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Plasma rifles work like your phone, you don't replace the battery, you just plug a charger into it. The issue is the Covenant haven't developed portable battery packs, so they have to plug into the mains like it's 2008 or some poo poo.
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Jun 26, 2021 02:27
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I imagine that's what those big featureless purple boxes you see around Covenant areas are, plasma batteries. As it happens, this LP's convinced me to pick up the Master Chief Collection since it's just $20 during the Steam summer sale.
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Jun 26, 2021 03:02
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Cythereal posted:I imagine that's what those big featureless purple boxes you see around Covenant areas are, plasma batteries. No question here, after a while you start to see weapons hooked up to them on racks. This is probably the first big change to a cutscene I've seen - the Brutes seem notably nastier to the Elites in the remake as the "changing of the guard" takes place. But as we can see, the Prophet of Truth seems to buy rather less into the whole religion thing.
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Jun 26, 2021 17:13
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Another Halo note I've found amusing: out of curiosity I've been watching a walkthrough of Halo Wars, an obscure Halo RTS spinoff. The big thing the Spartan-II hero units are used for? Hijacking Covenant vehicles like you do in the normal Halo games, here used to bring them over to your side. Oh sure they can fight fine on foot, but it looks like most of the time a better use of their talents is stealing a Wraith or what have you for your own use. There's a variety of other human, Covenant, and Flood units in the game that haven't shown up in the LP, but I dunno how many are just things that haven't shown up yet and what's an invention of that game.
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Jun 26, 2021 20:50
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So activating the Halo rings was to destroy the Flood, specifically to starve them by killing all sentient life, right? And this event happened millions of years ago? So then why is there still Flood?  EDIT: I know it's to have different enemy combat encounters, but I mean lore wise.
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Jun 27, 2021 14:15
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Outpost22 posted:So activating the Halo rings was to destroy the Flood, specifically to starve them by killing all sentient life, right? And this event happened millions of years ago? So then why is there still Flood? They kept a bunch of samples in stasis for research purposes. This, predictably, went Very Wrong.
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Jun 27, 2021 14:31
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Same reason we still have smallpox hanging around, basically.
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Jun 27, 2021 14:54
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Cythereal posted:I imagine that's what those big featureless purple boxes you see around Covenant areas are, plasma batteries. Loxbourne posted:No question here, after a while you start to see weapons hooked up to them on racks. There's a funny detail that I think we might have mentioned in Halo 1. When Bungie designed the purple boxes, they didn't exactly have a functional purpose for them in mind. They just wanted alien looking boxes to be used for environmental dressing and cover. In Halo 2 they start using them as weapon crates. Although that being said, there is a variant of them that looks like a comms station, and that was actually in Halo 1 as well. Outpost22 posted:So activating the Halo rings was to destroy the Flood, specifically to starve them by killing all sentient life, right? And this event happened millions of years ago? So then why is there still Flood? Ablative posted:They kept a bunch of samples in stasis for research purposes. Deformed Church posted:Same reason we still have smallpox hanging around, basically. I know it sucks when I say this, but something we'll see later adds to this and makes it make a little more sense. To try and not leave you hanging though I'll boil it down to a simple statement: The Forerunners dying when the Halos went off wasn't actually part of the plan. Cythereal posted:Another Halo note I've found amusing: out of curiosity I've been watching a walkthrough of Halo Wars, an obscure Halo RTS spinoff. The big thing the Spartan-II hero units are used for? Hijacking Covenant vehicles like you do in the normal Halo games, here used to bring them over to your side. Oh sure they can fight fine on foot, but it looks like most of the time a better use of their talents is stealing a Wraith or what have you for your own use. A lot of stuff in the Halo Wars games only exists in those games, and were invented for unit variety and balance reasons. But some of it probably is stuff we just haven't seen yet too. I guess you'll have to wait and see lol. As a side note, I have been thinking about running some streams to play through the Halo Wars games, kind of as an experiment. I played the first one years ago on console but haven't played the second, so they'd be kind of blind runs. Would there be interest in that sort of thing?
