Halo: Infinite

[Dankster Morgan]

Started my legendary playthrough since I finished all my weekly challenges. It’s definitely harder than heroic noticeably so but it doesn’t feel too unfair.

 

[Marinjuana]

Having a Razorback Warthog full of kitted out marines is dope, blasting Phantoms out of the sky

 

[Juxtapose]

Its in the drop down box next to the emotes. I bet I know which boss you're talking about haha

Thanks!

It's

Spoiler

Bassius, if I spelled that right. I'll post more details later, but it was frustrating with the limited movement options you have. His boss fight would have been a great tutorial for the Thrust ability, but you get it pretty much right after.

 

[Juxtapose]

@Dankster Morgan Okay, so:

Spoiler

Bassius or whatever his name was. Once the fight started I attacked and of course he smashed me good. So I immediately started using my Grappleshot to try and keep distance, but it would almost always whiff when trying to connect to the ceiling. I then tried grappling to him and stunning him while moving around, and that had some success (I killed once at the same time he killed me), but I found I oft was getting stuck on geo and then smashed).

I must have died a good 30 times and was just so frustrated, not knowing what to do as I had run through my tool kit. I then started thinking that perhaps I had missed the Thrust Ability and you're supposed to be using that to dodge him, as this would make sense for a Thrust "tutorial."

I finally had to go to the internet to watch a video and see what to do. Turns out the Grappleshot is the mobility answer, but you need to get to the facility's lower level for it to properly work...

I took him out shortly after that, but thus far, this is the only part of the game I felt was poorly/not intuitively designed.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

@Dankster Morgan Okay, so:

Spoiler

Bassius or whatever his name was. Once the fight started I attacked and of course he smashed me good. So I immediately started using my Grappleshot to try and keep distance, but it would almost always whiff when trying to connect to the ceiling. I then tried grappling to him and stunning him while moving around, and that had some success (I killed once at the same time he killed me), but I found I oft was getting stuck on geo and then smashed).

I must have died a good 30 times and was just so frustrated, not knowing what to do as I had run through my tool kit. I then started thinking that perhaps I had missed the Thrust Ability and you're supposed to be using that to dodge him, as this would make sense for a Thrust "tutorial."

I finally had to go to the internet to watch a video and see what to do. Turns out the Grappleshot is the mobility answer, but you need to get to the facility's lower level for it to properly work...

I took him out shortly after that, but thus far, this is the only part of the game I felt was poorly/not intuitively designed.

I saw a good way to cheese him in a YT video.
I feel like this is an ambiguous description so I won’t drop a spoiler. Use the skewer for health and a plasma weapon for shields, and get on top of the middle barrier in the center of the room. He will wind up and be vulnerable. When he’s about to get you, drop on to the other side. He will start to chase you by going around, jump back on top, and repeat the process. He literally can’t touch you and his AI won’t jump on to the middle barrier, he will only go around. Kinda fitting since this is a pretty dumb character.

 

[Juxtapose]

I saw a good way to cheese him in a YT video.
I feel like this is an ambiguous description so I won’t drop a spoiler. Use the skewer for health and a plasma weapon for shields, and get on top of the middle barrier in the center of the room. He will wind up and be vulnerable. When he’s about to get you, drop on to the other side. He will start to chase you by going around, jump back on top, and repeat the process. He literally can’t touch you and his AI won’t jump on to the middle barrier, he will only go around. Kinda fitting since this is a pretty dumb character.

Ah, so you agree with me that it wasn't a good boss fight then.

The challenge to is, weapon-wise, I had the Assault Rifle and, I think, the Stalker Rifle. Or maybe it was the Sniper Rifle. Either way, I realized very quickly that was a bad loadout for this encounter...

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Ah, so you agree with me that it wasn't a good boss fight then.

The challenge to is, weapon-wise, I had the Assault Rifle and, I think, the Stalker Rifle. Or maybe it was the Sniper Rifle. Either way, I realized very quickly that was a bad loadout for this encounter...

I had a BR and I think needler on my heroic playthrough. Needler is really good for bossses, but I was ready for this mf on the legendary playthrough. One go of the arcane sentinal beam melts his shields, and while he is throwing a fit, you can stick him with some grenades. Then I had a rocket launcher that was up there, then when it was empty I picked up the skewer on that barrier I used to cheese him.

HOWEVER, my game glitched out on legendary, and when Bassus ambushes you after you press the button which causes a cutscene, there was NO cutscene so Basssus spawned right behind me and ass blasted me instantly. Had to re-load a checkpoint again and luckily I got the cutsene and the safe start distance from Basssus.

