The Elite Ultra Effect -From Halo 3 to Halo 5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Dear forum,

Today I would like to discuss an aspect of gameplay that I like to call the Elite Ultra Effect. This is about how the main enemies feel to fight. This was a major drawback in how Halo Reach and Halo 4 fights felt rather shallow. The name the ‘elite ultra effect’ begins with Halo 3.

Halo 3 had brutes as the main enemy. They somehow felt very enjoyable to fight against - but most importantly - it was satisyingto kill them with e.g. a melee. They felt beefy and felt like the bullets you were firing actually damaged them. ODST felt fine too because it used the same enemy models and AI. This can be seen in this situation:
Halo 3 Barracks fight

Then along came Halo: Reach. Most elites were fun to fight against, especially the Zealots because the way they were affected by damage was similar to the brutes. The exception in this game was the Elite Ultra. They somehow felt different to fight against - like the countless headshots you pulled off didn’t seem rewarding. Sure you took them down but the deaths felt cheap and took long to accomplish:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tVB4I5e5_s
You may have got the same feeling of dissatisfaction when fighting a seemingly invincible Flood Combat form in Halo 3.

Now you may think that it only feels weird because they are difficult enemies. This is not true, Brute Chieftains in Halo 3 posed a large threat, but were still very satisfying to eliminate.

And on came Halo 4, which unfortunately worsened the problem. Almost all enemies had the ‘elite ultra effect’, especially the promethean knights. In Spartan Ops it would take a long time to drop the shields of an elite general and it wasn’t a satisfying feeling either. The grunts do not have the elite-ultra effect yet, and that is why it is so fun to pop them off one by one. I think this has to do with a ‘meaty’ feel/sound that can make it seem like your bullets are actually doing damage. Gears of War does this very well.

It may also have to do with gameplay. So in order to prevent this feel of ‘artificial’ fighting in Halo 5, ensure that the enemies feel meatier and not metallic so that all the bullets simply ping off them. Also if all elites were to react more to being meleed once (e.g. shields gone immediately, large flinch), it would recreate Halo 3’s fighting feel.

Now many of you may disagree with me, just give my post a read and give your opinion. Thanks :slight_smile:

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Ah but that’s my point. It’s not about difficulty of killing them or the weapons used to take them down. It’s about the satisfaction you get from it. Halo 2 elites may have been difficult to kill but they felt fun to take down whereas that feeling had diminished.

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Now maybe this is just me but i felt like i did something great when i killed an Ultra in Reach. They weren’t as powerful as in Halo 2(-Yoinking!- ULTRAS WERE GODS! IF YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN IT WAS OVER! YOU HAD TO GO ALL OUT!)I love halo 2’s enemies and Halo Ce are what i call the real Covenant. They fought as if they wanted to live to see the next day. Halo 4 it seems like they do anything to just hold a pointless area with zero tactical value. Halo 2 jackals took to the high ground and elites waited to strike. Brutes used grunts as cover and Phantoms didn’t retreat at your sight. They held their ground and wouldn’t dare betray their allies by leaving them behind.

Halo 2 also felt like your troops meant more. Every time you needed back up they had your back. IT felt like a war rather than MC looking at an entire Covenant armada and thinking…

" I got this! "

In Halo 2 Cortana was very worried about the fleet around High Charity. But in Halo 4 when you are alone against the Storm Covenant she seems to think MC is invincible and will literally kill them all.

They need to bring back the feel of mortality to Halo. MC is a powerhouse of destruction but he is a mortal one. They need to make it so marines offer you weapons again, and Covenant need to feel real. They need to all be hard to kill and worth it or at least every elite and Hunter.

P.S. Did you know that Halo 4 is the only Halo game that when you make first contact with hunters, they don’t get introduce -Yoink!- something awesome.

Halo CE: They are deployed to shut your assault down when you are attacking The Truth and Reconciliation.(They even got their own theme music.)

Halo 2: They bash down a door between you abd your objective and walk in like a pair of badasses and let out a roar.( Own theme music again.)