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Jun 27, 2021 16:48
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:As a side note, I have been thinking about running some streams to play through the Halo Wars games, kind of as an experiment. I played the first one years ago on console but haven't played the second, so they'd be kind of blind runs. Would there be interest in that sort of thing? I'd be interested! Watching the LPs I found on youtube (currently in 2's DLC campaign) has been interesting, but the player is, uh, not good at these games.  One innovation of the DLC I think we can all be glad isn't in the shooters (so far): the Flood taking control of vehicles by infesting their pilots and crews.
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Jun 27, 2021 17:02
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I'd definitely be interested in seeing Halo Wars, I played the first ages ago and have never touched the second.
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Jun 27, 2021 17:09
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I had no idea there was even a second Halo Wars game. I liked the first one well enough, but an RTS designed around consoles is always going to feel a little lean to me. I think I still have my copy somewhere, but at this point I'd rather just watch someone else do a run-through of it.
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Jun 27, 2021 17:34
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I'd definitely be interested in seeing Halo Wars. There doesn't seem to have been an SA-associated Let's Play and I'm generally leery of random Youtube Let's Plays. (I was considering watching Keith Ballard's coop play as I find him at least tolerable...but he can also be a bit frustrating at times.)
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Jun 27, 2021 17:49
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The Arbiter knows a good weapon when they see one. The universal language isn't math, its shotguns.
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Jun 27, 2021 18:55
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Cythereal posted:I'd be interested! Watching the LPs I found on youtube (currently in 2's DLC campaign) has been interesting, but the player is, uh, not good at these games. There's a pretty good chance that I'll be in the same boat here. I am not generally an RTS guy.
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Jun 27, 2021 19:11
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:There's a pretty good chance that I'll be in the same boat here. I am not generally an RTS guy. I've never played a Halo Wars, but for one free copy I could record footage for it!
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Jun 27, 2021 19:26
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Jobbo_Fett posted:I've never played a Halo Wars, but for one free copy I could record footage for it! Hahaha we'll see how the streaming experiment goes, but i won't be doing that for a while. I'll keep you in mind if I feel the need to subcontract out the RTS games.
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Jun 28, 2021 05:10
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 09 - Quarantine Zone The Arbiter continues towards the Library and the Sacred Icon, hoping to get there before the Humans do.
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Jul 2, 2021 19:59
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Two for two on dramatic cliffhangers for our protagonists. The Chief and the Arbiter are not having a very good day. Quick story note here, from the Halo Wars games regarding something mentioned in this video. Putting it in spoilers just in case the Halo Wars games do get LP'd: The Flood do use vehicles in Halo Wars 2, but not by simply crewing vehicles with combat forms. Instead they learn to do it Beast style, infesting vehicles with goop and tentacles covering them. The only unit they can't infest is the Scarab (the human super unit does not appear in Awakening the Nightmare).
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Jul 2, 2021 20:40
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Cythereal posted:The Flood do use vehicles in Halo Wars 2, but not by simply crewing vehicles with combat forms. Instead they learn to do it Beast style, infesting vehicles with goop and tentacles covering them. The only unit they can't infest is the Scarab (the human super unit does not appear in Awakening the Nightmare). It's barely visible, but the tank the Arbiter can use has Flood tendrils infesting it at the tread units. Presumably the infection forms crewing the tank are just a game conceit.
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Jul 2, 2021 20:42
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I was definitely among those who never realized the burning structure you go through was the Sentinel Factory downed in the previous section. I assumed it was a section of the Library that was overrun by the Flood due to the Flood gaining control of UNSC/Covenant heavy weapons. I did note the MCC makes a tiny cosmetic change to the ending cutscene. Miranda wields one SMG in the MCC version, but in the original version, she was dual-wielding SMGs. I guess they figured the captain of a ship wouldn't realistically go full John Woo Action HeroTM on their enemies after the fact, thus made the change for the updated re-release.
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Jul 2, 2021 21:09
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AradoBalanga posted:I did note the MCC makes a tiny cosmetic change to the ending cutscene. Miranda wields one SMG in the MCC version, but in the original version, she was dual-wielding SMGs. I guess they figured the captain of a ship wouldn't realistically go full John Woo Action HeroTM on their enemies after the fact, thus made the change for the updated re-release. I mean, the kick on those things is bad enough for a Spartan, they probably just realised "She'd probably break something".
