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 The Halo series is near and dear to my heart. Back in elementary school, my cousin, Vinny, would play Halo 2 split screen with me. This ultimately led to me getting my own Xbox and copy of Halo 1 and Halo 2. Since then, I've play every mainline entry and most of the spinoffs. I've only not played Halo Spartan Assault, Halo Wars 2, and Halo Infinite. However, that last one is only because Infinite came out a week ago. Halo started life as "Monkey Nuts," a codename for Bungie's new RTS. The title was to be released exclusively for Mac computers. As development continued, the titled morphed into a third person shooter. Finally, it became the iconic first person shooter we know today. The title also changed hands. Microsoft, direct competitors to Mac's computers, were thinking of getting into the console market, having already considered and opted out of buying Sega. Seeing the end of Sega's console years as an opportunity, Microsoft decided to go ahead with their own system, the Xbox, and considered Bungie's title, now called Halo, as a potential exclusive. On November 15th, 2001, Halo launched. As far as console first person shooters go, there had been many before Halo, such as Perfect Dark and Golden Eye. However, there was always complaints about the control systems of those games. Halo succeed in making a control system so useful that almost every First Person shooter for consoles has borrowed that layout since then. In many ways, Halo made the console First Person Shooter boom of the mid-2000s and early-2010s. However, I wouldn't associate the series with the "problems" of that boom. Halo was unique among other titles at the time for large open environments, more traditional approaches to FPS map layout, and a strong recalcitrance to following trends in the industry. My first Halo was actually Halo 2. I played that before Halo: Combat Evolved. As such, I always had an odd view on it since, arguably, Halo 2 is the better title and I played it first. However, the title has always stood on its own merits with me. Especially all the fun I had with the PC release and the many, many wacky mods of Custom Edition. You see, I own the game a few times: the original Xbox, the PC release, the Xbox 360 Remastered, the Xbox One Master Chief Collection, and the PC Master Chief Collection. A fool and her money...Regardless, both the original PC release and, recently, the PC Master Chief Collection allow for mods and Halo Mods were certainly novel back in the day. We will be using the Master Chief Collection's version to play the game. There is some thing that should be disclosed. The best version of Halo is considered the original Xbox release. However, I do not own a capture card so a PC version was a necessity. I still have my old PC title, but the Remastered and MCC version use the Gearbox PC port as a basis anyway and the MCC version has the most features. While the MCC version is inferior, it's the one I can most easily capture. Lady Mapi and I will be playing the original Halo. For now, that's all we have planned. We will be doing a somewhat humorous, somewhat informative video LP of the title. All of the footage has been recorded, but commentary is only up to Episode 3 at this point. We thought it best to have some backlog, but also have the majority unrecorded so we can respond to the thread in videos. Brief aside, in episode 1, we briefly mention the Nexomon LP is going on hold. I just wasn't super feeling it right now. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the video. To be honest, Lady Mapi is really the one who does LP as a hobby. I just like spending time with my old college friend and, thanks to COVID making it unsafe for us to travel to either's state, this is a fun way for us to collaborate and spend time together. Not sure if that makes for entertaining content, but I hope you enjoy what's there. ----- Episode 1: Pillar Of Autumn Episode 2: Halo Episode 3: Truth and Reconciliation Episode 4: The Silent Cartographer Episode 5: Assault On The Control Room. Episode 6: Guilty Spark Episode 7: The Library. Episode 8: Two Betrayals Episode 9: Keyes Episode 10: The Maw Covok fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Feb 22, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2021 23:45
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| # ? May 8, 2024 18:30 |
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UPDATE 2: HALO And we're back for another episode. This time we are taking the Level Halo, which is the first appearance of a Halo in Halo. We have some fun, I die a few times, and we chat a bit about random poo poo. Also, seriously, is it me or did the Gearbox Port turn the Warthog into a boat? I swear it never felt that hard to control on consoles. Episode 2: Halo
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Dec 28, 2021 01:16
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UPDATE 3: Truth and Reconciliation We are ready for yet another adventure. This time John Halo and his assistant, Microsoft's Cortana, have lost their keys on a ship owned by the intergalactic catholic church. Hopefully they won't get lost in the winding church corridors. Good thing John Halo has his merry band of marines to keep him company, a loyal, sturdy resourceful bunch. Also, has anyone here ever seen predator? Not sure why I brought that up. Episode 3: Truth and Reconciliation
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Jan 4, 2022 01:07
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I don't know what I expected when I started watching, but I am here for your collective goofball ramblings about a game series I would never play on my own. 
