I think the idea of an addition of a Co-Op Campaign is excellent, but I was just wondering what kind of story? I mean; a really weak Co-op story just invented to string together random arenas of shooting the same old Covenant enemies? Or would it be something more? Take into account that the main characters of this story are custom characters; Infinity and Spartan Ops share the same player character, so there is no sort of characterization, maybe not even voice acting asides from briefings and debriefings, so the story is going thin here.
Sure, it will have weekly updates. I think episodic content is great, but once I heard that there would be FIVE weekly missions in Spartan Ops (Sourced from the Nothing But Unbiased Facts thread above), I became even more skeptical, and further believed that were going to take the Covenant shooting gallery approach.
If Spartan Ops is going to be interesting, it has to have SOME sort of engaging story that will keep players interested. If Spartan Ops was nothing by a string of objectives through maps, would it keep you interested enough to come back week after week? It’s also going to be hell on hard drives considering we have to download a new mission pack each week, unless were going with the good old reused maps formula.
If it’s going to be about the Infinity’s voyages, then it should at least give some mix, with actual real objectives for a reason. At some point, it’s suppose to run alongside the main single player Campaign?
My judgment on Spartan Ops as a key feature of Halo 4 remains in the balance. If it’s reused maps and Covenant shooting arenas, it definitely won’t warrant the weekly download (Hell, I’d be irritated if it was all on the disk, just unlocked each week). If it actually manages to be something better, then I might just become a fan.
I guess that Halo 4’s Campaign completely focuses on Chief and Cortana’s story, while Spartan Ops tells us, what’s happening meanwhile in elsewhere. So I guess the story told in Spartan ops will be significant. I sure hell can’t wait for play Spartan ops!
IMO one of the negative things about the story in Halo2/3 is that since we never left chiefs eyes, we never got a sense of scale or a sense of the effect of you actions.
We never understood the scale of the planet for earth, we never understood how much of earth was destroyed in Halo 3. We never had a proper idea of how terrible and tragic the fall of reach was on a global scale.
Spartan Ops is pretty interesting. Believe or not, a lot players just play Halo for the Campaign and not even touch the MP (don’t scoff at this idea, it’s actually true. Think it was confirmed on Neo Gaf by Frankie or something like that).
Spartan Ops is there to get players involved by giving them a similar experience the the Campaign, just it’s episodic and free for the first season. Those who won’t touch the MP will be interested in Spartan Ops as playing that also ties in to unlocking new stuff for competitive MP and has it’s own story to boot.
I think it’s a really cool idea and not one that can be bashed on save for the name.
First season will be free and if it’s a hit, it may even be expanded for future DLC at a price (Frankie hinted at this on Neo Gaf as well).
Spartan Ops is based around the journey’s of the UNSC’s latest and largest ship : UNSC Infinity. It’s meant to expand the universe, so I want the stories to be mainly visiting other worlds and being the ability to explore them, not in a linear fashion like most Halo campaigns. It would also be nice to find new creatures, weapons and characters. Hopefully, if you play 4 player co-op (even though I would prefer even more like 10 or something) the cut scenes will show all the players in their armour with dialogue; instead of having it like Reach where it only shows one of them. If you are playing less, then it puts in AI with a specific armour set.
> IMO one of the negative things about the story in Halo2/3 is that since we never left chiefs eyes, we never got a sense of scale or a sense of the effect of you actions.
>
> We never understood the scale of the planet for earth, we never understood how much of earth was destroyed in Halo 3. We never had a proper idea of how terrible and tragic the fall of reach was on a global scale.
>
> Hopefully spartan ops helps that.
I agree.
I believe that the whole premise of the co op missions will be about how the rest of the UNSC “finishes the fight.”
It will probably deal with missions to wipe out the remaining sects of the covenant loyalists which then I think will ultimately lead to the final conclusion of possibly leading you to the place/world that originated the covenant.
By going to the origin, this will none other deal with the forerunners as the covenant were greatly influenced by them, thus possibly then linking the story to the master chief as he himself is going to be more in contact with the forerunners which may bring him to this place as well.
