The Lack of Human enemies in this mission was so dissapointing, it would made the level feel a hundred times better to see the full scale battle between the UNSC, Sentinels, Covenant and Flood all the time.
Yup, that would have been awesome and it's something I think Bungie should have done. I understand why they didn't, as they didn't want the marines to be the 'bad guys' so to speak, but it would have been something that really made the mission stand out above and beyond the vehicle sections which are already there. It would have also made a lot of sense given there humans in the area anyway too.
@@BenPlaysGames I was replaying ODST last night and i only just realised it's the first game (and one of the only) that actually has you fight and kill a human enemy, even if it's only one and in a secret section.
@@BenPlaysGames id get this point from bungie but to Arby at this point they are the badies, arby had killed hundreds of millions at this point so i feel enemy humans would have drove this home despite his faith starting to wane
The lack of checkpoints on the Flood gondola was super frustrating, and made worse by the janky moving platform physics that messed with projectile weapons, grenades and melee lunges. What you said got me thinking, instead of having the short 'That old familiar feeling' chapter as a nod to the library, they could have instead cut the slow gondola, and have a ramp filled version of the old library level that you got to race through on a quick vehicle - A Warthog, Ghost or Spectre, with the Flood taking potshots as you passed them at breakneck speed. Would have been cathartic.
It's very rare I get frustrated with a Halo game as they're usually very well constructed, but I'll be honest when I died and had to go through the whole thing again I was incredibly irritated. A race through the library is a really brilliant idea too and would have made a whole lot of sense given the vehicular nature of the mission!
I loved the race sections of Halo, and the idea of racing through the Library? Brilliant. And very cathartic. Actually, has anyone just spawned a vehicle in Halo CE's Library and run through it? It's almost certainly roomy enough.
@@Quztuk what are you smoking bro? Just getting through the first part right at the star would not be possible, the little corridor at the end wouldn't be able to fit a ghost or a warthog, and there are many such other tight spaces
The love this guy has for the levels he analyzes is so refreshing. I appreciate criticism as much as the next guy wanting to learn how to improve, but many RU-vidrs just deride popular works to be edgy or contrary. I like that this channel is evenhanded and talks about what works as well as what didn’t work well
@@factoryminis3437 He doesn’t complain about everything though. He praises multiple points in the level, while also criticizing others, and provides reasoning for why he chooses to do so. I would understand if he was just hating the game to hate it, but he doesn’t seem to be doing that in this case. Plus, most of what he says is in line with the rest of the Halo community. The vehicle sections are cool, but the lack of Human enemies and the long gondola ride at the end sort of ruin this level.
The two levels are supposed to be the other side of the coin to the Library as you said. After chief discovers the flood, he's soon teleported to The Library without having to make his way there. These two levels are supposed to emphasize the arduous journey the covenant had to face on the first Halo. The on foot to vehicle thing is certainly a rough transition I won't lie. The games development was a classic development nightmare, with impossible goals and minuscule deadlines
Yeh I reckon Halo 2 as a whole struggled development-wise and you can really see it in certain areas of the game. Huge shame really, as would have been fascinating to see what Bungie would have come up with if they had an extra year or so to perfect things.
@@BenPlaysGames I kinda wished the remastered would have addressed some of the game's issues more than merely reskinned them. Definitely not the level designs and the major mechanics, but perhaps simple things like increasing player health or shields so you don't die in a second on Legendary or a better starting spawn in the Gravemind level beginning
@@BenPlaysGames Look into some of the commentaries and cut content. Probably half of the planned campaign content was cut from the game. It's development was incredibly rushed. Modders even note that the game engine becomes shockingly unstable as soon as you try changing many innocuous things. Whereas the other games in the series are much more robust.
Don't remember when exactly I came to the realization that the flood were piloting vehicles on my first play through, but I sure figured it out after one of them shot me with a scorpion.
Only level in the trilogy it happens in! Would have liked to see more of it honestly, massive battles between the three factions could have been awesome.
You know what I think this level needed at the end instead of the gondola ride? A banshee section where you fight against other banshees and maybe even pelicans, and a couple of ground units trying to take you down with rocket launchers, similar to fuel rod cannons. Think about it, seeing a flood controlled pelican crash in a cutscene, this might make sense.
