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 Halo 3: ODST, released in September 2009, is the first real "departure" from the main Halo formula. While still developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, this is the first Halo game that does not have the Master Chief as its protagonist, and also [spoiler alert] doesn't involve any Halos. We play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) known only as The Rookie, separated from his squad during the Covenant invasion of Earth. We must wander the eerily quiet, occupied city of New Mombasa and try to figure out what happened to the rest of the squad, and the top-secret mission they were supposed to be carrying out. A much more grounded and atmospheric experience than previous Halo games, Halo 3: ODST actually channels a film noir detective story vibe which works really, really well. The other major difference from previous Halo games is the lack of a PvP multiplayer. Halo 3: ODST actually shipped with a separate disk that contained Halo 3's multiplayer instead, as well as all of the DLC maps up to that date. That being said, it introduced a new co-operative PvE multiplayer called Firefight. Firefight is a wave defense mode where players must fight against increasingly difficult waves of enemies with a limited number of lives shared between the entire team. The goal of this mode is to survive for as long as possible while racking up high scores using kill streaks, special kills, and difficulty modifiers. As the titling would suggest, Halo 3: ODST (previously titled Halo 3: Recon) was originally planned as sort of an expansion pack. It was intended to be a smaller project to fill the time before the next major Halo release, but they ended up with enough content that Microsoft insisted on selling it as a stand-alone, full-price game.  01 - Prepare to Drop 02 - Tayari Plaza 03 - Uplift Reserve 04 - Kizingo Boulevard XX - Norvinsk Region (April Fools) 05 - ONI Alpha Site 06 - NMPD HQ 07 - Kikowani Station 08 - Data Hive XX - Sadie's Story (Audio Logs) 09 - Coastal Highway XX - Bonus Content  'Keep It Clean' Trailer 'The Life' Trailer FrenzyTheKillbot fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jun 5, 2022 |
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Mar 4, 2022 22:03
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 09:22 |
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I'm the weirdo who really enjoyed ODST. Just something about urban combat that really appeals to me in FPS games. Also all the talk of Meta makes me wish someone will make a VR mod for Halo.
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Mar 4, 2022 22:38
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It's me, I'm the inverted mouse psychopath. e: The Covenant species most likely to be able to read human languages is actually the Grunts, oddly enough! They use them for SIGINT a lot. Even in Halo 1 they spoke English because they were speaking English, not because of a translation program. Ablative fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Mar 4, 2022 |
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Mar 4, 2022 23:26
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ODST was a game that really disappointed me, personally. I felt there was a huge opportunity for a very different Halo experience playing as a regular human as opposed to John McJesus-117, and instead the Joe Schmoe of the setting plays and fights almost exactly like a Spartan. He's a little slower, and his guns are worse, and he has a visor instead of a flashlight, but it's a mostly by-the-numbers Halo experience. It's a good by-the-numbers experience, ODST is one of three entries in the Master Chief Collection I really enjoyed along with 3 and Reach, but it could have been something special and unique for the franchise, and I can't help but feel that it's a shame.
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Mar 4, 2022 23:57
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... I never noticed the signs were actually directions. I spent a bunch of time lost both times I played. I feel like such an idiot.
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Mar 5, 2022 00:12
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Cythereal posted:ODST was a game that really disappointed me, personally. I felt there was a huge opportunity for a very different Halo experience playing as a regular human as opposed to John McJesus-117, and instead the Joe Schmoe of the setting plays and fights almost exactly like a Spartan. He's a little slower, and his guns are worse, and he has a visor instead of a flashlight, but it's a mostly by-the-numbers Halo experience. It's a good by-the-numbers experience, ODST is one of three entries in the Master Chief Collection I really enjoyed along with 3 and Reach, but it could have been something special and unique for the franchise, and I can't help but feel that it's a shame. It felt like a hard sell not playing as the Master Chief EDIT: I forgot you play as the Arbiter in 2 Outpost22 fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Mar 5, 2022 |
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Mar 5, 2022 01:04
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Outpost22 posted:It felt like a hard sell not playing as the Master Chief One of the things I like most about Reach is that you're not playing as the Master Chief. I feel like everything that can be done with the character has been done. Turn the sacred cow into hamburger and move on.
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Mar 5, 2022 01:05
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Deformed Church posted:... Same. Just never noticed because I never saw a game in a setting like this where the city itself would point you to your objective. I have a waypoint and a map, I'll piece it together from there.
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Mar 5, 2022 03:56
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I'm sure she's probably still alive somwhere, but the spook stabbing the team in the back by lying to them about the mission, having poo poo go to hell because of that, and then immediately dying would also be on point.
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Mar 5, 2022 08:40
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The city AI using its signs to point your way is just an inspired game mechanic.
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Mar 5, 2022 14:42
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It's not his fault, obviously, but having what's -his-face being the face and voice model of the leader of the ODST team is very, very dated.
