogue (great continuity).

The thrusters were for 0g manueverability, built-in to the suit; a cryo chamber is not an assembly line, so Chief's always had them. Accept it.

His wicked-fast reflexes and movement in-game were amazing. I'm glad Chief's finally got the abilities of a SPARTAN, so hopefully that'll translate into gameplay.

The only thing that confuses me is that the frigate is breaking up. Maybe it's hitting atmosphere of the planet, but Cortana usually has a better grip on things so her freaking out was a little odd.

The trailer was amazing.

That being said, I can only hope to God that the actual game follows suit. Bungie won't be heading it, so I'm wondering if the storytelling will be a little lackluster, but hopefully 343 Studios will take care with such a precious legacy.


  • 06.06.2011 12:01 PM PDT

The change in his armor has NOTHING to do with canon, and everything to do with artistic license.


Anyone who thinks otherwise is daft.


ALso, what could we possibly be fighting for 3 more games?

We finished the fights.


Something random and new just seems like a cop out. Like we want to make money off 3 more halo games so instead of writing a proper epilogue, we're going to make up a new enemy.


Only time will tell.

[Edited on 06.06.2011 12:04 PM PDT]

  • 06.06.2011 12:02 PM PDT


Posted by: Juan Teran
I don't get why everyone is angry about the pacing in the trailer. I agree that the jetpack appearing out of nowhere and all the explosions... well, we've never seen that in a Bungie trailer.

But that being said, it's not like they can reveal anything yet. As far as we know, the Chief is stranded in space, and that's it. Now we know that he wakes up in hostile Forerunner (I think) territory. All they can reveal, all we must know for now.

It was an awesome trailer.


It's the Bungie fanboys, this trailer gave them a heart attack over the f-ing fact that 343 decided to upgrade Master Chief.

  • 06.06.2011 12:04 PM PDT

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Posted by: Mezalyth
I enjoyed the wakeup sequence. The whole transition from cryo-sleep to full consciousness was epic, as was the starting "I need you" dialogue (great continuity).

The thrusters were for 0g manueverability, built-in to the suit; a cryo chamber is not an assembly line, so Chief's always had them. Accept it.

His wicked-fast reflexes and movement in-game were amazing. I'm glad Chief's finally got the abilities of a SPARTAN, so hopefully that'll translate into gameplay.

The only thing that confuses me is that the frigate is breaking up. Maybe it's hitting atmosphere of the planet, but Cortana usually has a better grip on things so her freaking out was a little odd.

The trailer was amazing.

That being said, I can only hope to God that the actual game follows suit. Bungie won't be heading it, so I'm wondering if the storytelling will be a little lackluster, but hopefully 343 Studios will take care with such a precious legacy.


cortana is great, but there's only so much you can do with a crippled back end of a ship, a ship that in the scheme of things even whole is not a very big threat to anything matching it size.

  • 06.06.2011 12:05 PM PDT

[Enter extremely funny joke here]


Posted by: flamedude
I like the look, I like the graphics, but I dislike the pacing. It made no sense. It didnt feel like a Bungie trailer, which always tend to have a sense of grand drama and emotion, which is something that defines Halo games. I'm hoping this was just a quick trailer by 343, and not a true reflection of Halo 4. Anniversary looks great, so I am still quietly hopeful.


Amen to that.

I actually thought the pacing was pretty good. As a teaser for a brand new Halo story (note: Halo Reach wasn't brand new - we had known what had happened for years and as such the trailer was simply realising those thoughts into trailer form) it's job is to surprise the audience, make them think "he's back!", make the story look massive, action-packed, adventurous, bad-ass and exciting. It doesn't need to be as much of a slow, daunting trailer like Reach's was.

You make a very good point, and I could agree with you. Still, something about the pacing seemed a bit off. At least it didn't have the generic "epic music" that seems to define bland epicness these days (not a paradox).

  • 06.06.2011 12:06 PM PDT

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Posted by: Mezalyth
The only thing that confuses me is that the frigate is breaking up. Maybe it's hitting atmosphere of the planet, but Cortana usually has a better grip on things so her freaking out was a little odd.



I doubt that Cortana could control an already critically damaged ship, so it seems fairly reasonable for her to be freaked out considering that her only way off the sinking ship was if the Chief woke up and picked her up.

  • 06.06.2011 12:07 PM PDT
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"Time was your ally human. But now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners....have returned. And this tomb... is now yours". - The Didact

Seems like the legendary planet opens itself so the damn enters it.

I wonder what will happen there...

  • 06.06.2011 12:08 PM PDT

Stupid ass washing machine...

Posted by: Mezalyth
His wicked-fast reflexes and movement in-game were amazing. I'm glad Chief's finally got the abilities of a SPARTAN, so hopefully that'll translate into gameplay.