Excellent idea Martijn, that would have really made it stand out a bit more and it would have made sense given the rest of the mission is vehicular as well.
So glad I get to be a part of this small community of people watching your amazing videos before they inevitably blow up. You do incredible work and I can't wait for more!
That's super kind of you Nick mate, feedback like yours really makes my day - plan is to try and be a lot more prolific if at all possible, so hopefully plenty more to come in the short (and long) term!
I lowkey love the gondola ride on this level tbh. Flood coming out with the energy swords while you're battling alongside your elite homies, I'm all about it
Honestly I'm not a huge halo 2 fan, but these 2 levels are oddly enough my favorite. I feel like both the on foot sections tell actually more of the story, while the vehicle portions are mostly filler. The crashed sentinel factories are really interesting, combined with the fact you can see one getting shot down early on. You're effectively walking into the continuation of a 100,000 year war, so not seeing humans i'm fine with.
Something that bothers me a lot about Halo 2 is how inconsequential the entire human team feels. And Quarantine Zone feels like it's the worst level when it comes to forcing you to think about it. You fight so many infected humans, as well as their legion of vehicles the flood have captured, but in game there's never a satisfactory explanation to why they're even there. You vaguely know that the humans are also racing towards the Index as well, but aside from the one small scene in Sacred Icon, they're not seen at all. Similarly, you find out during High Charity that In Amber Clad has fallen to the flood, but it's never shown or discussed. Worse still, Johnson and Keyes don't even seem to notice or care. With the mass amount of human combat forms you fight, contrasted with zero focus in the story or reaction from the characters, it feels a whole lot like things were just kind of happening for the sake of the gameplay layout. And without putting in the work or a bulldup, the "Payoff" feels cheap and artificial
Almost makes you wonder how the Clad's AI was fooled by a pelican of the infected, pr whatwver happened. They did have Coetanas data from alpha halo, so youd tbink theyd know to not just let ships land, even with proper codes.
Final gondola ride should have been replaced with some kind of Phantom-based turret mission like the two Falcon rides in Halo Reach. Quarantine Zone is already vehicle based and a quick flying section will give you a new way to fight the Flood and take in the scale of the battle and the library as you approach rather than focusing all your attention on the ground of an ugly brown Gondola.
Yooo that’s exactly what I was thinking. Here’s what a possible idea could’ve been used. There’s only one gondola and the humans get on it first and the arbiter and Rtas have to get call a phantom to get them through the gondola door before it closes. When you get in there, you take control of the phantoms pilot or a turret on the phantom and shoot at flood trying to shoot down the phantom with rockets and turrets.
Ngl, that sounds horrible. Auto-scrollers where you are forced in place of a turret or something similar are one of the most boring elements in any game. And in higher difficulties, become extremely punishing. Seeing as how you are unable to move, it becomes a matter of "Remember what spawns where at what time" in order to clear the section. The gondola section is fine as it is. You get allies to support you, it's a great bit story wise, has story exposition in the meantime, has an awesome soundtrack halfway, and gives the player the opportunity to tackle every encounter a different way. Edit: And to mention this " take in the scale of the battle" There's no scale of the battle story wise. The task of the Arbiter is to get the index, that's it. And the two levels revolving around this objective also make this very clear.
Most of these "2 part" levels like Sacred Icon and Quarantine zone were a single level at one point, but Bungie decided to split them up for some reason. Also, I remember hearing Bungie once mention that approximately 80 percent of what they had planned for Quarantine Zone ended up on the chopping block so that might explain some of the level's inconsistency. Exactly what they had planned though is a mystery for the ages.
@@drsandwich7974 "We were building stuff that just couldn't be played, in any engine, we built, and detailed, and went a huge way down the path with a whole bunch of environments and levels for the game that just totally didn't make it. If you look at the level with the Flood, inside the quarantine area - that is the remaining 20 per cent of a gargantuan, sprawling level that was meticulously built and hand-constructed, but that could never, ever have shipped in any engine." - Chris Butcher discussing the cut Alpha Moon level, which would be (partially) recycled as Quarantine Zone.