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Mar 5, 2022 15:14
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Are you talking about: Nathan Fillion, Tricia Helfer, Alan Tudyk, or Adam Baldwin? e: nvm, it's Nathan Fillion since he's the one who has his face in the game
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Mar 5, 2022 15:24
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Samovar posted:It's not his fault, obviously, but having what's -his-face being the face and voice model of the leader of the ODST team is very, very dated. Conversely as a Destiny fan you can just think of him as Cayde-6 before he got turned into a robotman.
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Mar 5, 2022 17:21
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Ablative posted:It's me, I'm the inverted mouse psychopath. Howwwww? I know people say that about using inverted on controllers, but I always fell back on the "flight sticks" explanation. Cythereal posted:ODST was a game that really disappointed me, personally. I felt there was a huge opportunity for a very different Halo experience playing as a regular human as opposed to John McJesus-117, and instead the Joe Schmoe of the setting plays and fights almost exactly like a Spartan. He's a little slower, and his guns are worse, and he has a visor instead of a flashlight, but it's a mostly by-the-numbers Halo experience. It's a good by-the-numbers experience, ODST is one of three entries in the Master Chief Collection I really enjoyed along with 3 and Reach, but it could have been something special and unique for the franchise, and I can't help but feel that it's a shame. I don't disagree, it definitely could have been more different and still been great. I haven't shown it off yet, but the ODST can do a bunch of things that were always explained away as "Spartans stronk", like flipping vehicles and ripping turrets off their mounts to carry around. Deformed Church posted:I never noticed the signs were actually directions. I spent a bunch of time lost both times I played. I feel like such an idiot. CzarChasm posted:Same. Just never noticed because I never saw a game in a setting like this where the city itself would point you to your objective. I have a waypoint and a map, I'll piece it together from there. This is another issue with what I said about it being so easy to just keep the VISR on. There's no real downside as the Rookie. But it does make the signs very difficult to read and it's not as apparent when they change unless you're looking for it. Samovar posted:It's not his fault, obviously, but having what's -his-face being the face and voice model of the leader of the ODST team is very, very dated. One thing, Nathan Fillion is a national (if not international) treasure. And the second, he is an actual Halo fan, and not just says good things about it in interviews because he's in it. If you're going to pick someone to be a face and voice of one of your main characters, I'm 100% cool with it being someone who is into the source material.
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Mar 5, 2022 17:40
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:Howwwww? I know people say that about using inverted on controllers, but I always fell back on the "flight sticks" explanation. quote:I don't disagree, it definitely could have been more different and still been great. I haven't shown it off yet, but the ODST can do a bunch of things that were always explained away as "Spartans stronk", like flipping vehicles and ripping turrets off their mounts to carry around. The vehicle flipping at least can be explained as a gameplay conceit because it would be really loving annoying if you flipped your car and couldn't unfuck yourself.
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Mar 5, 2022 17:53
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Huh, I thought he looked like Fillion.
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Mar 5, 2022 19:50
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:Howwwww? I know people say that about using inverted on controllers, but I always fell back on the "flight sticks" explanation. I'm pretty sure the Quake games were inverted by default, a lot of people learned mouselook on those.
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Mar 5, 2022 22:40
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Samovar posted:It's not his fault, obviously, but having what's -his-face being the face and voice model of the leader of the ODST team is very, very dated.
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Mar 6, 2022 04:27
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Did ODST get even the relatively minor touch-ups that Halo 3 got? It seems pretty muddy and jaggy so far but maybe that's just how it looked.
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Mar 7, 2022 04:35
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i still love how the pod drop countdown beeps are the multiplayer match start beeps
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Mar 7, 2022 18:49
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 02 - Tayari Plaza A drop gone wrong and a city under attack. First things first, save the girl.
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Mar 12, 2022 19:42
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Point of contention: that can't be the real Chips Dubbo because the real Chips Dubbo is on In Amber Clad. This is an impostor. Also the par time for this level is three minutes. Three. Minutes.
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Mar 12, 2022 20:30
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Ablative posted:Point of contention: that can't be the real Chips Dubbo because the real Chips Dubbo is on In Amber Clad. This is an impostor.
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Mar 12, 2022 22:59
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AradoBalanga posted:For all we know, there's a secret Chips Dubbo cloning project funded by the UNSC and we met one of the backup versions.
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Mar 12, 2022 23:51
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odst troopers definitely throw grenades differently. seems to have much more of an arc to them, instead of just blasting them forward like chief does. your grenades' arc ends up looking a lot more like your allies' arc too, which is neat. still a lil frustrating when you're switching between games though 
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Mar 13, 2022 00:00
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About the engineers: they are with the enemy, and earth is a battlefield, but still ... they always make me sad 
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Mar 13, 2022 17:13
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Seems odd Earth would classify incidents of Brutes and Elites killing each other in battle. Obviously the reason is not to spoil the plot revelations of Halo 2, but you'd think they'd brief their field officers in case the opportunity to exploit the situation arose. Which would be a rather more fun way to depict this story point in gameplay! But I don't imagie Bungie had the budget given this was a side-game intended to get more use out of the Halo 2 human city assets. Do you even fight Elites at any point in ODST? Are those corpses their only appearance?