...

The only thing that confuses me is that the frigate is breaking up. Maybe it's hitting atmosphere of the planet, but Cortana usually has a better grip on things so her freaking out was a little odd.


Totally agree with these points you made. I always felt so sluggish when moving in the other Halo games, and that disappointed me. In the books, the enhancements made to SPARTAN-IIs are incredible, but in-game they'e not even mentioned, and hardly seen. In this tiny trailer alone, that issue has been totally fixed and makes me very happy.

As for Cortana 'freaking out', the reason for this is clear. As a Smart-AI, she has an average lifespan of 7 years before her 'mental' state deteriorates and she turns 'rampant'. Freaking out is all a part of rampancy.

Also, she did have an enormously traumatic encounter with the Gravemind between Halo 2 and 3, remember? I'd recommend reading Karen Traviss' contribution to Halo: Evolutions for more on that! ;)

  • 06.06.2011 12:09 PM PDT

Posted by: StealthSlasher2

I doubt that Cortana could control an already critically damaged ship, so it seems fairly reasonable for her to be freaked out considering that her only way off the sinking ship was if the Chief woke up and picked her up.


Good point. I suppose the back-half of a mere frigate wouldn't equate to a very good escape-pod.

Posted by: TwiggyShip

As for Cortana 'freaking out', the reason for this is clear. As a Smart-AI, she has an average lifespan of 7 years before her 'mental' state deteriorates and she turns 'rampant'. Freaking out is all a part of rampancy.

Also, she did have an enormously traumatic encounter with the Gravemind between Halo 2 and 3, remember?


True, but she did have a lot more stability when she was helping the Chief and Arbiter off a self-destructing Halo construct in a Warthog. It was just a strange thing I noticed, and now that I think about it, her panic could have been just to wake up John from cryo as Stealth said.

On the topic of rampancy, since this new planet/construct is thought to be Forerunner, and an AI can only hold so much information before mental decay and breakdown, would interaction with any new Forerunner technology be the final nudge into full rampancy?

  • 06.06.2011 12:20 PM PDT


Posted by: A Puzzled Mind

Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
It seemed... to fast paced for me.

Like after the wake up, everything was a blur until Chief stopped moving outside the ship.


To be honest, he's a -blam!- supersoldier with extreme augmentations. The way he acts instantly and moves so powerfully in this trailer seems to be more in tune with canon-book abilities.

This makes me happy.


Yes, perhaps. But it moved so fast I hardly could tell exactly what he was doing.

  • 06.06.2011 12:27 PM PDT

Posted by: CRU5H1NAT0R
I have a few ideas about where the jetpack came from.

Perhaps Cortana was modifying Chief's armour when he was in cryo, or this is not the first time Chief has awoken from cryo since the incident on the Ark.


As for your comments on the pacing and comparing it to the Reach teaser. I thought the Reach teaser was great and the atmosphere it created was perfect for the setting. The problem was that the actual campaign of Reach did not carry that atmosphere very well, in my opinion. A change in teaser atmosphere could mean a better campaign in that respect.


It is an emergency thruster pack i think for zero-gravity works.

  • 06.06.2011 12:30 PM PDT

Interestingly enough, when you migrate a gamertag from one email to another, your old Bnet account doesn't. Sigh.

Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
Yes, perhaps. But it moved so fast I hardly could tell exactly what he was doing.


I'm fairly confident Chief's physical movements in the trailer are explainable and realistic, but they're much too fluid for me to be happy with them. Whatever happened to characterization through body movement?

The things that were really beyond the norm were his jetpack and pistol/grenade attachment (Cortana messing around while he's in cryo to prepare?) and the whole let's-blow-up-the-ship! deal. The most probable reasons for the ship blowing up are either an atmosphere or some sort of pull from the Forerunner construct.
This brings up more questions than it answers: if the Forerunner construct (Legendary Planet?) morphed into that big thing, is the atmosphere being sucked in with Chief? If there was no atmosphere, that means the Forerunners are using some sort of technology to pull the ship inwards, most likely towards some sort of portal a la the Earth Portal/Artifact.

[Edited on 06.06.2011 12:43 PM PDT]

  • 06.06.2011 12:42 PM PDT


Posted by: Diogenes The Cyn
Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
Yes, perhaps. But it moved so fast I hardly could tell exactly what he was doing.


I'm fairly confident Chief's physical movements in the trailer are explainable and realistic, but they're much too fluid for me to be happy with them. Whatever happened to characterization through body movement?