I think another big problem that both Sacred Icon *and* Quarantine Zone face is that you never fight Marines. As the Master Chief, you fight Covenant, the Flood, and Sentinels. As Arbiter you fight.. Covenant, Flood, and Sentinels...? The point of playing as Arbiter is quite literally to see things from the complete opposite point of view, but aside from cutscenes, the game almost completely fails to actually make you feel like you're playing for the other team. The worst part is that both missions make it a priority to inform you that humans are around. You see their bodies, their gondola, the dialogue mentions them frequently, and it really feels like the game is trying to hype you up for this encounter with the humans. It builds up, and up, and up, and... the mission ends, and instead of fighting the humans yourself, you get to watch Arbiter do it in a cutscene. I just have to believe that you were originally intended to fight Marines but they were removed last second. It's a huge let down and one of the biggest mistakes they made with Halo 2 in my opinion.
I think the problem with Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone is that many of the flood close quarter encounters aren't that engaging. The only time I found the flood interesting to fight was when they were being scary, ambushing me, and still had new surprises, like in Guilty Spark. Once you know the Flood, they just tend to be more engaging to fight when they're mixed in with other enemies. The vehicle sections are great because fighting flood in vehicles is like not fighting them at all. I think mixing Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone into an Assault on the Control Room style level would have been great, though maybe the close encounters would need to be worked on in general. I feel like the only slow gondola ride encounter that was only enjoyable was in Regret. But it's been so long, I don't remember why. Maybe just because the area is so beautiful, and not that the section was anything interesting. I do know that I hate the slow elevator and slow gondola that the flood are involved in.
Yeh man, totally agree regarding the flood being a fairly unengaging enemy to fight. They're really only fun when facing off against them with other factions and even then, it's not always great. The Regret gondola ain't so bad I'd say, but there's just so many sections in the game involving some form of slow moving platform. They drive me mad whenever I replay the game!
Really enjoyed these videos. I totally agreed with your previous assessment of H3’s ‘Cortana’ mission, and I fully agree with you again. I always felt like there was a lot of potential with ‘Sacred Icon / Quarantine Zone’ (I think the mission names are awesome!) but they always felt lacking... Your idea of combining the two missions (and removing the final gondola ride) would have gone a long way to improving them!
Cheers Baron! I just want less slow moving platforms haha, they seem to be prevalent throughout Halo 2 and they pretty much never do anything other than slow the game down. So much of Halo's brilliance comes from the fast paced encounters and they take away any semblance of that. Agree on the mission names too, that's one thing Bungie definitely improved over time.
Halo 2 has many 2 part levels that seem like 1 long level with a cutscenes in the middle. Its probably why it has so many levels compared to other halo games.
I think these levels were decent, and I like their onfoot gameplay for some reason, but yeah it would have been amazing to combine them and get another Assault on the Control Room!
Almost all of halo 2's levels are effectively halves of a larger mission, often with a brief cutscene dividing them. Its one thing I always find funny when people boast about halo 2's level count. In most of these pairings the goal of the first half is merely to get to where you start the 2nd half too. Such as in this case getting past the sentinel wall to reach quaruntine zone. Or chief getting through enough ruins on delta halo to....go through more ruins on delta halo in the exact next level. You can watch the intro cinematic of the first half, skip the start of the 2nd half, and pretty much miss nothing of importance narratively.
While i agree with a lot of the points when doing a fine tooth analysis, these two levels combine to make one of the most tense and for me unique experiences in the franchise, first time as a kid and replaying in H2A. While a lack of music and the unfinished/cut/rushed nature H2 certainly detracts from what could have been and repetition can suck some life out of it, the ability to squad up with more Elites is badass and fun; the final gondola with a pack of sword wielding elites led by the Arbiter is only saddened by the fact that they all got merced by Tartarus before the cutscene. Sacred Icon in particular i looooove, the atmosphere and slow pace and level design all build up the descent into chaos and darkness that is Quarantine Zone. The theme with the Arbiter in H2 is the grimy, unfun, sent to die missions, as per his role in the lore and i think this does a good job of showing how hopeless it would have been for him. 100,000 Years War is also a beautiful way to truly put a cap on what is sadly not revealed in the games alone; the fact that this is just another small moment in the galactic scale of the war against the flood. While a fight vs the humans would have been cool, i think the fact that the Covenant is playing catchup to the humans, again, coupled with the fact ot was the Arbiter's first failure to stop the humans that got him there in the first place is nice storytelling and adds to the pressure from Arb's position to succeed. The whole thing was supposed to be a covert in and out op anyway, otherwise they would have mobilized way more resources for it. (Irony of the flood is that small teams are probably the best way to go anyway, as seen by the humans getting wasted/making their own life harder and by proxy, yours) (Miranda totally fkd up and led to the high charity/H3 infections even being an issue by leaving In Amber Clad at the library) Great videos, enjoying your dives into them and hearing good, critical reviews.
