Current Events > Playing the Halo series for the first time (Master Chief Collection)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not much of (or at all) an FPS guy, but I've always wanted to play it, and I've seen some people play it before. I know there's some collectibles, but based on the first two levels, I feel like it'd be a pain to try and find them. I'm on Heroic, which I read is pretty much the intended difficulty by the devs. I was considering going Normal, cause again, I'm not an FPS guy, but it doesn't seem to bad at the moment.

I've mostly died just from running into a grenade, or other dumb things, rather than by being overwhelmed. Side note, I hate how the Warthog controls.

Half the fun of the warthog is talking shit to your friends when they flip the thing in co-op.

I would do Normal if you are in it more for the story than a challenge. Heroic is fairly hard on a first time play through especially if you aren't a Halo regular.

I always loved the vehicle controls in Halo, they felt so simple and intuitive to me lol but Halo was my first FPS and I have been playing it since it came out.

Jabodie posted...

Half the fun of the warthog is talking shit to your friends when they flip the thing in co-op.

More than flip, I just kept feeling like I was hitting walls over and over.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


My issue is that it feels when trying to turn forward, I have to move the camera, but reverse turns work fine with the stick.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

I would do Normal if you are in it more for the story than a challenge. Heroic is fairly hard on a first time play through especially if you aren't a Halo regular.

Unless there's a massive difficulty spike, I think I'll try sticking with Heroic for now. I'm not having a ton of trouble aiming or anything, and the regenerating shield makes it easy to disengage most of the time.

If you have beaten Truth and Reconciliation on Heroic, the 3rd mission where you board the Covenant ship, then you should be fine w/ the rest of the game.

The collectibles are mostly a secret challenge thing, just the a single skull in most levels. Not at all required for "100%" or anything.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

If you have beaten Truth and Reconciliation on Heroic, the 3rd mission where you board the Covenant ship, then you should be fine w/ the rest of the game.

Guess we'll see, I was taking a break, but'll probably get back into it soon.

Guide posted...

The collectibles are mostly a secret challenge thing, just the a single skull in most levels. Not at all required for "100%" or anything.

Yeah I looked it up, skulls are unlocked, but you can collect them anyway. Ive missed 2/3 of the crucibles so far though.

And I see why it was mentioned Truth and Reconciliation was the clincher, pretty rough.

Silent Cartographer was much less frustrating, though I still died a good bit. Mostly just got lost.

I'm on 343 Guilty Spark, I hate this level.

Cheater87 posted...

I'm on 343 Guilty Spark, I hate this level.

Incorrect.

Silent Cartographer was such a fun mission

I remember playing it like a thousand times because all I had on my Xbox was a demo disc and the Halo demo was just that level

Perfect showcase for the game.

Honestly, if you aren't a FPS guy, and aren't playing co-op, you might enjoy it more on normal especially for later levels. I seem to remember getting picked apart hard on Halo 3 on Heroic solo, and I played a lot of the first two.

The levels are all samey and boring, but it's still great fun anyway.

Assault on the Control Room felt super long, though there were other factors that made it go even longer for me. It felt nice to use the Scorpion. Its pretty enjoyable to try and force vehicles inside.

PerseusRad posted...

Assault on the Control Room felt super long, though there were other factors that made it go even longer for me. It felt nice to use the Scorpion. Its pretty enjoyable to try and force vehicles inside.

I think it is the longest mission in the game, although a couple others are about as long.

I loved playing through the campaign back in the day. But yeah, part of the fun was being able to play it splitscreen with a friend.

And I hope you get used to the driving controls because that's how it all be in all of the Halo games lol

vehicle controls are way better starting with halo 2. the warthog in halo 1 is really bad

So far its pretty much only the Warthog Ive had issue with, just super slippery.

Weezy_Tha_Don posted...

vehicle controls are way better starting with halo 2. the warthog in halo 1 is really bad

Is it? It's been so long since I've played them. Can't remember if there was a noticeable difference. I just know that the control scheme is always that it goes where the camera is facing, which is something my friend always complained about lol.