Halo 3: They blow up Traxis workers fleeing from battle in a fiery explosion.

H3 ODST: They come between Eddie Buck after you kill so many brutes as well as introducing a subspecies of Hunters.

Halo Wars: NO ONE CARES!

Halo Reach: They take back sword base and hold it until reinforcements arrive.

Halo 4: They hunt down an old woman and fight of police with armed scientist.

Spartan Assault: I don’t have this game and possibly won’t be getting it for i don’t have windows 8 or an iphone.

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> I loved killing the Elite Ultra in Nightfall. The one far inside the camp. The second he came out with his concussion rifle on legendary, I had to be stealthy and assassinate him. It was like an achievement.
>
> Halo 2 on the other hand…
>
> Cairo Station is the only level in Halo history that I’ve refused to replay on Legendary. Not even the thrill of finding a skull was enough to persuade me. Why do I refuse? Because Elites in groups in Halo 2 are the worst, and in Cairo Station they seemingly got a buff. That was not fun. I’ve completed every other mission in Halo 2 on legendary without much trouble, because I could avoid taking on larger groups.

Ah, i remember that feeling. I was nearly crying when they sent the 4th wave of elites. Just wondering how so many came from that one pod. Than… more of floated out!

Me: NOT MORE OF THEM!

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You say elite ultras are like bullet sponges but I think thats the point.

There supposed to be difficult to kill to make the game harder so you dont just fly threw it.

Its rather easy to kill elites covenant weapon for shields and precision weapons for headshots.

Unless by bullet sponges your just using automatic weapons to kill them instead of precision.

Unless its on legendary which you had to use stradgy four direct hits with that concussion rifle your dead. Get to close roundhouse kick to the face you die.

8

Some people seem to be missing the point that the OP is making here.

He/she is talking about how satisfying it feels/doesn’t feel to kill certain enemies in Halo, not how time consuming it is.

As for my thoughts on this, if I’m understanding where you’re coming from, I get the same feeling from killing Hunters.
Something about the metallic sound of bullets bouncing off of them is quite unsatisfying compared to the “meaty” sound of bullets reaching a targets flesh.

Even if it took the same amount of time to kill a Hunter, but it sounded like the bullets were actually doing damage, then this would make me feel more satisfied when killing them.

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I have to agree with you. But my opinion is pretty biased because I basically worship Halo 3. I see not one thing wrong with it lol

I see what you mean about the brutes. I adore the Brutes. They are my favourites characters in Halo. I think what made them so fun to fight is that, unlike Elites, they have personality. They say funny things, go ballistic and have variety. I also really liked the Flood in Halo 3. Had no problems with them as enemies and want them to return in Halo 5.

Then along came Halo Reach. I have to start by saying that they completely raped the Brutes of their awesomeness. They were so -Yoink- in Reach. Just bland and boring. And the same with the Elites. Sometimes they were okay but generally, they were just dull enemies. And I didn’t really like their skins. Grunts, Jackals and Hunters were what saved the Covenant as enemies in Reach.

And now Halo 4. The Promethean’s are one of my most hated enemy types in any game. They are utter dog -Yoink- in my opinion. No character, bland, boring and just down right annoying. They aren’t fun at all to fight. I also felt like the Covenant were shoved in there because they had to be (weapons and plot development). You can tell 343i didn’t care about them. They were a waist of money to put in the game.

For Halo 5, focus on the Covenant as enemies! Make them the main threat and for the love of god, have them speak English. It gives them a personality. Bring back the Flood. And most importantly, BRUTES!!!

Most of you will think that my suggestions are ridiculous and unrealistic. But you know what, I’d rather have a fun game than a realistic one.

10

Halo 3 brutes were terrible
they were boring and dumb
Reach was fine
Halo 4 had the best enemies.
Halo 2 I never had a problem with the fights
Halo ce 2 missions were tough for me

11

> If you have trouble killing elite ultras because they’re bullet sponges, you’re using the wrong weapons. Most original Covenant weapons remove shields very quickly. And Halo Reach Elites are nothing compared to Halo 2 Elites.
>
> Prometheans, on the other hand, are ridiculous I will admit. Though their standing still helps the situation.

