Poll of the Day > The covenant AI in Halo: CE is rather engaging

(+) Yeah! (+)

Idk if it's emergent properties or outright scripted - but when I had active camo so I could watch the enemies a line of grunts actually formed a breach and clear stack on a doorway, and were sorted by rank, with an elite providing overwatch from a distance.

Every time I round a corner and shoot regular enemies in games they're relatively static, but it real feels like the enemy AI is using, IDK, teamwork or something to help their chances.

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Thats how its supposed to be Lokarin. I've seen the bastards split up and search like a unit, I've seen them block exits and do retreating fire & actually pull it off stalling me.

I got killed by a elite that flanked me & the setup for it was so clean I couldn't get mad about it (my dumbarse got complacent)

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yeah, halo 1s enemy AI is still really fucking good. I still think the elites in halo reach are the smartest AI enemies in any shooter

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In the collection you can press Select to instantly switch between original halo and anniversary graphics... and it's like INSTANT, cool

Also, I don't remember Halo original looking like late gen N64 graphics... lulz hindsight

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Lokarin posted...

Also, I don't remember Halo original looking like late gen N64 graphics... lulz hindsight

It looked like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts
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something I don't get about the plot though, although it may be explained in the sequels.

If Halo is a weapon to destroy most life in the galaxy to stop the spread of the flood... umm, what's wrong with the flood at that point? I mean; that's like killing someone to prevent them getting murdered... no?

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Keep playing & you'll see why they are adamant on slowing The Flood. Keep your head down & Cortana safe. :P

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Lokarin posted...

If Halo is a weapon to destroy most life in the galaxy to stop the spread of the flood... umm, what's wrong with the flood at that point? I mean; that's like killing someone to prevent them getting murdered... no?

Sapient life. It doesn't kill lower lifeforms.

If you kill everything the Flood feed on now, and thus starve the Flood into extinction, then future species will evolve and thrive and need never fear the Flood. But if you let the Flood spread across the entire galaxy unchecked, and do nothing to stop it, it basically leaves all life doomed forever.

Also, the original plan the Forerunners had was to hide away while the Halos fired and then pop back out to repopulate the universe, and they were actually trying to archive various species in Shield Worlds and in The Ark, but shit went wrong (at least partly because they were betrayed by their own AI, and partly because they were having political disagreements right up to the very end), and things didn't quite work out the way they'd intended.

It's also worth remembering that the plot of the original games and the plot of the games now are technically different, because 343's version of the story is different from what Bungie originally intended. So the reasons for why certain things turned out the way they did is kind of different based on whether or not you're talking about 343's current version of the story, or the story Bungie had in mind when they were actually writing the original games.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

So the reasons for why certain things turned out the way they did is kind of different based on whether or not you're talking about 343's current version of the story, or the story Bungie had in mind when they were actually writing the original games.

I have no idea, I pretty much am playing Halo for the first time (for the most part)

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Sapient life. It doesn't kill lower lifeforms.

If you kill everything the Flood feed on now, and thus starve the Flood into extinction, then future species will evolve and thrive and need never fear the Flood. But if you let the Flood spread across the entire galaxy unchecked, and do nothing to stop it, it basically leaves all life doomed forever.

Also, the original plan the Forerunners had was to hide away while the Halos fired and then pop back out to repopulate the universe, and they were actually trying to archive various species in Shield Worlds and in The Ark, but shit went wrong (at least partly because they were betrayed by their own AI, and partly because they were having political disagreements right up to the very end), and things didn't quite work out the way they'd intended.

It's also worth remembering that the plot of the original games and the plot of the games now are technically different, because 343's version of the story is different from what Bungie originally intended. So the reasons for why certain things turned out the way they did is kind of different based on whether or not you're talking about 343's current version of the story, or the story Bungie had in mind when they were actually writing the original games.