I think the worst part about these levels playing as a kid is that I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I think part of it was as well to do with how loooong it felt like this mission and sacred icon took to complete fist time around. Did anyone else just outright not follow Halo 2's story as a 10 year old? I wonder if it was to do with how much exposition came through voice chatter during the levels which a lot of the time was muffled or hard to hear. It was these levels where I really lost my grip on what I was even supposed to be doing.
I’ll do you one better. Imagine Halo 2 being your first Halo Game and it takes you 2 years to get the first one than another 5 to get the remaining Titles/Consoles.
qaurentine zone was my favorite you and your squad of elites basically stage a one man assault on the flood and sentinels this time the flood can use vehicles.
@5:00 Interesting conclusion of having more music for this segment. I'm not against that idea, but your experience of it as being vehicle only is interesting to me. I recall Heroic and Legendary playthroughs that got hectic enough that I lost my vehicles more often than not and had to hoof it until I could turn the tables or gtfo. It was a really fun, hard, frustrating, engaging and memorable level
I never actually played Halo 2 on Legendary! Finished Combat Evolved and 3 on legendary solo, but I personally didn't enjoy 2 as much so never put anywhere near the same amount of time into it. I think one day I'll probably replay all three on legendary and make a video talking about how enjoyable (and sometimes frustrating!) each one was.
I personally love the mid-game on foot sections. Just the atmosphere inside the crashed sentinel factory is spot on. The disorganization, fires and swarms of flood are spot on in my opinion. I do agree although that the gondola section is unnecessary and quite longing if played on legendary. Great Video!
Given that Halo 2 development was a huge mess, it makes sense that the result of that is Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone. It would have been amazing to fight Marines towards the end.
Same here mate! As I mentioned in the video, it feels like somewhere in there is something amazing, but as the levels are now they're pretty laborious when the game really should be ramping up the excitement gameplay-wise.
If you ever have to do it again, check out speedruns. There are heaps of little tricks people have found to skip whole sections, despawn enemies, break out of the map etc. I think the levels are worth playing for the experience, but sometimes you've played it enough to know you don't enjoy it and just need to get through
I finished Halo 2 recently, ngl I didnt realize you were supposed to get out of vehicles midway through. I took a Ghost from the start and drove it all the way to the Library lmao
It should be worth noting that the lack of music playing in the initial vehicle section 100% a bug or glitch. There may have bee some sequence breaking taking place that caused the music not to trigger, but this section is supposed to be set against 'Quarantine Zone' which is one of the most hot-blooded and intense tracks in the entire series.
Huh, I actually played the mission through a couple of times and it happened on both occasions. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, so I wonder what happened...
I’m very curious to see your impressions of ruby of blue’s halo 2 rebalanced mod. Fixes a lot of issues in the sandbox, especially with the arbiter-centric missions. I think most of his mods are broken due to the latest mcc update, but once it’s fixed, I would love to see an analysis.
Flood using vehicles was my favorite halo 2 inclusion but the actual mission I hated. I have always wanted another flood vehicle level because outside of multiplayer we never get to fight hostile UNSC vehicles. I don't know why but I would love to fight against more human vehicles
I personally liked fighting your way through the Sentinel Ship after watching it fall out of the sky in the background when you make your way towards the middle cutscene. I feel like it’s extremely underrated, further backed by your lack of mention of it in the video. I seriously feel like one of the few people who’ve actually caught onto that detail in Quarantine Zone.
I think the issue of gunfire sounding more distant and quiet might be an issue with MCC. I've noticed that in classic audio for Halo 2, the music is far too quiet and so is most gunfire. Anyone else notice that? I really wish the game had a music volume slider.