The things that were really beyond the norm were his jetpack and pistol/grenade attachment (Cortana messing around while he's in cryo to prepare?) and the whole let's-blow-up-the-ship! deal. The most probable reasons for the ship blowing up are either an atmosphere or some sort of pull from the Forerunner construct.
This brings up more questions than it answers: if the Forerunner construct (Legendary Planet?) morphed into that big thing, is the atmosphere being sucked in with Chief? If there was no atmosphere, that means the Forerunners are using some sort of technology to pull the ship inwards, most likely towards some sort of portal a la the Earth Portal/Artifact.


Well, I'd say it was the "explosions everywhere!" which really makes it appear to be moving to quickly.

  • 06.06.2011 12:49 PM PDT
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"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. " ~Gil Stern

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It was complete crap. Way too fast paced and the action sequence was stupid and something out of an anime. Which would be fine in an anime, but get that out of my Halo.

  • 06.06.2011 12:57 PM PDT

Many gave their lives so that we could live on. I intend to honor them by remembering them. Remember Cyborg. Remember John. Remember Noble.

I've got to say I would appreciate a bit of tension-building, mood-setting myself. That's what I always liked about Halo.

If it was never present, disregard my then-useless post.

  • 06.06.2011 1:05 PM PDT

Revenant? More like the WORThog!

On the whole "ship blowing up/floating towards the construct" thing, to me it looks like there is another ship that has attached to the Dawn, towing it.

  • 06.06.2011 1:53 PM PDT

From the trailer, I agree that the pacing was a little off, especially since even Johnson took almost 5 minutes to wake from Cryo, so John would take more than a few seconds IMO.
However, to see that the armour is more like the story gives me hope that the next one will be big and add a lot to the universe (without adding Skirmishers, which I found a little gimmicky). My thoughts on the big thing? Forerunner ship (with Flood {:D}) or possibly a Forerunner High Charity equivalent?
Either way I'm happy.

  • 06.06.2011 2:01 PM PDT

While I think the OP is absolutely right about the pacing, the trailer made me excited, expecially because it showed us that Halo is (hopefully) about to return to the narrative splendor of the original trilogy; Reach's gameplay was great, but the storyline was pure crap (and so were most of the characters), while Halo 4 promises to take back characters we love in an epic, meaningful story that looks in the distant past of the Halo universe.

  • 06.06.2011 2:02 PM PDT


Posted by: Tipaa
From the trailer, I agree that the pacing was a little off, especially since even Johnson took almost 5 minutes to wake from Cryo, so John would take more than a few seconds IMO.
However, to see that the armour is more like the story gives me hope that the next one will be big and add a lot to the universe (without adding Skirmishers, which I found a little gimmicky). My thoughts on the big thing? Forerunner ship (with Flood {:D}) or possibly a Forerunner High Charity equivalent?
Either way I'm happy.


The big thing is the planet from the Halo 3 legendary ending

  • 06.06.2011 2:02 PM PDT

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Bungie employees that worked on Halo 3 joined 343 for this project.
So, give or take, it might be very good.

  • 06.06.2011 2:05 PM PDT
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I'm a bit disappointed about the pacing of the trailer, something that is being echoed by many of you on here. I hope, like somebody has already mentioned, that this was just a thrown together teaser by 343 for E3 & that H4's story will not be just an all action Mw2-esque thing.

  • 06.06.2011 2:05 PM PDT

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Posted by: drummer0702
It was complete crap. Way too fast paced and the action sequence was stupid and something out of an anime. Which would be fine in an anime, but get that out of my Halo.

Not a very optimistic guy are ya?

  • 06.06.2011 2:05 PM PDT

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Posted by: doctor woot
how the hell did you manage to join the site before the internet existed
did you submit your application by mail

they are pulling the forerunner card.
the legendary ending to h3 showed some sort of forerunner planet or station, clearly foreshadowing some sort of forerunner involvement in the next installment. those damned flood should be lurking as always.
Im thinking, Space fights, sentinels, possibly actual castaway forerunner lifeforms? the obvious improvements of chief to make him more like the novel's character.
Halo 4: The Search for More Money

  • 06.06.2011 2:07 PM PDT
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It's not a jetpack, it's part of his armour, it was a thruster for zero G people !his back looks completely the same as every other Halo game, no jet pack there.

  • 06.06.2011 2:08 PM PDT
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Posted by: Wazooty
The change in his armor has NOTHING to do with canon, and everything to do with artistic license.


Anyone who thinks otherwise is daft.


ALso, what could we possibly be fighting for 3 more games?

We finished the fights.


Something random and new just seems like a cop out. Like we want to make money off 3 more halo games so instead of writing a proper epilogue, we're going to make up a new enemy.


Only time will tell.


I think it's quite possible that the covenant will return, as the main enemy. One way they could, and may well, tell that story is a breakdown in relations or a new (more aggressive) leader coming to power in the covenant - this is something that has happened in our own history (see ww1-2).

  • 06.06.2011 2:08 PM PDT