Halo 5: Guardians

Actual news about Halo 5! 4 armor sets that you can earn in the leadup to the launch of the beta, 3 from achievements in the MCC, one from watching Halo Nightfall. They're absolutely gorgeous, IMO, and if you're worried about how shiny they look, don't be; it's been confirmed that they'll be more weathered in-game.

Helioskrill? Hell yes, expanded universe nods.

The fact that Sangheli are designing MJOLNIR indicates a rather close relationship between them and humanity. I am pleased.

Ugh, dat Nightfall armor. That's what MJOLNIR-ized ODST should look like.

I think that's what it's supposed to be.

And it's all the better for it.

50 new Achievements revealed.

Huh...Are Halo 2 and Halo 2 Anniversary different games? Why are they in separate categories on that?

Yup. H 2 A has, amongst other things, a tweaked sandbox and only 6 maps. Halo 2 is pretty much what you remember it being.

That's...weird? I don't really get it, is it two copies of the same game? Or is Halo 2 part of the MCC and Halo 2 anniversary is a separate game?

edited 31st Oct '14 6:53:33 PM by theLibrarian

Noooo... H 2 A is in a different engine played on the new maps. H2 is the game you were playing in 2004, but at a higher frame rate and resolution. They're doing the campaign switching thing they had for CEA as well.

I really like the newer design aesthetic for mjolnir, feels like a mixture of the classic compact version with the more top heavy redesign for 4. It could just be that they aren't adding different colors to the undersuit, letting the color and texture of the armor stand out more.

...I'm sorry, I still don't understand >_>

EDIT: Oh wait, now I do, I think, now that I saw that it was switching back and forth that was the difference. I wonder if the achievements will still trigger if you go through the campaign via the Halo 2 Anniversary engine.

edited 31st Oct '14 7:04:24 PM by theLibrarian

@Achievements: BLOODY HELL! HOW DO THEY EXPECT ME TO BEAT LEGENDARY IN THREE HOURS OR LESS?!?!?!?!?

I guess I need to practice Speed Running.

...Those are achievements I'll never get.

I was looking through IGN's list of MCC achievements again, and I just realized that we're going to get reacquainted with good ol' Chips Dubbo again. Maybe he'll cameo for Halo 5 this time.

"@Achievements: BLOODY HELL! HOW DO THEY EXPECT ME TO BEAT LEGENDARY IN THREE HOURS OR LESS?!?!?!?!? "

It doesn't have to be in one sitting. The achievement is for all of the chapters adding to less than 3 hours.

• * *

All of the Halo 2 CE achievements are for multiplayer. The maps are different. Single player Halo 2 and Halo 2 CE are one and the same.

edited 2nd Nov '14 1:15:51 PM by AnotherGuy

Ah, alright.

Broken Circle is out today. I've finished it and, well, I think they probably needed to make this at least a duology; the second half plot threads in particularly go too quickly and resolve a tad too pat for my liking. Also, despite the previews, it never really goes too deeply into Truth's motivations for betraying the Elites (though we do get to see more of how he went about it, including how the Elite Councilors were killed. Definitely less character-focused than the Traviss books, though definitely more canon-compliant (Unlike Traviss, Shirley actually remembered that Rtas 'Vadum exists). Still, not a bad read, and you actually get more than one sympathetic Prophet (turns out that there was at least one Prophet who sided with the Elites during the Schism).

The big thing though, is that the Elites who rebelled against the early Covenant end up forming their own isolated society in the scraps of a broken shield world which survives all the way to the current time period; the book ends with the local ancilla being restored and the shield world bits being formed into a pseudo-but-non-lethal-Halo (hence the title), with its inhabitants being discovered and befriended by 'Vadam-friendly Elites (with the token good Prophet deciding to settle there). There's definitely a lot of material there to be explored in the future, particularly regarding the potential research windfall for the Arbiter's faction.

On a side note, we learn a little about the San'Shyuum Stoics; much fitter than the Covenant ones, near-complete stagnation in "hardware"-tech (their military equipment seems to be roughly on par with pre-contact UNSC, minus the FTL and AIs), and a knack for bioengineering. There's also a few call-backs to the Forerunner Saga, and a Mars Needs Women subplot regarding the Prophets going back to their homeworld to try to recruit some female Stoics to alleviate their already massive levels inbreeding.

Also, a nice touch (if sadly underexplored) with showing more technically-inclined Elites forming a rapport with Huragok (which makes their apparent mass disappearance in Kilo-Five even more puzzling).

Honestly, now I'm kind of irked that Traviss got a trilogy, while Broken Circle got way too little page space to tell a much more expansive set of stories.

edited 4th Nov '14 1:46:20 AM by umbrellasareawesome

Also, more H2A cinematics; The opening, Delta Halo opening, and what looks to be part of the new framing device cutscenes involving Locke and the Arbiter (ignore the misleading title).

edited 4th Nov '14 1:19:50 PM by umbrellasareawesome

Can't see the last one. The first two cutscenes look great, though :)

I noticed in the third cutscene that the Arbiter seems to be studying an image of the mystery machine from the Halo 5 trailer.

That noise when the Halo blows up, though. Glorious.

edited 4th Nov '14 8:35:36 PM by OrKuunArQenByundis

Microsoft kayo'ed the third video because of spoilerage.

Ugh, why do I keep watching these cinematics it's like fucking torture.