> I agree.
> I believe that the whole premise of the co op missions will be about how the rest of the UNSC “finishes the fight.”
>
> It will probably deal with missions to wipe out the remaining sects of the covenant loyalists which then I think will ultimately lead to the final conclusion of possibly leading you to the place/world that originated the covenant.
Few things in the lore: there is no more true Covenant loyalist. The Prophets fled (possibly coming back later with a new Covenant perhaps?) and the Brutes either continued working for the Elites, went back to their old ways or such.
The world that is the origins the Covenant? It would be High Charity, and that’s already destroyed. The Prophet’s home world was demolished by the Forerunner’s. So there really is no Covenant home world asides from High Charity, which got completely destroyed. End of that lead.
As for what we could fight… the Insurrection? According to Glass Lands, they come back bigger and stronger following the Covenant Wars, allied with Grunts, Brutes and Jackals. They also have successfully liberated at least one world; Venezia, from the UNSC, something previously not possible without getting nuked (Far Isle).
Ive seen a few people saying the term spartan ops, is from call of duty, but i actually played halo 3 campaign and the word spartan ops is in there, i think i saw it on a wall or a weapon tray thing. Im just saying, not to bring up any cod vs halo topics.
I get the feeling that after reading the events that are unfolding in the Glasslands novel it’s going to have to do with the Sangheili Civil War that ONI is trying to start. Maybe we’ll see some of this in the campaign when the Chief crosses paths with Infinity. Or maybe we’ll see most of it through Spartan Ops. I really hope it is about the Sangheili Civil War since the novel made me want to see more of that at the end.
> IMO one of the negative things about the story in Halo2/3 is that since we never left chiefs eyes, we never got a sense of scale or a sense of the effect of you actions.
>
> We never understood the scale of the planet for earth, we never understood how much of earth was destroyed in Halo 3. We never had a proper idea of how terrible and tragic the fall of reach was on a global scale.
>
> Hopefully spartan ops helps that.
Halo 2? Are you forgetting the Covenant campaign starring the Arbiter? That was an excellent move by Bungie.
> I think the idea of an addition of a Co-Op Campaign is excellent, but I was just wondering what kind of story? I mean; a really weak Co-op story just invented to string together random arenas of shooting the same old Covenant enemies? Or would it be something more? Take into account that the main characters of this story are custom characters; Infinity and Spartan Ops share the same player character, so there is no sort of characterization, maybe not even voice acting asides from briefings and debriefings, so the story is going thin here.
>
> Sure, it will have weekly updates. I think episodic content is great, but once I heard that there would be FIVE weekly missions in Spartan Ops (Sourced from the Nothing But Unbiased Facts thread above), I became even more skeptical, and further believed that were going to take the Covenant shooting gallery approach.
>
> If Spartan Ops is going to be interesting, it has to have SOME sort of engaging story that will keep players interested. If Spartan Ops was nothing by a string of objectives through maps, would it keep you interested enough to come back week after week? It’s also going to be hell on hard drives considering we have to download a new mission pack each week, unless were going with the good old reused maps formula.
>
> If it’s going to be about the Infinity’s voyages, then it should at least give some mix, with actual real objectives for a reason. At some point, it’s suppose to run alongside the main single player Campaign?
>
> My judgment on Spartan Ops as a key feature of Halo 4 remains in the balance. If it’s reused maps and Covenant shooting arenas, it definitely won’t warrant the weekly download (Hell, I’d be irritated if it was all on the disk, just unlocked each week). If it actually manages to be something better, then I might just become a fan.
I thought spartan ops was more of a series of videos, and the shooting being just a follow up or a what-the-spartans-did thing.
I’m hoping it is somewhat similar to Battlefield 3’s co-op mode, with different requirements such as sniping, flying vehicles, disarming bombs, QTE’s, and of course plain old killing. It will have fun things, and it should also have new things, so the newer batches which aren’t free will make players actually play.