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Jul 3, 2021 01:58
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You bring up a good question about the whereabouts of the Monitor for this Halo. Where is he and why is he not helping? As I was typing that I forgot that we actually get an answer to this question. Probably in the next video IIRC. Obviously that would be spoilers, so I'm just gonna sit tight.
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Jul 3, 2021 02:10
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I guess the intended purpose of the Halo rings is really coming into question with the Flood presence and missing Monitor on this ring; are they Flood panic buttons or are they Flood research stations? Because no one in their right mind puts the fire extinguisher on the inside of the oven, and yet the both the Flood and the only known solution to a galaxy wide Flood infestation are exclusively located in the same installations 
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Jul 3, 2021 04:37
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:
I do like how Miranda basically skipped the whole process of getting the library key by just... Y'know... Leaning over a bit.
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Jul 3, 2021 10:39
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Samovar posted:I do like how Miranda basically skipped the whole process of getting the library key by just... Y'know... Leaning over a bit. The flood infestation is way worse in this library than in the one back in Halo 1. Comparatively, in the first game you had hundreds of flood, but Master Chief was able to trudge his way through them. This time you have a squad of marines, plus Johnson, and the Arbiter, supported by a handful of Elites, and getting support from a phantom - and even with all of that, only three people get through to the center of the library. Not counting the Brutes who show up after all the fighting is done. Well, not only is the flood all over the library, but as you walk towards the key, you can see that there's a lot of busted up stuff in the environment. Presumably some of that could be the elevator platform that would take you to the key in the first place. So with the monitor MIA, and the elevator busted, there would not really be any other way to get to the key except to lean over and grab it.
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Jul 3, 2021 14:24
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Finally caught up after falling behind for a few weeks. And like others, I was convinced to buy the games while on sale.
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Jul 3, 2021 19:09
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idhrendur posted:Finally caught up after falling behind for a few weeks. And like others, I was convinced to buy the games while on sale. Although I'm not sure playing Halo: Reach first, as the campaign order suggests, is the best idea. I've been having fun, but boy have I been dying a lot. Random Halo Wars 2 note, incidentally: that game makes an actually kinda neat note on the Covenant using both Spirit and Revenant dropships. The Covenant in Halo Wars 2 uses the Spirit for dropping in buildings and vehicles, and the Phantom for personnel transport. I find it a kinda neat little distinction you see in real life between transport helicopters and heavy lifters. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Jul 6, 2021 |
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Jul 6, 2021 00:31
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Cythereal posted:Random Halo Wars 2 note, incidentally: that game makes an actually kinda neat note on the Covenant using both Spirit and Revenant dropships. The Covenant in Halo Wars 2 uses the Spirit for dropping in buildings and vehicles, and the Revenant for personnel transport. I find it a kinda neat little distinction you see in real life between transport helicopters and heavy lifters. I assume you mean the Phantom, because the Revenant is a small Wraith. I would not be surprised to learn otherwise.
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Jul 6, 2021 00:37
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Ablative posted:I assume you mean the Phantom, because the Revenant is a small Wraith. I would not be surprised to learn otherwise. Er, yes. All these Covenant vehicle names run together.
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Jul 6, 2021 00:39
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It's spooooooky  I don't even remember when Spirits were officially named. Wars, I think?
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Jul 6, 2021 00:54
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I imagine the Brute calling the other Elite a coward after the latter maybe-sorta sacrifices himself (which only the player knows about) is the point in a "wait a minute, that guy isn't actually a coward!" sense. The Elites aren't cowards after all, they're just idiots. Evidence, this incredibly predictable betrayal.
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Jul 6, 2021 03:17
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Kibayasu posted:I imagine the Brute calling the other Elite a coward after the latter maybe-sorta sacrifices himself (which only the player knows about) is the point in a "wait a minute, that guy isn't actually a coward!" sense. The Elites aren't cowards after all, they're just idiots. Evidence, this incredibly predictable betrayal. I get the impression Elites are intelligent, honourable, and kinda gullible - the classic "good enemy" species. Something from the EU that doesn't reach the games themselves is that the Elites are supposedly asking why the Covenant is wasting so many lives and resources on killing humans and doesn't try to recruit them; they've recruited far less militarily capable species than humanity. The Prophets are swapping them out for the Brutes, who are flat-out too dumb to be disloyal. Physically big, strong, fight amongst themselves constantly and defer to stronger leaders - the classic orc.