343 Guilty Spark was pretty easy, probably the easiest since the first level. Once again, main issue for me was getting lost, both entering and leaving. The shotgun felt nice, killing the Flood in one shot when so many other things take a million shots was gratifying.

Next level is the Library, Ive heard bad things about this one.

The Library wasnt too bad. I had heard there were a good amount of infinite waves, but there were a lot less than I expected. It started off bad because I was trying to rush, thinking most of the level would keep spawning enemies. Slowing down made it decidedly easier. The last checkpoint before the end was a bit annoying, the enemies actually did keep spawning, and you were vulnerable running towards the Index. Still havent seen any crucible since the one in level 2. Only found one skull through chance.

PerseusRad posted...

Silent Cartographer was much less frustrating, though I still died a good bit. Mostly just got lost.

Getting lost on silent cartographer as a kid was the reason I first came to GameFAQs looking for walkthroughs... Hence my username. Nostalgic memories

PerseusRad posted...

The Library wasnt too bad. I had heard there were a good amount of infinite waves, but there were a lot less than I expected. It started off bad because I was trying to rush, thinking most of the level would keep spawning enemies. Slowing down made it decidedly easier. The last checkpoint before the end was a bit annoying, the enemies actually did keep spawning, and you were vulnerable running towards the Index. Still havent seen any crucible since the one in level 2. Only found one skull through chance.

A lot of the hate comes from the fact the level design is very repetitive. In fact from there on out it's just rehashed earlier levels, no new environmens/settings. Though the story doesn't lose any steam.

Two Betrayals felt super long as well, and I didnt have any divided attention.

Keyes was nice and short. Took me a while to realize I had to jump into the green, the way Cortana was speaking at first made me dubious.

Two Betrayals and Assault on the Control Room are the two longest levels, and they are pretty much the same level except in reverse.

The Maw is a great final level

Halo 3 is peak Halo imo

I love the Halo series. Such a great balanced FPS game in all aspects of a FPS. Great times. I wish they made more FPS like it now a days.

PerseusRad posted...

The Library wasnt too bad. I had heard there were a good amount of infinite waves, but there were a lot less than I expected. It started off bad because I was trying to rush, thinking most of the level would keep spawning enemies. Slowing down made it decidedly easier. The last checkpoint before the end was a bit annoying, the enemies actually did keep spawning, and you were vulnerable running towards the Index. Still havent seen any crucible since the one in level 2. Only found one skull through chance.

currently stuck on the library on my LASO run. shits so hard

Beat the game. Overall, Id say its pretty good, and I can see why some people Ive seen wouldve been really into it when they were younger. Ive seen some people who talk about it like they used to be obsessed. I felt a little bad when posting in this topic, my descriptions were often pretty sparse, I think because I dont have any reference for comparison, due to my previously mentioned lack of FPS experience. Whether it felt good or bad was a bit hard to say. Never really felt like I didnt hit what I was aiming at, if that means anything.

Storywise, it felt a bit sparse, but still managed to have some good things. The Flood reveal was pretty nice, though I did know about them before. If theres any disappointment, its that like half of the story seems to be locked behind terminals that you just might not find, or even think are interactable. I believe I only found 2, one in level 2, and one in the last level. Im not exactly possessed to go through all the levels again, even on Easy. Should I just look them up on YouTube?

Speaking of Easy mode, I did stick with Heroic the whole time. I can see why people said I probably should have just played Normal. Id agree that it wouldve been the smarter play. Even if we dont include lack of FPS experience, the somewhat confusing level progression at times would have felt less aggravating if it werent so punishing. However, despite this, Ill probably be playing Halo 2 on Heroic as well. Stubbornness, I suppose. After 2, the order is 3 -> ODST -> Reach -> 4, right?