Really enjoyed watching both this video as well as your breakdown of Sacred Icon. You have an amazing voice and spot-on analytics regarding the game. Keep up the amazing work, and keep shining! :-)
I'll be completely honest. I never realized that the flood was driving those hostile vehicles, always thought that I stumbled across a UNSC/Forerunner/Flood combat zone and that the Covenant were the fireworks on the UNSC bad day parade
The reason for this Gondala is because "Forerunner Tank". Due to time constraints they cut it but the original idea was supposed to have the player drive a Forerunner Tank and feel like an unstoppable force
Came here by accident. 100% agree. When I think of Quarantine Zone, all I think about is the horrible gondola ride. I've never even truly appreciated all the vehicular combat simply due to that stupid gondola. I hate that gondola. It's probably one of the hardest parts (for sure on legendary), including because of the unforgiving checkpoints. The comment about a vehicular race against the humans in the library would have indeed fitted much better.
Okay, I see your criticism here and it makes sense to me. Though you raised a point. "Bungie was keen on having the Arbiter NOT fight Humans" Why? I always wondered what they were afraid of with having the Artbiter fight and kill humans in these levels.
I can't remember exactly the reasoning for Bungie not doing it but I agree with you Tyler - it would have been a really nice twist and I can't see any real reason not to have done it.
"in it's current form it adds very little" This mission is the most story filled mission in Halo 2, but it's a very show don't tell form to it. In 2004-5 people discussing this knew that at the time. Quarantine Zone was the strongest level in the game
I disagree with the onfoot section. If you pay attention at the start of the mission you see something get blown out the sky and crash somewhere ahead of you. then as you progress through you have to fight through the burning wreckage of the sentinal factory. It gives you an indicator of how far youve moved towards your ultimate goal and is a neat encounter.
I feel like with both missions you seem to be on a genocide run and not taking advantage of the active camo the arbiter has. I play through this trilogy probably once a year and on the arbiter missions I really try to abuse the camo to just rush past enemies. With good enough timing you can just rush past the flood in sacred icon while their too occupied with the sentinels, especially in that one room you pointed out in the last vid. As for quarantine zone I tend to rush through on the spectre since the density of flood and sentinels is too much to fight. Which I feel was kinda the point of the mission, cut yer own way through the carnage of the quarantine zone to get to the library, not fight every thing in yer path. Although the slow moving platform at the end is sorta irritating so I'll give you that.
I must confess, the older I've got, the worse I become at videogames. Used to be somewhat good at them, but now when I play Counterstrike I can't hit the broad side of a barn door 😂
The Gondola at the end of this level is so bad I never play it anymore, instead I just use the exploit that makes the Flood not spawn if you climb into the whole where they appear from
There's a silly amount of moving platforms in Halo 2 and I honestly struggle to deal with them haha. So many missions during which your forced to sit on the bloody things multiple times in order to progress.
it was a huge missed oppertunity for the arbiter to not get to fight humans. The ai and models where already in the game and it could have broken up some of the repetitive sequences.
I agree, whole-heartedly. But I would like to comment on the "the last part should've been a cutscene" / "vehicle section" and the "this indicates to me that what we got in halo 2 was either unfinished or things were thrown in". Let's get the easy one out of the way first. Halo 2 is great, but it does suffer. But, I believe that it does also deserve that same benefit of the doubt that Halo CE had, as you mentioned where Bungie could get away with it being their first actual Halo game, its age and how different it was. I am aware that this video was March 10th, so I am late to comment but Halo 2 had very rocky development. I'm sure I don't have to say why, there's tons of videos on it so I'm not going to write an essay on it. But when you take into account what Halo 2's development process was, it's easy to see why so many people cut it so much slack. Now, this is completely opinion based. But I think that adding another vehicle section, while they are good, would add even more to the repetitive side of the level. Being as a couple other sections of the sort were had before the end of the level, it'd probably add to the side of "oh my god now i have to run through another vehicle space" rather than "oh cool another vehicle space". While, on the other hand, an on-foot section was a good idea. The time of the vehicle sections compared to the on-foot, from what I remember, are much longer. I just feel like they went about the end of this level in a much less fun way. Riding such a slow platform while having fend off the flood, which you've seen for a LOT of the game now, seemed like it would've been better if it had gone for a less oppressive way of firefighting the flood. I'd say they could've nailed the end of the level if they did more of an ODST-esc firefight sequence. Maybe have power weapons lying around, putting the power into your hands, but without a vehicle like a tank or something. But I'm not trying to say "oh well they SHOULD have done this", but rather what I think would've worked better. Plus, the ODST-type firefight was mainly introduced in ODST, which was further down the line. But other than those two things, I agree with you.