 

[Juxtapose]

I had a BR and I think needler on my heroic playthrough. Needler is really good for bossses, but I was ready for this mf on the legendary playthrough. One go of the arcane sentinal beam melts his shields, and while he is throwing a fit, you can stick him with some grenades. Then I had a rocket launcher that was up there, then when it was empty I picked up the skewer on that barrier I used to cheese him.

HOWEVER, my game glitched out on legendary, and when Bassus ambushes you after you press the button which causes a cutscene, there was NO cutscene so Basssus spawned right behind me and ass blasted me instantly. Had to re-load a checkpoint again and luckily I got the cutsene and the safe start distance from Basssus.

Very cool. I'm now at the part where I'm

Spoiler

taking out the three AA turrests

and I'm 55% of the way through the game. Looking forward to finishing it off, and then doing a Heroic playthrough.

I also need to try the Needler; I have yet to touch it in the game.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Very cool. I'm now at the part where I'm

Spoiler

taking out the three AA turrests

and I'm 55% of the way through the game. Looking forward to finishing it off, and then doing a Heroic playthrough.

I also need to try the Needler; I have yet to touch it in the game.

Needler is very effective against bosses once their shields are down and against hunters in general

 

[Juxtapose]

Needler is very effective against bosses once their shields are down and against hunters in general

So I'm discovering. 60% complete now.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I finished my Legendary playthrough this morning, doing most of the FOBS to make travel more convenient when doing main missions, not doing any of the bases because I already did them on heroic and fuck that shit. I think the difficulty was fair and well balanced for the most part.

I HIGHLY recommend getting the arcane sentinal beam and NEVER dropping it once you enter the command spire mission, because you CAN'T get it again. I was kicking myself and really wanting it when the mother fucking hammer chieftain in the harbinger boss fight was pushing my shit in while the commando skimmers and stalker rifle elites were melting me.

I didn't do any cheeses or skips, but god damn if those banished hunters aren't infuriating, same goes for Hyperius / Tovarus boss fight. So all in all, it took 12 hours not particularly rushing at all, and there are only 3 specific encounters that jump out at me as bullshit.

 

[Juxtapose]

@Dankster Morgan Congrats dude, good stuff!

I'm either 85% or 87% done my first playthrough (on Normal) now. I'm on the mission where

Spoiler

I need to go resuce Echo 216. I'm just about to get the Scorpion Tank.

Questions for you:

• Unlocks, such as Datapads, Skulls, etc. Do they carry over between playthroughs or do you need to find everything again?
• The Banished Weapons you get from killing high value targets and can requisition from FOBs, is there someplace you can go in-game to find out what the variance actually is with them? You can for the UNSC weapons, but I can't find the Banished ones.

I just started using the base Sentinel Beam, holy rocking chairs Batman, that thing is crazy strong! Where do you get the Arcane one? From a HVT?

The Banished Hunters, I fought a pair guarding

Spoiler

the Catch Skull

, they took me out twice, as they respawned on me after I went exploring. The first time I took them out with a Wasp. The second, in a Ghost from a distance. Not sure if there are more of them or if these are the only pair in the game (don't tell me!). Against regular Hunter pairs, I'm finding the Thrust Ability to be a godsend. In fact, it's quickly becoming my second fav combat Ability (after Threat Sensor).

 

[Dankster Morgan]

@Dankster Morgan Congrats dude, good stuff!

I'm either 85% or 87% done my first playthrough (on Normal) now. I'm on the mission where

Spoiler

I need to go resuce Echo 216. I'm just about to get the Scorpion Tank.

Questions for you:

• Unlocks, such as Datapads, Skulls, etc. Do they carry over between playthroughs or do you need to find everything again?
• The Banished Weapons you get from killing high value targets and can requisition from FOBs, is there someplace you can go in-game to find out what the variance actually is with them? You can for the UNSC weapons, but I can't find the Banished ones.

I just started using the base Sentinel Beam, holy rocking chairs Batman, that thing is crazy strong! Where do you get the Arcane one? From a HVT?

The Banished Hunters, I fought a pair guarding

Spoiler

the Catch Skull

, they took me out twice, as they respawned on me after I went exploring. The first time I took them out with a Wasp. The second, in a Ghost from a distance. Not sure if there are more of them or if these are the only pair in the game (don't tell me!). Against regular Hunter pairs, I'm finding the Thrust Ability to be a godsend. In fact, it's quickly becoming my second fav combat Ability (after Threat Sensor).