I played all of them back in the day and they never made a lasting impression on me. I decided to replay them with the Master Chef colection recently as well and I could only get through the first two. Truly boring slogs of games. The multiplayer is rightfully well remembered but the campaigns are all the same game and every level is the same thing over and over again. And the controls are poop.

First chapter of Halo 2 was much harder than the first in CE >_>

First level of Halo 2 is notoriously hard, one of the toughest in the game, especially on Legendary.

Remember Halo: CE is 20+ years old and was one of the original games for the Xbox, it revolutionized the fps genre. Still holds up to today, but it is lacking in story/cutscenes. You can tell they tried to squeeze as much as they could but were limited by their scope and the new hardware. Still insane they were able to build massive open ended levels like Silent Cartographer and Halo, as well as massive battles between 3 and 4 different enemy factions w/ vehicles in Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals.

Halo 2 looks a lot better and has a lot more story, but that game was also rushed like hell by Microsoft to meet a release deadline. Still a great story and game though.

Outskirts was alright. Felt like I had more opportunity to mess with new mechanics a bit. Beam Rifle is cool, swapping guns with NPCs. Noticed I could either drive or let the NPCs drive, though I ended up taking a Ghost.

If you didn't learn in Halo CE, it is pretty crucial in Halo 2 to use the Plasma Pistol and BR/Carbine combo. Fully charged PP shot to get rid of Elite shields and then a quick head shot w/ the BR. It is one of the best weapon combos in all the Halo games, but in Halo 2 it is especially OP.

Vehicle hijacking in Halo 2 and 3 is also very OP, I find it a lot easier to sneak up on enemy tanks and just board them rather than shoot a million bullets at them if you don't have a rocket launcher. And don't forget rocket launchers can now lock onto enemy vehicles in Halo 2, makes it way easier to deal w/ Banshees.

Did not like the three wraiths + enemy ship part. I had a rocket launcher with only two rockets, so it was a tedious process. Then I tried to overcomplicate the scarab part by bringing the Ghost. That kept getting me killed, so I just did it the right way.

Apparently for the first time in any level so far, I beat the par score, on Metropolis.

Arbiter was a bit annoying, mostly the earlier section in the middle of the huge room when I found it hard to tell who was on my side, and thus who was shooting at me. Interesting that it was more of a sneaking missing, or at least things were easier when I did it that way. Ive noticed these levels are going a lot more smoothly into than next one, as opposed to CE.

I loved Halo 2's dual story, and I still say Halo 3 is peak Halo.

Definitely feel the pacing of the levels in this game is much better. I think theres charm to the slightly more open levels in CE, but it was hard to appreciate them as much on Heroic. I feel the more brisk pace of 2 works better for this difficulty.

The clone boss fight in The Oracle was pretty annoying, they kept ripping through me. Feels like it would be an insane pain on Legendary.

Delta Halo was fine, hardest part was probably the beginning bit, then the open jungle when the flying things came out. Ended up beating the par score on this one as well. I dont have scoring turned on or anything, so I cant keep track.

Regret was... annoying. The end was particularly difficult, as I didnt realize only punches were doing damage. Cortana didnt say anything until quite a few runs in, and even then I missed it. There was a bit with some Banshees and flying Elites that was annoying as well.

Sacred Icon was super tedious with the 'not knowing where to go' bits.

Got lost a bit in Quarantine Zone as well, not as bad as Sacred Icon though. Cool to see Arbiter and the mainline group interact a bit, even for a short time.

I feel like I remember most of the Halo 2 levels being way harder on legendary than on heroic. Also Halo 2 was my fav game in the series. The story really ramps up right at the end of Quarantine Zone.

Ending bit of Gravemind was :(. Liked the cutscene where one of the prophets bit it though.

Beat the 13th level, the ending part was a bit aggravating, it gave me an awkward checkpoint. If Id known how close I was to finishing the level, I probably wouldve just rushed it. So it goes. Didnt get an achievement for it.

Do you plan on doing Reach or ODST?