SPOILERS

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also since the plan is starvation, my scenario still stands - the non-sapient life would still get to go on

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

yeah, halo 1s enemy AI is still really fucking good. I still think the elites in halo reach are the smartest AI enemies in any shooter

Halo 1's AI was kinda revolutionary at the time.
Also I've always thought that the AI in Reach kinda cheated.
Try aiming a sniper rifle at them on Legendary and they WILL know you're aiming at them.
It's uncanny levels of screen-looking lol
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LeetCheet posted...

Halo 1's AI was kinda revolutionary at the time.
Also I've always thought that the AI in Reach kinda cheated.
Try aiming a sniper rifle at them on Legendary and they WILL know you're aiming at them.
It's uncanny levels of screen-looking lol

That's just bad gameplay. There's no way they could know.
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Lokarin posted...

In the collection you can press Select to instantly switch between original halo and anniversary graphics... and it's like INSTANT, cool

Also, I don't remember Halo original looking like late gen N64 graphics... lulz hindsight

That's because it didn't, I highly advise everyone to watch this if they haven't.

https://youtu.be/M6nZPrMSu0w

Cruddy_horse posted...

That's because it didn't, I highly advise everyone to watch this if they haven't.

https://youtu.be/M6nZPrMSu0w

Wow I never noticed all that but that's probably because I never switch to the old graphics for more than a few seconds. That's a real shame though

In the collection, the Halo theme in the menu.... the choir part sounds a little too much like Hank Hill

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Lokarin posted...

Also, I don't remember Halo original looking like late gen N64 graphics... lulz hindsight

Anniversary is based on the Gearbox PC port of the game which downgraded a lot of the visual effects.

LeetCheet posted...

Also I've always thought that the AI in Reach kinda cheated.
Try aiming a sniper rifle at them on Legendary and they WILL know you're aiming at them.
It's uncanny levels of screen-looking lol

Elites in Halo 1 do the same if they're in a combat state but not actively fighting anyone. They start strafing the moment your reticle is on them. You can see it near the end of Two Betrayals.

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ZeldaMutant posted...

Anniversary is based on the Gearbox PC port of the game which downgraded a lot of the visual effects.

yep. 343i is the worst major game developer in the business.

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

yeah, halo 1s enemy AI is still really fucking good. I still think the elites in halo reach are the smartest AI enemies in any shooter

go fight a hunter in the division

you might as well be playing against another person for how good it is

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helIy posted...

division

no thanks

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blackhrt posted...

SPOILERS

Arguably, none of that actually matters for the plot of the games themselves. Most of it isn't even mentioned in the games at all.
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Lokarin posted...

also since the plan is starvation, my scenario still stands - the non-sapient life would still get to go on

If you leave the Flood alone, they effectively eat all of the sapient life in the universe, and infect pretty much any species that eventually becomes sapient. In essence, the Flood become both the dominant and only race in the entire galaxy (and potentially other galaxies as well, if they choose to spread), and no other race will ever evolve, period.

If you kill the Flood now, then any and every race that will eventually evolve to sapience in the future will live in a galaxy free of the Flood, and will be able to choose their own destiny.

So the Forerunner answer was basically "Well, we're doomed either way, and so is any other sapient life still alive now, but if we all mass suicide now, then countless races not yet born will be saved." And because the Forerunner philosophy was one of obligation to the lesser races, they saw the choice as acceptable.

Of course, all of this is stupidly subverted because the Forerunners kept samples of the Flood on the Halos, so one mistake is all it takes to start the entire crisis over again.
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@Cruddy_horse
The youtuber mentions modders trying to fix it. How close did they get?

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Yeah, I did that SPOILERS just in case for the moderators.

@LeetCheet

Halo 1's AI was kinda revolutionary at the time.
Also I've always thought that the AI in Reach kinda cheated.
Try aiming a sniper rifle at them on Legendary and they WILL know you're aiming at them.
It's uncanny levels of screen-looking lol

[Covenant] an advanced alien race made up of several species that have several advanced resources and technologies that surpass the human technology by miles. Of course it will "seem" like theyre cheating. haha

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Just finished Halo 2...

the AI was very much LESS interesting, more inline with other campaign shooters.