Replaying Halo 2 showed me that Sacred Icon/Quarantine Zone were among the worst in the game. That final gondola ride was so aggravating even on Heroic. The Flood using shotgun can oneshot you! Great video by the way, sums up my feelings with this level.
Cheers mate! And yeh, I'm not the biggest fan of Halo 2 to begin with and those two levels are really boring most of the time. The flood one shots are absolutely terrible too, that may have happened once without me including it in the video 😂
@@BenPlaysGames Nah, Quarantine Zone is still a lot of fun. Long, challenging, at times confusing or tedious, but mostly a blast. The last gondola is a bit annoying, but okay if you can keep allies alive. Of course, on Legendary, it's a lot more painful.
I can't lie, other then the parts fighting on foot along side with my Elite brothers, this level was pretty awful and went on for way too long. I always felt this way and would skip playing it whenever I would go on a legendary run.
I can tell you didn't play this game growing up as you said you would beat it in a single day on Legendary. I can say as someone who has played through the game countless times that this game is incredibly taxing on legendary. Even if you were to get to Gravemind in good time that mission would take hours on it's own. Especially for someone who plays the game on lower difficulties as you do
My dude, I was so hyped for Halo 2 I even picked it up with the see-through green Xbox on release day despite already owning the black version of the console. Also, at no point do I say I beat it in a day, that would be an outrageous claim! I'll give you one thing - I am pretty naff at videogames these days. The days of being able to play/practice for long stretches are far behind me, so nowadays I muddle through as best I can 😂
@@BenPlaysGames even if that is the case I think that playing at higher difficulties really tests how balanced the enemies and the weapons sandbox are against eachother. I personally have found its more enjoyable when encounter variety comes from not just what environment you are in or whether or not you are in a vehicle but what the enemies have at their disposal. Playing on higher difficulties will force you to address each enemy more seriously as they can't just be ignored. When I play these games on easy I end up just running past most enemies as they just pepper my shield with weak plasma fire. That simply cannot be done on Heroic or Hard. The developer could have carefully crafted an engaging encounter in that room but you can blow right through it without a second thought
What also sucked about the gondola ride at the end? Let's say you're a fan of using energy swords. (After all, they cut through flood like butter.) You always have to be careful during sword lunges. There've been PLENTY of times I've done a sword lunge, and found my momentum carried me off the edge.
I have never finished Halo on Legendary, and I can probably count the levels I've finished with my hands, so having played it in Heroic, the gondola is hard, but nothing too serious, and I overall enjoy the gondola ride.
Quarantine Zone remains my most hated level out of any of the games purely because of the gondola. The first time I was trying to finish it solo (MCC) I died so many times to shotgun Flood on the gondola (so much so that it actually eventually gave me a pity checkpoint), and then when I FINALLY finished it, the game rubbed salt in the wound by crashing during that final cutscene, and it didn't save or count any of my progress. Haven't touched that level since because I'm still so angry.
1 thing I really liked about quarantine zone and sacred icon that H1 library didn't have was combat options. In H1 you have to go 1 way, run, gun: frontal assault. These ones I did a lot sneaking to get around sections I did not want to do directly. I felt more freedom...until the elevator...and H2 had so many glitches on that damn elevator. Do you know how many times I bloody discovered that the ground was a suggestion and not real when I would sword lunge? Sometimes it would just give up and I'd pass right through!!!