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Jan 5, 2022 02:43
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NGDBSS posted:I don't know what I expected when I started watching, but I am here for your collective goofball ramblings about a game series I would never play on my own. I am glad you enjoy it. Like I said, this series is mainly a way for my friend and I to hang out. But its good to know we're entertaining people. So far, we have keept the conversational tone. I hope you continue you enjoy it.
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Jan 6, 2022 07:35
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Hi Covok! I love Halo, I'mma watch your videos this weekend. Much love <3
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Jan 6, 2022 07:41
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We just recorded level 8. My work is going to ramp up for tax season so we had to get it done before then. All I will say is I thought it'd be funny if I had 5 beers before doing the recording because of how the level went. All I will say is I apologize in advance.
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Jan 9, 2022 18:58
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Update 4: The Silent Cartographer In a shocking move, we mostly stay on topic as we discuss Halo's most impressive and iconic level. Come see what is honestly everyone's favorite level in the game. Update 4: The Silent Cartographer
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Jan 11, 2022 06:28
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The Silent Cartographer also came included in the free demo version of Halo:CE available for PCs. The single player level also came along with the capability for 16v16 multiplayer matches on the most iconic multiplayer map, Bloodgulch. It was a hell of a free demo for 2003, the year our school rolled out schoolwide individual laptops it and a couple other games may have been responsible for about a .25 drop in the GPA schoolwide.
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Jan 12, 2022 22:23
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Update 5: Assault On The Control Room. Prepare to watch John Spartan die so many loving times that you will question if I was ever good at this game to begin with. Our longest video in the series accurately summed up as the game repeatedly kicking me in the balls. Covok fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Jan 19, 2022 |
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Jan 19, 2022 01:24
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scavy131 posted:The Silent Cartographer also came included in the free demo version of Halo:CE available for PCs. The single player level also came along with the capability for 16v16 multiplayer matches on the most iconic multiplayer map, Bloodgulch. Holy gently caress, the demo came with Silent Cartographer and the ability to play multiplayer on the best map? poo poo, you don't even need to buy the game lol. God, I loving miss that era. I used to install Doom Episode 1 on my school's computers and replay it over and over instead of doing class work. Man, the era of demos was great. You could actually make informed purchases on your games. Seriously, though, that sounded lit. Did you buy the final game in the end?
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Jan 19, 2022 01:27
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Covok posted:Holy gently caress, the demo came with Silent Cartographer and the ability to play multiplayer on the best map? poo poo, you don't even need to buy the game lol. God, I loving miss that era. I used to install Doom Episode 1 on my school's computers and replay it over and over instead of doing class work. Man, the era of demos was great. You could actually make informed purchases on your games. Oh of course I purchased it. The ability for any student to freely download multiplayer-capable Halo on their school laptop literally seconds after getting it, and the school internet being fast enough to support full multiplayer servers, was a blast and the first real interaction I'd had with non-splitscreen multiplayer since my childhood home internet was routed through a potato.
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Jan 19, 2022 21:09
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Update 6: Guilty Spark Today, we do some character acting as Halo takes a brief diversion from being an action game and goes for a clear horror vibe. Join us for what some consider to have the best environmental storytelling of the franchise. Episode 6: Guilty Spark
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Jan 25, 2022 01:20
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scavy131 posted:Oh of course I purchased it. The ability for any student to freely download multiplayer-capable Halo on their school laptop literally seconds after getting it, and the school internet being fast enough to support full multiplayer servers, was a blast and the first real interaction I'd had with non-splitscreen multiplayer since my childhood home internet was routed through a potato. College or High School? Probably College, but I kind of like the idea of a bunch of High School kids having a LAN party in the middle of class.
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Jan 25, 2022 01:22
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Update 7: The Library I got a little drunk and it shows a lot. This level and the next one are my least favorite levels. They were slogs to get through and really ruined my fun. As I was drunk, I was much more candid and crude. Hopefully you like it? Seriously, though, this level is just one long corridor with endless monster closests. This is fan Foom WAD levels of map design. Episode 7: The Library.
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Feb 1, 2022 01:51
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I believe Lady Mapi's recollections of some old FromSoft game were about Shadow Tower Abyss? It was maybe the last first-person dungeon crawler they made before going all-in on Armored Core and then Souls games.