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Mar 13, 2022 20:49
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I don't think you fight Elites again until Reach.
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Mar 13, 2022 21:15
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Hey, the Superintendant explained exactly what happened when Buck asked: their bill was overdue.
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Mar 13, 2022 21:28
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Elites don't even have enemy AI in ODST since it's based on the 3 engine. 343 had to do some shenanigans to make them work in ODST's firefight for MCC.
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Mar 13, 2022 23:24
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On the one hand I think it's neat how they made the city AI only speaks in stock voice clips or traffic signs. On the other hand you, this is a world where fully sapient AI exists and it seems weird for the city AI to be limited like that. I think it'd fit better if Cortana hadn't already been an established character, or had been some kind of forerunner relic.
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Mar 13, 2022 23:34
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Thats just how heartless that society is. Fully sentient AI that manages an entire city, but make it so I cant communicate.
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Mar 13, 2022 23:40
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Geemer posted:On the one hand I think it's neat how they made the city AI only speaks in stock voice clips or traffic signs. I registered my car over a landline and the station printed me stuff for it on a dot matrix printer. The city ai being ancient and outdated compared to experimental* military tech is probably the most believable thing here. *the second the tech gets streamlined for mass production it will also go to dogshit
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Mar 14, 2022 00:13
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AradoBalanga posted:For all we know, there's a secret Chips Dubbo cloning project funded by the UNSC and we met one of the backup versions. I like to think it's like the army of Ultron robots in the second Avengers movie. They can all operate independently, but the "real" Chips Dubbo is whichever one has the glowing red eyes. Loxbourne posted:Seems odd Earth would classify incidents of Brutes and Elites killing each other in battle. Obviously the reason is not to spoil the plot revelations of Halo 2, but you'd think they'd brief their field officers in case the opportunity to exploit the situation arose. I think the only way it makes sense is that she doesn't actually know. They may have gotten reports and captured some video footage, and may even have some people looking into it, but there's no way they have any real information yet. I think "it's classified" is just kind of a knee-jerk reaction for intelligence operatives to a question they don't have the answer to yet. Geemer posted:On the one hand I think it's neat how they made the city AI only speaks in stock voice clips or traffic signs. As far back as the first novel, they do make the distinction between "smart" AIs like Cortana and "dumb" AIs that you might find running a ship like in Star Trek. But generally even those dumb AIs have a conversational user interface. It's possible the Superintendent is relatively old, or having an actual voice was just not seen as a necessary function in this case. Of course the real reason is probably that the devs saw Transformers (2007) during development and thought the Bumblebee gimmick was kinda cool.
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Mar 14, 2022 01:09
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Isn't it also a thing where "smart" AI are kind of purposely restrained, and Cortana is unique in her level of freedom? Or am I thinking of some other sci-fi world?
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Mar 14, 2022 04:39
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CzarChasm posted:Isn't it also a thing where "smart" AI are kind of purposely restrained, and Cortana is unique in her level of freedom? Or am I thinking of some other sci-fi world? Its very much a thing in Marathon, and Cortana clearly goes Rampant, but Halo isn't 'about' AIs like Marathon is, so I'm not sure what the lore here is.
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Mar 14, 2022 06:14
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Fantastic Foreskin posted:Its very much a thing in Marathon, and Cortana clearly goes Rampant, but Halo isn't 'about' AIs like Marathon is, so I'm not sure what the lore here is. This reminds me of an interesting aside. During the Halo 2 and 3 pre-release ARG campaigns, a lot of the "players" were ARG fans rather than Halo ones. The Halo fans who did play along had to give out potted briefings on the lore, setting, and core themes of the series (including the older Bungie games in case they came up). I remember posts on the internal forums explaining what an AI even was. I wonder if this is why Bungie ultimately stopped doing ARGs. They fell out of fashion anyway but I guess you could reach the Halo target audience a lot easier with adverts on the sides of buses.
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Mar 14, 2022 09:28
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Loxbourne posted:This reminds me of an interesting aside. During the Halo 2 and 3 pre-release ARG campaigns, a lot of the "players" were ARG fans rather than Halo ones. The Halo fans who did play along had to give out potted briefings on the lore, setting, and core themes of the series (including the older Bungie games in case they came up). I remember posts on the internal forums explaining what an AI even was. For a good while no one was sure if ilovebees was even related to Halo, until it became extremely obvious it was
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Mar 14, 2022 15:29
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I wasn't expecting the character switching, that's sort of neat for a Halo game at that point. Daylight helped the look of the game too.
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Mar 14, 2022 15:30
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 09:22 |
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 03 - Uplift Reserve Scattered marines take a scenic tour through an unlikely battlefield.
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Mar 18, 2022 20:21
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