I met Gravemind and didn't finish the fight, so overall it technically was a sucky game - hopefully Halo 3 and/or Halo 3 ODST (which IDK if is DLC or just a remastering) will be better.

Technically I could play Reach now, but not sure when it fits in the release schedule... probably after Halo 5, right?

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blackhrt posted...

Yeah, I did that SPOILERS just in case for the moderators.

What?

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blackhrt posted...

Yeah, I did that SPOILERS just in case for the moderators.

@LeetCheet

Halo 1's AI was kinda revolutionary at the time.
Also I've always thought that the AI in Reach kinda cheated.
Try aiming a sniper rifle at them on Legendary and they WILL know you're aiming at them.
It's uncanny levels of screen-looking lol

[Covenant] an advanced alien race made up of several species that have several advanced resources and technologies that surpass the human technology by miles. Of course it will "seem" like theyre cheating. haha

I guess that makes sense lol
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Also, why can't halo crawl?

...

:b

ok, mainly why is toggle-crouch not the default option - ain't nobody gunna hold down L3

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I actually think hold-crouch is ideal for halo. You rarely want to be crouching for more than a second or so and it makes using it for jumping a lot easier.

He can't crawl because the suit weighs an assload. It's supposedly really hard from them to even shrug. I mean, I'm pretty sure he crawls in cutscenes, but thats probably their reasoning (and just cause it's annoying to shoot prone enemies). Then again this is a person that can flip a 100+ ton tank with one hand but can't hold a fucking smg straight. Like realistically if he has even the slightest issue holding the smg straight, it should rip off the arms of any of the marines/ODST that you see using them.

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Kinda crazy how F.E.A.R. exploded onto the map in 2005 and showed how amazing AI could be, and yet combat AI in FPS games seems to have barely moved since then.

Like, they would grenade you to flush you out, call out to each other to where you were, flank you, and stick out just the gun from behind a wall and fire at you. Hell, I would try and outlast the AI at some points, aiming my gun to where an enemy was hiding, thinking the AI would eventually cause it to peak out. I would usually blink first and get impatient, or the AI would leave from the other side of the wall.

Damn, that game was good.

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Lokarin posted...

I met Gravemind and didn't finish the fight, so overall it technically was a sucky game - hopefully Halo 3 and/or Halo 3 ODST (which IDK if is DLC or just a remastering) will be better.

Out of the Bungie games, Halo 2's Campaign is the weakest imo.

As for ODST, it's a standalone game. It originally started as a DLC for Halo 3, but eventually it became slightly bigger than that. It's story and setting is probably the most "unique" of the Bungie games, plus the soundtrack is great.

All of them are incorporated into the story though. I had heard dialogue ingame of course about odst, other spartan programs etc. & then seeing the game made it very interesting.
But I know there are some gamers out there that play shooting games in general where the story doesn't/hasn't impressed on them so they'll probably not go through all the halo games anyway. :P

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blackhrt posted...

All of them are incorporated into the story though. I had heard dialogue ingame of course about odst, other spartan programs etc. & then seeing the game made it very interesting.
But I know there are some gamers out there that play shooting games in general where the story doesn't/hasn't impressed on them so they'll probably not go through all the halo games anyway. :P

Sure, technically the story doesn't really matter to enjoy the game... I just thought the eponymous Halos was a silly concept since your 2 options are Kill everyone or Kill everyone

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YoukaiSlayer posted...

I actually think hold-crouch is ideal for halo.

Nah, gotta change that shit to toggle crouch in the settings ASAP. I think halo 1 is the only one without toggle crouch.

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Also, the halo rings index dna from all living creatures in the galaxy so they can repopulate all the planets they wiped out after the flood dies out. So its not kill everyone vs kill everyone, its kill everyone forever or kill everyone for a few thousand years

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Lokarin posted...

