I guess that means no then doesn't it? The gameplay in the campaigns of all 3, but especially the first CANNOT be fairly reviewed unless you are playing them on Legendary.

In the first Halo especially, unlike Normal or even Heroic, on Legendary every weapon choice was crucial. You couldn't take down enemies with any old weapon. Strategy and execution were in complete harmony. The AI came to life and you felt immersed in the conflict. Details that you could gloss over by just bopping your way through on easier difficulties became all the more present. It is as though they designed the balance of the game for Legendary specifically and then just reduced the enemy abilities and enemy numbers for the easier difficulties, so it would be very easy to be dismissive of the gameplay on the easier levels. But not only that, on Legendary, you felt so immersed in the environment that the details became apparent, the music became more inspirational, and your purpose became greater and in that sense, you experienced the story more. I am not saying it had a better story then Half-Life or that it was even better presented, but I am saying that that you experienced the story much more on Legendary, especially after you played it on Legendary several times.

EDIT: Also you never leave the protagonists shoes in the original either.

And I'd consider that a good point if it wasn't for the fact that you play some nameless man that answers only to whatever his military rank is (at least, that what I assume Master Chief is... unless Mr. and Mrs. Chief were horrible at giving names). There's litterally no backstory or even character development on him either. It's VERY difficult to become attached to someone who is such a blank slate as he is.

And I refuse to believe that I can't have a decent grasp of what Halo is just because I didn't play the hardest difficulty. That would be like me saying that no one can have a propper opinion of any of the Devil May Cry games unless they play on Dante Must Die mode. That just doesn't make a lick of sense.

So I'm curious about an earlier post, about staring at walls during cutscenes. Does this mean that all the cutscenes take place while you're still moving around with a gun at the bottom of the screen? Does the lead ever do anything on his own?

Yes and yes. Considering the setting of the game, I don't see you wouldn't ever keep your weapons on you. You do kind of aim them away from people you are talking to at least. And yes, you do a lot of stuff on your own. There are optional paths, puzzles, and stuff... it's not completely open world, but it's not horribly lenear ether.

Part of the beauty of Halo's Master Chief is that he is not so fleshed out that you develop a connection with him every step of the way in third person (as you might if he had too much detail), but instead that you develop a connection AS him every step of the way in first person.

I don't know about the the Dante Must Die mode but I guarantee you if that mode doesn't change the way your experience of Devil May Cry then it isn't the same thing as Legendary on Halo. And to be honest, this isn't something that needs to make a lick of sense to you. I am not speaking about this in theory. Whether or not it makes sense, I am testifying that it was the case for me.

You and I have a totally different opinion of good development.



Then it's bungie's fault for making the game sub-par to begin with and making it a "good" game only playing on a harder difficulty than what most people will start off playing. I'm sure as hell not playing it again just to see how the game is suppose to be. And I still don't see how ramping up the difficulty makes the game all that much better... nor am I going to actually go through the trouble of getting Halo to find out. I prefer a good story, and that's not going to change in Halo on Legendary mode.

I'm still going to recommend TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Even though all the cutscenes are in third-person, and the game's progress is in split levels. But that's because I doubt some of the wacky hijinks would work as well in first-person (although they did manage to start off with you hanging-upside down and falling painfully to the ground in first-person), and you'd be hard-pressed to smoothly transition a game with a heavy dose of time-travelling.

@Lantis
I think you make a good point regarding making the highest difficulty the best difficulty. I myself rarely ever want to go back and replay games, although that may be because the normal difficulty of many games is too hard from the start and so once I've completed the frustrating experience I am done with it.

I never thought of Halo like this though. It seemed for whatever reason a natural progression to play it on Normal, then Heroic, and then Legendary. I guess it seemed like training to me. I could see the merits of the game as I got familiar with my abilities, but I wanted a greater challenge and without undue frustration from easier levels I was ready for it. Still, the first time I played in on Legendary I nearly yelled at the screen saying, "What do you want from me" but the more I played it, the more I figured it out. Iguess knowing what was in store for me was motivation enough to keep trying. You cannot really play it first on Legendary. And that goes for every sequel too. You have to get familiar with the environments, with the scenarios to know how to play it. You have to learn why what you did in easier levels won't work any more and why you need to better explore and understand the environment. It is only after then, in my personal opinion that the real purpose of the story comes out.

So again, I respect your point about not having to replay the game but I also never of thought of Halo as something I didn't want to replay.