I don’t think everyone wants to use the same two weapons (pp and precision weapon) to approach arguably one of the most common combat situations. That’s what makes the recent legendary playthroughs tedious, and unrewarding. People tend to use the most effective approach, and when there’s only one or two, 8 hours straight of it isn’t gonna put smiles on peoples’ faces.

12

I found fighting the Brutes in Halo 3 not that fun, they are really stupid. Granted they aren’t as annoying as Halo Reach/4 Fuel Rod General spammers but they aren’t really that fun or engaging either.

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> Halo Wars: NO ONE CARES!

I care…

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Halo 4 was a tedious game throughout regarding combat. No satisfaction in killing Promethean Knights despite the level of irritation and difficulty the Watchers bring to the table. The strategy of combat the Prometheans use is right and tactical, using the Crawlers as canon fodder, and Watchers as support, and when all else fails they charge at you. But the way the tactics were deployed make fighting them very irritating. The prometheans abuse their power. Sure they’re difficult but not fun at all. Watchers could be fun if they don’t fly away at the first sign of danger as well as Knights, I do find killing Crawlers fun let alone assasinating them which IMO is satisfying.

Enemies need to stand their ground and when attacked, actually go after you strategically when trying to run away. Remove their excessive aimbot and bring back variety in combat scenarios, not rinse and repeat.

Halo CE has tons of variety, but I mention only this game because the sequels began to dull out a bit. The covenant each had their own play style,

Elites would chase you/ stand their ground when leading a squad of grunts. They would scream when their shields were broken, therefore allowing the player to know they were about to kill said Elite.

Grunts were amusing for their random dialogue depending on scenario, my favorite was when sticking a Grunt with a plasma grenade they would run around screaming, “Not Again!” and occasionally run into their friends thus killing a bunch due to the mistake of the stuck grunt. Grunts in packs would stand their ground, when the Elite squad leader would be killed, they would lose morale and then gain it back after a while, when killing a massive amount of grunts leaving only a few, some would scurry away in fear or on occasion some would go berserk and commit suicide with plasma grenades, making the grunts even more of a threat.

Jackals relied heavily on their shields and numbers, when the numbers would deplete they would scurry away covering their heads, personality.

Hunters… Hunters would NEVER back down from anything, they could be distracted fighting flood but would hold their ground and never run away. They were masters with the Fuel Rod and would force the player to take cover and move fast.

Flood

Each flood combat form also had an entirely new level of combat. Some had weapons some didn’t and some had rocket launchers which catches everyone by surprise because their is no restrictions to what they can kill you with. Thus the ambiguity of the Flood combat forms kept the player on their toes.

Flood Carrier Forms would waddle their way toward you and were always the top priority to dispatch at a long distance, they got to close, they would face plant the floor and explode causing massive damage and releasing Flood infection forms which would pop against you or on occasion actually attach to you and drain your health.

15

Don’t forget about the lackluster abilities.

Reach Ultras/Generals were just regular Elites with better guns.
Halo 4 Generals were just regular Elites. They had zero gun variety.
Halo 4 Knights were distinguished by a single unique ability. Lancer’s were easily avoidable, Battlewagon’s was rare, and Commander’s was overpowered and uninteresting.

By far, only a single Elite in Halo 4 has impressed me; an Elite Ranger that spawns in the airlock room on Composer. He turns on/off active camo, has complex pathfinding, switches between a sword and storm rifle, without the need to be stuck or lose his shielding. And he can do a leap/jump like the Zealots in Halo 1.