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Feb 1, 2022 16:53
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Covok posted:College or High School? Probably College, but I kind of like the idea of a bunch of High School kids having a LAN party in the middle of class. Oh, High School an even better recipe since it was a captive and much more insular audience. The school had a shared wifi network across the whole campus so not only were LAN games possible but also regular internet servers. The Halo Trial also had internet multiplayer capability, it just had to be with either another trial version or Halo with the same patch version (and trial clients could only play on the one map of course). And yes, there was an active Halo server going for the entire school day with people rotating in and out as they could get on to play.
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Feb 1, 2022 17:38
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Update 8: Two Betrayals Welcome to ASSAULT ON THE CONTROL ROOM PART 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO! Today, I got super drunk. Died a lot. GOT loving SHOT BY THE STUPID loving ROCKET FLOOD BULLSHIT WHY DID THEY GIVE THEM ROCKET LAUNCHERS GOD DAMNIT a few times. Talked about random bullshit like Kingdom Hearts. And relatively had a pretty fun time. We are at the point where level design takes a backseat, as does enemy AI. The levels are just reversed versions of the older levels. And the Flood continue completely unfun. This is the last real lowpoint. I seriously do not know why I am having so much trouble. My best guess is that I am using a keyboard and mouse when I originally played Halo on a Xbox and there is just no muscle memory to help me along. Still, even a bad level in a good game is okay. Also, there is so much lore I want to talk about but I always get sidetracked. Like how interesting it is that they clearly wanted to do an ancient alien thing with the humans. They did do that, of course, but I always got the vibe the original plan was for humans TO BE Forerunners. Like, they were remnants of the Forerunners. The official explanation of them being just ancient enemies of the Forerunners that got devolved and put on Earth and stuff just feels so...unintuitive. Does anyone else care about Halo Lore? I am down to chat. Update 8: Two Betrayals Covok fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Feb 8, 2022 |
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Feb 8, 2022 00:58
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You suck. Okay maybe you don't, but you asked me to say so and I appreciate videos like this to break up the tedium of data entry.
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Feb 8, 2022 20:48
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NGDBSS posted:You suck. I forgot I did that so I was very confused when I read this message at first LOL
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Feb 8, 2022 23:03
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Update 9: Keyes We learn a lot about Halo's backlore, go back to the Truth & Reconciliation, we talk about random poo poo, and I die a lot. Also, this level is better than the last level. I really don't know what is up with the Assault On The Control Room map that makes it so hard. But Keyes goes smoother. The Flood continue to be underwhelming. It can't be understated what a downgrade they are. You go from the really complex and almost revolutionary combat AI that made Halo amazing and still makes it stand out from the crowd to Doom Enemies. And not like 2016 Doom. Also, it's still just fun getting a chance to hang out with my old college friend. We chat about Norway, Antarctica, and how the logistic of a five-way sex thing just doesn't make any sense and what are you even doing at that point? Also, we go back to the SAME SHIP to rescue the SAME PERSON in a lot of the SAME MAPS. lol Episode 9: Keyes Covok fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Feb 15, 2022 |
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Feb 15, 2022 01:48
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Anyone following the release of that Halo TV show? I swear they keep trying to make one and I don't know why honestly. Halo looks like it'd be hyper expensive to make a show with little return on investment from viewers as the plot and characters are very basic.
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Feb 20, 2022 13:28
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FINAL UPDATE: THE MAW: THE ENDING OF THE HALOS Today, we end our long national nightmare. Going back to the beginning, we fight our way through waves of Flood, destroying the Pillar of Autumn, and ending the threat of the covenant and Flood forever. Seriously. There were no games after this one. *Cough* To the people actually watching, thanks for doing so. It was really fun doing this video series and it was a great way to reconnect with an old friend. If anyone enjoyed it along the way, then that's awesome. It helped brighten up my busy season at work, too. Being able to release these videos and rewatch them was a good way to ignore some of the long hours this month at work. So, to everyone watching, you're cool, you're awesome, and I hope you enjoyed this mess. Episode 10: The Maw
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Feb 22, 2022 00:56
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| # ? May 8, 2024 18:30 |
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A refreshing playthrough to be sure, revisiting Halo really shows how groundbreaking it was at the time. The AI (barring the Flood's tendency to beeline for you) is still pretty impressive and some modern games have a hard time keeping story/gameplay working so smoothly together. Thank you for doing the playthrough Covok, I'm not usually one for video LPs but Halo's relatively low map numbers made this not too long of a journey so I didn't just fall off like a regularly scheduled podcast.
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Feb 22, 2022 17:17
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