1:00 Nearby Ghost? I go straight for that Spectre... once I figure out how to get in the driver's seat since it's so easy to end up in a side-seat... 2:10 "Commander, we have found a Human vehicle!" "Keep moving, I am on my way!" 2:20 Don't forget the Wraith bombarding your position! That thing will blindside you, especially if you're trying to go for that tank. 7:15 One of the more interesting things I find about the Flood besides their great numbers is that they combine both Human and Covenant firepower together. It's not just Ghosts and Wraiths, it's Ghosts, Wraiths, Warthogs and Scorpions. Imagine if at the end of Quarantine Zone you had to face-off against an Elephant or something like that, then you get on the gondola and cutscene plays, betrayal by Brutes... Or even maybe not have a gondola chase but a vehicle chase to the Library? Imagine the Arbiter having to do a Warthog run to catch up to the Humans who took the only gondola? Or you are on the gondola and have to destroy Human vehicles on the ground chasing after you while also fending off Flood who are leaping in from above...
Swapping the gondola ride with a Spectre scenario where you drive through the facility passing by flood, sentinels and even humans fighting it out. By the final 5-8 minutes you're forced to go on foot and fight through parts similar to the library from halo ce but more like a warzone. The oracle level also had obvious flaws regarding this. Would've been cool to see what they could've done with halo 2 if they followed the same story line but finished the levels properly. The second half of oracle was intense but the first half could've been way better and it probably would've been if they had more time. Amazing campaign but it had potential to be even better , considering what they did within those months it could've been insane if given more time.
Agreed zippo mate. I enjoy Halo 2, but it's definitely towards the bottom of my list compared to Bungie's other titles and I think part of that is because a lot of it feels very disjointed and, to a certain extent, unfinished.
@@BenPlaysGames halo ce despite having some repetition is my favourite out of them all, and spv3 fixed many of those issues. halo 3 was too short for me and the brutes were not that enjoyable to fight . I liked h4 the least, it's the only game in the franchise that gave me no motivation and i actually got tired playing through it. I want to like it, but i've tried over and over and simply can't.
@@zippo71111 Modders are saving Halo 2 on PC at least. A lot of fans out there made proper gameplay choices that make much more sense. This level as example, one of the first things they did was to add more UNSC battles since it makes 100% sense they are present.
Likely unpopular opinion but this is my favorite level in the entire Halo series. It has a vibe that I just love. Hard to describe but I dig it. Lots of varied vehicle combat makes it feel like The Arbiter is in a real battlefield. The sentinel factory being shot out of the sky and the player then traversing its wreckage is fascinating. I really like slow moving vehicle sections and this is my favorite outside of the Mammoth in Halo 4. Trying to contain the flood and stop them from killing any of "my" elites is exciting to me.
I know this vid is three yrs old. But Halo 2 and Halo Wars 2 are the only time where you play as the covenant/banished side and actually fight against the UNSC vehicles/marines. Halo 2 Sacred Icon (don’t fight the marines but do see them fighting the flood). Quarantine Zone flood control Scorpions, Warthogs and I guess the Wraiths as well. Halo Wars 2 in the DLC Awakening the Nightmare. You destroy a small recon UNSC team and flood infected hogs, scorpions and other banished vehicles. Correct me if I’m wrong tho.
When I was a kid this mission scared the hell out of me, I mean I was scared of the flood in general so in mission prior it wasn't so bad when I had my cool brave elite friends with me, but here I was on my own except of course for the few Grunts and Jackels who appear, I was very happy to see them and I tried my best to protect them, I felt obligated to when they said things like "Arbiter our Savior!" They made me feel not so alone in this place riddled with bodies, unfortunately as much as I tried after we took the Gondola after killing the giant Sentinel I couldn't save them when the Flood swarmed, I felt so bad when they died, like I failed them
on quarantine zone i always just hide inside the slow moving platform and take a break and let the flood run around below me. especially on legendary. that is probably the worst part of halo 2. so boring.
Growing up, I LOVED Quarantine Zone. Not sure why. I think I just really liked the Flood and also vehicle sections. I also liked the gondola for some reason. I wouldn’t say I hate it now, but boy is it one of the Halo levels of all time. Played on Heroic recently, and drove past most of the level in a Ghost, including the first indoor section I brute forced myself into. I no longer enjoy the gondola.