Data pads and skulls do transfer between saves. I’m not sure where to see differences on banished variants. Arcane sentinal beam is on the same island as the dig site on an elite HVT who is the ghost pilot. Won’t spoil the hunter thing for you but I will say you’re on the right track with using thrust. Base sentinal beam is excellent too. Even on legendary my loadout on close quarter sections was sentinal beam and arcane sentinal beam lol

 

[Juxtapose]

Data pads and skulls do transfer between saves. I’m not sure where to see differences on banished variants. Arcane sentinal beam is on the same island as the dig site on an elite HVT who is the ghost pilot. Won’t spoil the hunter thing for you but I will say you’re on the right track with using thrust. Base sentinal beam is excellent too. Even on legendary my loadout on close quarter sections was sentinal beam and arcane sentinal beam lol

Nice. So the Arcane Sentinel Beam, it can not be requisitioned at a FOB? I thought all the HVT weapons you could get at FOBs?

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Nice. So the Arcane Sentinel Beam, it can not be requisitioned at a FOB? I thought all the HVT weapons you could get at FOBs?

It can be requisitioned once you kill the boss, I was just telling you where the boss is.

 

[Juxtapose]

Cool. I just made it to the

Spoiler

House of Reckoning.

Had a fun bug while I was driving the Scorpion. I started getting attacked, but couldn't figure out from where. I could see the shots, but not the enemy. Then I heard the horn and realized I was being shot at by a Phantom. That didn't spawn correctly and was invisible and invulnerable... Had not choice but to reload the checkpoint, which took me back to the very beginning of the mission as opposed to my actual last checkpoint...

 

[Juxtapose]

I finished the Main Missions! Overall, that was a lot of fun and took just under 30 hours. I'm 87% through the game now and need to finish finish finding Skulls, Audio Logs, and Propaganda Towers. I'll actually try that on PC to see how well my system handles the game. I also did watch the Legendary ending on YouTube, since I doubt I'll go beyond Heroic myself.

Overall:

Pros

• The open world concept works extremely well for Halo
• Some of the new weapons are pretty neat
• The AI was challenging in many spots, but in a good way
• All the Armour Abilities are useful this game, and there's definitely a DOOM: Eternal feel to a few of them
• The story and characters are very well done. Say what you will about 343 industries, but with Bungie, John was just a "vessel" for the player, very bland. Throughout 343's Reclaimer Trilogy, they've made John into an actual character and a person.
• The soundtrack is excellent!

Cons

• I found switching between Armour Abilities and Grenades on-the-fly to be very cumbersome/unresponsive, which caused me to die several times. It's no where near as fluid as DOOM: Eternal, even if they were trying to go for a bit of that feel.
• Two boss battles in particular are very poorly designed. The first because your mobility is hampered with the Grappleshot not working properly in the upper level of the facility, the second because you're constantly getting snagged on geometry. The final boss battle I was neutral on, as it was made more frustrating than it should have been because of my issues with switching Armour Abilities.
• Spartans have more and more been made to be "super hero" figures in the lore, but Halo Infinite turns John-117 into a proverbial messiah. I think they took that a little too far.
• Non-hardlight Cortana looks like she's were a goofy body suit instead of being made out of code.
• Several vehicles (Scorpion, Wraith, Wasp) felt sluggish and unresponsive and not like their past iterations. Banshee's straddled the middle line.

Knit-picks

• Grappleshot needs slightly longer range.
• Some of the open world missions become repetitive, and enemy respawns can happen far too quickly.
• I wasn't big on the Shock Weapons or Grenade.
• No Thel Vadam.
• No Description for Banished Variant Weapons at FOBs.
• The Active Camo effect of Thrust didn't seem to perfectly work on some bosses.
• Being an open world, the game has some very wonky open-world style bugs.

 

[Juxtapose]

Hey all,

I have four 2XP Codes for Multiplayer from a Pringles contest that I'll never use. If anyone wants one, let me know!

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I agree on your review mostly @Juxtapose

One thing I will say is that on higher difficulties, especially legendary, the grenade and equipment switches work really smoothly because you'll die a lot at certain sections until you master it. Once you have it down, it's second nature. I'd recommend going back on heroic or maybe legendary, you'll really get the most out of the AI and what the sandbox has to offer. I think heroic is the best difficulty because you can still kinda go nuts but not be stupid. The game gives you a lot of tools to over extend, but enough tools to bail yourself out if you're clever enough.