Sure, technically the story doesn't really matter to enjoy the game... I just thought the eponymous Halos was a silly concept since your 2 options are Kill everyone or Kill everyone

science fiction has to have some silliness though being fiction. :P
planets were being GLASSED. not blown up. (that still sounds so evil glassing a planet)
alien ships entering atmospheres while not completely destroying biological ecosystems
laser weapons/fusion weapons

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The first 6 levels of Halo:CE are still phenomenal
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MechaKirby posted...

The first 6 levels of Halo:CE are still phenomenal

I wonder if it was intentional design that the last 4 or whatever levels are just the previous 4 levels in reverse

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Also, Not sure if it's just the level design - but I weirdly found myself getting lost... A LOT, in a linear shooter (feels bad)

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Lokarin posted...

I just thought the eponymous Halos was a silly concept since your 2 options are Kill everyone or Kill everyone

Because you don't really understand the choice. It's more "kill everything now, but save the future" versus "allow everything ever to be corrupted forever".

It's a mass version of the "fate worse than death" trope combined with self-sacrifice. It's fairly common in a lot of fictional contexts. Like having to burn a city to keep a plague from spreading, or killing someone to prevent them from being possessed by evil. Halo's just on a much larger scale.

In one outcome, everyone dies, but the Flood is (theoretically) destroyed forever, and new life can potentially evolve in the future. In the other outcome, the Flood consumes everything and the entire galaxy (if not universe) becomes giant zombie horde which no one can survive. It's not really a hard choice to make.
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Halo 1 ai is the most fun ai I've ever played against. It's challenging, engaging, and sometimes surprising. It doesn't have to be "realistic" since they are aliens.
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ultra magnus13 posted...

Halo 1 ai is the most fun ai I've ever played against. It's challenging, engaging, and sometimes surprising. It doesn't have to be "realistic" since they are aliens.

I agree. The AI isn't so smart that it will cheat and auto-win, but it's very satisfying to play against due to the way they seem to teamwork

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Killzone 2 and 3 on Elite had pretty damn good AI

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Lokarin posted...

Just finished Halo 2...

the AI was very much LESS interesting, more inline with other campaign shooters.

I met Gravemind and didn't finish the fight, so overall it technically was a sucky game

I wonder what the reason for this is? Why wouldnt they just use the same AI programming? Or at least an updated one? Not an inferior one

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ZBug_ posted...

I wonder what the reason for this is? Why wouldnt they just use the same AI programming? Or at least an updated one? Not an inferior one

That is pretty much Halo 2 in a nutshell. It's inferior to Halo 1 in almost every way. Gameplay, ai, the graphics have aged worse etc.
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ultra magnus13 posted...

That is pretty much Halo 2 in a nutshell. It's inferior to Halo 1 in almost every way. Gameplay, ai, the graphics have aged worse etc.

And the smg. Fuck the smg. Trash gun. What lunatics idea was it to have everyone start with a single smg in multiplayer. Assault rifle was better in every way although clearly an all range weapon like battle rifle or halo 1 pistol makes more sense. For what it's worth, I do think halo 2 multiplayer in general was better and ivory tower and lockout are IMO the best fps maps period.

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Also, not for nothing... the carbine is like 3x longer than the rifle.

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just spent the last hour and a half trying to do the Assault on the Control Room bridge drop...

I got it a couple times manually, but I'm trying to find a way to do it reliably by doing stuff like aligning scene elements with hud elements so that the trick can be done EVERY time

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Lokarin posted...

just spent the last hour and a half trying to do the Assault on the Control Room bridge drop...

I got it a couple times manually, but I'm trying to find a way to do it reliably by doing stuff like aligning scene elements with hud elements so that the trick can be done EVERY time

Weird I've never had a hard time doing that but I've been playing for years

Is Player 2 in CE a girl? There's a Spartan pod on the second floor that has a name take some something like ERIN-046 (I'd have to play again to check again)

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