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Jul 6, 2021 12:51
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Loxbourne posted:I get the impression Elites are intelligent, honourable, and kinda gullible - the classic "good enemy" species. Something from the EU that doesn't reach the games themselves is that the Elites are supposedly asking why the Covenant is wasting so many lives and resources on killing humans and doesn't try to recruit them; they've recruited far less militarily capable species than humanity. Something I found amusing from reading online about the books since the LP started is that the Covenant knows the human reporting names for their various races, and both the Elites and the Brutes find the humans' names for them flattering. To the Sanghelli, of course humans think they're the Covenant's best, after all: they are, and they consider it a mark of esteem from a worthy adversary. The Jiralhanae likewise consider 'Brute' a complimentary description because orks orks orks.
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Jul 6, 2021 13:16
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McTimmy posted:It's spooooooky Pretty sure they were named in Fall of Reach, the first novel. Eric Nylund worked really, really closely with the Bungie guys to sort out a lot of canon stuff when he was writing it. Cythereal posted:Something I found amusing from reading online about the books since the LP started is that the Covenant knows the human reporting names for their various races, and both the Elites and the Brutes find the humans' names for them flattering. To the Sanghelli, of course humans think they're the Covenant's best, after all: they are, and they consider it a mark of esteem from a worthy adversary. The Jiralhanae likewise consider 'Brute' a complimentary description because orks orks orks. Haha, I don't remember this coming up in the books I've read, but it also doesn't surprise me at all.
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Jul 7, 2021 05:15
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I've also concluded that I feel really sorry for the grunts after getting the achievement in the MCC for killing a thousand of them. I know you said you weren't planning to play Reach, but in Reach you can shoot off their methane tank causing the grunt to rocket around the area on their pressurized suit gasses until they explode.
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Jul 7, 2021 13:47
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:Pretty sure they were named in Fall of Reach, the first novel. Eric Nylund worked really, really closely with the Bungie guys to sort out a lot of canon stuff when he was writing it. Nah, it's just Covenant Dropship for a long rear end time. Wars/Reach maybe even Ghosts of Onyx or Harvest are the earliest and even then I'm not sure on which.
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Jul 7, 2021 21:13
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Spirits were named such right in the Reach game manual. They probably didn't get named until Reach because they stopped existing after Halo CE but needed to exist for the prequel.
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Jul 7, 2021 21:34
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So, I won't be posting a video tomorrow. Next one is supposed to be another bonus video similar to the last one about humans, but about Covenant instead. I've been rushing to get it done, since I want it posted before the next actual level, but I'm just not going to make it. It turns out these talky videos take a lot more time and effort to complete than I was expecting, so I may not do as many going forward. That being said if you're looking for something to watch, an IRL friend of mine has recently starting doing her own Let's Play content and just posted the first video of a Stardew Valley playthrough where I am the special guest. Her style is very easy-going and "chill", so take a look if that sounds up your alley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIOG2Xwd1lU McTimmy posted:Nah, it's just Covenant Dropship for a long rear end time. Wars/Reach maybe even Ghosts of Onyx or Harvest are the earliest and even then I'm not sure on which. Seriously? In my head I feel like I knew they were named "Spirits" by the time Halo 2 came out. It definitely doesn't feel right that it's as late as Reach. But then again it's hard to pin down exactly where you heard a piece of information that you've known about for this long.
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Jul 9, 2021 02:55
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They're named as Spirits in the first Halo Wars, which predates Reach. That may be their name's first appearance. The pre-launch publicity for Halo Wars 1 made much of it being a prequel, and how the developers were bringing back Halo 1-styled vehicles, turrets etc.
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Jul 9, 2021 13:33
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On a related note, the Halo Wars games even provide a visual explanation for the silly tuning fork design of the Spirits. In the Wars games, infantry are carried in the compartments in the fork's tines, while vehicles are hauled in the energy field in the middle. And I will note that while it's technically a prequel, Halo Wars 1 is a very self-contained story with a good explanation for why you never heard anything about the Spirit of Fire or its encounters with the Flood even though they happened well before Halo 1. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jul 9, 2021 |
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Jul 9, 2021 13:40
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