The biggest issue throughout this level and the Sacred Icon level are Shotgun Flood. They react very quickly compared to other Flood, almost never miss up close, and they can oneshot the player as low as normal difficulty, making the Energy Sword, a weapon that typically wipes the floor with the Flood, much less viable, especially on the final Gondola where the Flood use both Shotguns and Energy Swords. Once on Sacred Icon I got ambushed by one who jumped into the side path I was taking and instantly killed me on normal. It was near unreactable on the second lowest difficulty, I was only able to fire off 1 shot from my pistol before I died, and given that enemies get far more damage, aggression and accuracy on higher difficulties, it makes the Shotgun Flood a good example of how badly handled the difficulty of Halo 2 was (they found that it was too easy, but didn't have time to balance it, so they ramped up enemy lethality to absurd levels)
Halo 2 suffered one of the worst development crunches in Bungie's history, if not in all of video games history. Entire levels were cut mid development (google Forerunner Tank), and levels like quarantine shipped that were poorly QA'd. There was supposed to be an entire level after Quarantine Zone called Forerunner Tank.
While you say the geometry isnt that memorible, while technically true, its not about the geometry itself, but the theming of the area, a flood destroyed area, on fire, burning, in areas, full of wreckage and a long term battle of Flood VS Forrunner Rememenants is still quite engaging as well. And As far as the lack of fighting humans being somewhat disappointing, especially at the stage of the plot, the fact that apparently humanity had such a massive headstart on the covenant in that particular area of the ring, and FAILED in there assault due to the flood, and leading to the amount of flood invested UNSC Tech being obtained is a part of plot that a lot of people seem to over look. If you ask me, the UNSC Launched a massive assault on the library, only to fail, where a handful of marines, Johnson and Keyes were forced to attempt to sneak in a bit more subtle via the slow moving platform system, and once again, despite everything, humanity made it there first. Now that I look back at everything that Johnson and Cpt Miranda Keyes accomplished during the series leading into Halo 3, it feels like they nerfed johnson's plot armor during the mission Coveneant, as he was unable to capture the 3rd tower.
8:27 you mentioning needing to have a tolerance for failure with your age reminded me that I should be more patient with myself. I dunno, something about your words struck me here.
Back when I was foing a full playthrough of the Halo games, I never remembered much about Halo 2. I got so frustrated with the flood gondola, that I just jumped in the tube at 8:21 and walked away with the game still going. When I came back, we reached the end and I was still in the same spot. This was on normal, btw.
Quarantine Zone is like Schrodinger's Level in that it manages to be one of my favorite and least favorite levels of Halo. Sometimes it's teeth grindingly frustrating and other times it's a damn good time. And it usually comes down to what mood I'm in and if the RNG is feeling generous. That rocket flood over the bridge though is pure evil.
I feel like they could have cut half of Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone and merged both levels together. It would've made things much more tolerable. The first third could be the walking section, then a cutscene before the second third with a ground vehicle section, and then a short walk to the last third, the gondola ride. But perhaps to make the gondola ride more interesting, you could be given a banshee and tasked with escorting Tarturus or Rtas Vadum as flying cover (hopefully, given how frustrating escort missions can be, this would be a forgiving section, and players could be kept away from the human gondola with a team of human rocket launchers that shoot you down if you get too close). The overall level would be longer than either one, but the tempo would've been much better.
I was reading the transcripts for this level on the wiki and there's a lot more dialogue than I remember. Apparently if you play through slow enough and take out all the enemies and explore each area, there is dialogue between the elites and ship master (at the time spec ops commander) I've been meaning to replay this mission in that specific way and get the full effect.. I've always loved the mission, but I never played through it slow. Just grab the Spectre and blast through lol
So Bungie made the explicit choice not to have humans as enemies, an interesting contrast with the Marathon series, which was in many ways Bungie's predecessor to Halo. Bungie certainly didn't hold back on pitting you against humans in Marathon Infinity.
To add on... Correct me if I'm wrong but the gameplay in the background gives me the impression that you're stopping to fight every single engagement rather than run and gun like the level is designed for. This is the source of the pacing "Issues" You seem to be referring to.
What I really wanna know is how did you do the gondola ride without the massive glitching that the weapons and grenades end up with while the gondola is moving…? How tf
Yeah a lot of the levels of 2 don't work very well, I agree. But considering the fact that they had a hell of a crunch time making this, that unfortunately the levels playability suffered.
You rock at making these analysis videos! Very thoughtful and wonderfully made. Keep up the good work my dude, I can already tell you are going to blow up!