Halo 2 Ultras on the other hand, they could pull out swords! Major game changer right there. Depending on the circumstance, it could be beneficial or detrimental to your progress. There were many things to do with a sword Elite on Easy, and with as word (i.e. sword flying). H2 Ultras, despite having ridiculous shielding, were actually fun and interesting enemies. Dynamic…

HOWEVER, here is one distinct fairness H4 enemies have over H3/Reach enemies: their health is reasonable (hasn’t been like this since CE/H2, more so CE since H2 had durable Drones, Flood, and Brutes).

Only their shields exhibit the bullet sponge property. Whereas unshielded Reach Elites rarely flinched from a melee, Reach Jackals ate up grenades, etc. Even on Easy, these guys could be tough.

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> P.S. Did you know that Halo 4 is the only Halo game that when you make first contact with hunters, they don’t get introduce -Yoink!- something awesome.

Actually, in Halo 4, they’re first seen engaging Sentinels. But yeah, that’s not epic (made even worse by how the Sentinels don’t even look like they’re doing any damage). In fact, everything you need (fuel rod gun) to kill them is nearby (was also the case in H3).

The Hunter fight on Shutdown was a lot better.

17

> Now maybe this is just me but i felt like i did something great when i killed an Ultra in Reach. They weren’t as powerful as in Halo 2(-Yoinking!- ULTRAS WERE GODS! IF YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN IT WAS OVER! YOU HAD TO GO ALL OUT!)I love halo 2’s enemies and Halo Ce are what i call the real Covenant. They fought as if they wanted to live to see the next day. Halo 4 it seems like they do anything to just hold a pointless area with zero tactical value. Halo 2 jackals took to the high ground and elites waited to strike. Brutes used grunts as cover and Phantoms didn’t retreat at your sight. They held their ground and wouldn’t dare betray their allies by leaving them behind.
>
> Halo 2 also felt like your troops meant more. Every time you needed back up they had your back. IT felt like a war rather than MC looking at an entire Covenant armada and thinking…
>
> " I got this! "
>
> In Halo 2 Cortana was very worried about the fleet around High Charity. But in Halo 4 when you are alone against the Storm Covenant she seems to think MC is invincible and will literally kill them all.
>
> They need to bring back the feel of mortality to Halo. MC is a powerhouse of destruction but he is a mortal one. They need to make it so marines offer you weapons again, and Covenant need to feel real. They need to all be hard to kill and worth it or at least every elite and Hunter.
>
> P.S. Did you know that Halo 4 is the only Halo game that when you make first contact with hunters, they don’t get introduce -Yoink!- something awesome.
>
> Halo CE: They are deployed to shut your assault down when you are attacking The Truth and Reconciliation.(They even got their own theme music.)
>
> Halo 2: They bash down a door between you abd your objective and walk in like a pair of badasses and let out a roar.( Own theme music again.)
>
> Halo 3: They blow up Traxis workers fleeing from battle in a fiery explosion.
>
> H3 ODST: They come between Eddie Buck after you kill so many brutes as well as introducing a subspecies of Hunters.
>
> Halo Wars: NO ONE CARES!
>
> Halo Reach: They take back sword base and hold it until reinforcements arrive.
>
> Halo 4: They hunt down an old woman and fight of police with armed scientist.
>
> Spartan Assault: I don’t have this game and possibly won’t be getting it for i don’t have windows 8 or an iphone.

The Hunters in Halo 4 are introduced shooting down sentinels in the second level.

18

> Some people seem to be missing the point that the OP is making here.
>
> He/she is talking about how satisfying it feels/doesn’t feel to kill certain enemies in Halo, not how time consuming it is.
>
> As for my thoughts on this, if I’m understanding where you’re coming from, I get the same feeling from killing Hunters.
> Something about the metallic sound of bullets bouncing off of them is quite unsatisfying compared to the “meaty” sound of bullets reaching a targets flesh.
>
> Even if it took the same amount of time to kill a Hunter, but it sounded like the bullets were actually doing damage, then this would make me feel more satisfied when killing them.

Yes this is exactly what I mean.

19

So basically bullet sponges are bad, and sound effects need to reinforce the damage output of weapons.

I literally face-palmed at this very moment while watching the GoW2 sound effects vid.

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