Probably my game of the year

 

[Juxtapose]

I agree on your review mostly @Juxtapose

One thing I will say is that on higher difficulties, especially legendary, the grenade and equipment switches work really smoothly because you'll die a lot at certain sections until you master it. Once you have it down, it's second nature. I'd recommend going back on heroic or maybe legendary, you'll really get the most out of the AI and what the sandbox has to offer. I think heroic is the best difficulty because you can still kinda go nuts but not be stupid. The game gives you a lot of tools to over extend, but enough tools to bail yourself out if you're clever enough.

Probably my game of the year

Nice. I'm about ready to start my second playthrough, which will be on Heroic.

I'm 33 hours into my first playthrough now, and I've found every audio log and Propaganda Tower. My save file is at 99%. The only thing I'm missing is 5 Skulls from main Story levels, though I can't seem to go back for them. Am I correct that the only way to get them would be a new playthrough?

I've also been playing on my PC now, and on Medium settings, I tend to average 57 to 60 FPS in the open world, which is pretty good considering my processor is at the min. requirements. I tried Low settings as well, and I get an average of 59 to 60 FPS, so for a few more frames, I'm okay with Medium settings.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Nice. I'm about ready to start my second playthrough, which will be on Heroic.

I'm 33 hours into my first playthrough now, and I've found every audio log and Propaganda Tower. My save file is at 99%. The only thing I'm missing is 5 Skulls from main Story levels, though I can't seem to go back for them. Am I correct that the only way to get them would be a new playthrough?

I've also been playing on my PC now, and on Medium settings, I tend to average 57 to 60 FPS in the open world, which is pretty good considering my processor is at the min. requirements. I tried Low settings as well, and I get an average of 59 to 60 FPS, so for a few more frames, I'm okay with Medium settings.

57 fps is basically 60. And correct, the skulls and audio logs are transferable between saves

 

[Juxtapose]

Started my second playthrough on Heroic. A good challenge so far. The Pulse Carbine does more damage and the AI is more accurate; I actually died a few times in that first major battle on the bridge!

Had to adjust my play to be more cautious.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I did too, on legendary especially, I popped out of cover on the second level, and the pulse carbine can kill you in basically one go (they usually fire 3 times) with no shield upgrades. Makes the red elites no joke.

Even on higher difficulties, the AI at least aren't bullet sponges even if they're smarter and more deadly. Brutes still go down super easy.

 

[Juxtapose]

I found Brute Chieftains significantly more tanky this game than past iterations.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I found Brute Chieftains significantly more tanky this game than past iterations.

Chieftains more than make up for how easily the majority of brutes go down to any precision weapon. You shoot off their helmet, to get another helmet, then you can headshot them. The hammer chieftains are legit scary, I swear it was the final boss, not Harbinger. Due to my pure unshackled autism, I've been making an AI tier list lol. I'd say for the enemies you will run into in terms of difficulty to kill them (on the difficulties I played being Heroic and Legendary), and their ability to kill you, imo it goes:

S+: Banished Hunters
S: Gold Elites, Brute Chieftain Ultras, Classic Hunters
A+: Ultra Elites, Spec Ops Elites, Brute Chieftain, Sniper Jackals (Legendary), Rocket Skimmers (don't see a lot of them)
A: Red Elites, Brute Captain Ultra, Gold Brute Berserker, Sniper Jackal (Heroic)
A-: Elite Minor, Brute Captain, all Brute Stalkers, standard Brute Berserker
B+: Gold and Purple Brute Minors (gold is TECHNICALLY BETTER)
B: Blue Brute Minor, Grunt Ultra, Red Jackal, Skirmisher, Commando and Shock Rifle Skimmer, Sentinel Major and shock rifle Sentinel
B-: Blue and Purple Jackal Minors (purple is technically better), Sentinel Minor
C: every other Grunt rank

Basically I think that the Banished Hunters are god awful and that fight with the two of them in that small room in the Silent Auditorium on Legendary was horrible. Not insurmountable obviously, but I died a lot, didn't cheese it, but on my successful run I really thought multiple times that I got very lucky. Anything in the S tier can kill you in a 1v1 if you aren't on your game. A+ are very dangerous when put with a lot of other units to distract you, and can quickly end you. Same with A tier, but less so, and you will almost always beat them in a 1v1. The B tiers aren't bad by themselves, but could potentially kill you in number. And grunts are grunts. Sniper Jackals and Rocket Skimmers are only as high as they are due to how quickly they can kill you, although if you know where they are, no big deal.