Oh my. I hope this isn’t the end of Spartan Ops. That would be extremely disappointing.

Whoo, this is a good one. Majestic is tasked by Lasky to save Halsey, while she is being hunted by Palmer. Hmm, awkward?

I posted a response over on HaloWaypoint.com regarding the topic of paying for SpOps season 2. I was surprised by the negativity towards SpOps as well as the notion of having to pay for a second season. Here is my response.

Wow, I sincerely hope 343 doesn’t listen to the majority of responses in this thread.
Spartan Ops is awesome. Since Firefight was taken out, this replaced it. IMHO, SpOps is MUCH better. Not only do we get a 5-7 minute video, but missions to go with it. It would be near pointless and wasteful if 343 just had the vids made without the missions.
As well, those missions actually mean something other than defending the same map over and over again ALA Halo Reach.

Talking about maps and their reuse, let’s just take a look at the numbers so far. There are 8 episodes/40 missions.
Here is a listing of the maps in SpOps and what Episode/Chapters they are used in:

Quarry: Ep1/Ch1  Ep3/Ch1  Ep5/Ch5
Sniper Alley: Ep1/Ch2  Ep2/Ch4  Ep4/Ch1
Fortress: Ep1/Ch3  Ep2/Ch3  Ep4/Ch3
Refuge: Ep1/Ch4  Ep2/Ch5  Ep5/Ch2  Ep5/Ch3
The Cauldron: Ep1/Ch5  Ep2/Ch2  Ep4/Ch4  Ep5/Ch4
The Gate: Ep2/Ch1  Ep3/Ch5  Ep5/Ch1
Galileo Base: Ep3/Ch2  Ep4/Ch5
Two Giants: Ep3/Ch3  Ep3/Ch4  Ep4/Ch2

Lockup: Ep6/Ch1  Ep8/Ch4
Control: Ep6/Ch2  Ep8/Ch5
Warrens: Ep6/Ch3  Ep8/Ch3
Cyclone: Ep6/Ch4  Ep8/Ch2
Harvester: Ep6/Ch5
Apex: Ep7/Ch1  Ep8/Ch1
Infinity: Ep7/Ch2,  Ch3,  Ch4,  Ch5

Looking at this, no map was used more than 4 times. However, when used multiple times, missions were using a distinctly different route. Infinity was used 4 times, yet each time was different due to different portions of the map being unlocked.

Now let’s just look at the amount of maps made for season 1 so far. FIFTEEN! Come on folks, we didn’t even have that many in Reach, yet we got that many so far within 3 months release of Halo 4. You folks who are complaining about reuse of maps are with respect a bit ridiculous.

We only got 10 Firefight maps in Reach and it was the SAME THING EVERYTIME. Maybe a slight variation on which vehicles showed up or which enemy squads came out, but it was the same thing. Okay sure there were some slight variations like Score Attack/2X Score Attack/Gruntpocalypse, but they were essentially the same thing. You NEVER unlocked new areas of the maps, you were never tasked with objectives (other than Generator Defense which, IMO was boring). You always defended the same areas of the map. BTW, those Firefight maps in Reach were SMALL. Well most of them in comparison to Spartan Ops maps.

We still have two episodes to go in Spartan Ops and I know there is at least one more NEW map.

Given all this, PLUS the videos AND cut scenes, if you can’t find some fun in Spartan Ops, then you need ot look at yourself and not complain about Spartan Ops. It’s MILES beyond Firefight. The fact that you get to engage in a campaign like atmosphere, with a firefight like gameplay AND achieve objectives…Wow, that’s just awesome.

Is the issue that certain maps are redux of Campaign or War Games maps? Um, hello, Reach’s Firefight did that too and with LESS maps. Also, just looks at what the Spartan Ops team at 343 is doing with those redux maps. Different times of day, unlocking areas not seen in Campaign or War Games, creating new areas within those redux maps. They are NOT the same. Similar yes, but not the same.

As for me, I’d totally pay 800MSP, maybe even 1200. This portion of Halo 4 is what keeps me coming back over and over again, especially when I might not have XBL friends on to game with.

I really think that majority in this thread are being unfairly too hard on Spartan Ops. Just think about this. If 343 where to listen to you folks, they would likely stop making SpOps. Then what? No more story to keep us intrigued until Halo 5. No more NEW maps to discover and game on and being forced to play War Games when you otherwise might not want to?

Give me MORE Spartan Ops and take my money while your at it 343! I LOVE Spartan OPS!!!

[end copy/paste]

So what do you folks think? Would you be willing to pay for a second season of Spartan Ops? If so how much. What might you want to see changed/fix/added in the next season.

Heh, I haven’t gone into what I’d like to see added. Ad far as changed? Nothing. I like who SpOps is progressing. As well, I don’t really see much that needs to be fixed. I really REALLY enjoy Spartan Ops.

-Sal

Woot, I can’t wait for this episode. It’s the next to the last and the action is really ramping up here. Palmer finally puts her helmet on and goes out into battle. Or at least a man (or is that woman?) hunt. She’s out to get Halsey as ordered by Admiral Serin Ozman of ONI.

This episode is called “Key” and I bet it’s going to be very KEY to the Halo universe going forward. Halsey gets what looks like two index keys from the Librarian. Somehow one ends up with Jul M’dama and the other with Spartan Thorne (man I just knew he was going to play a more important part going forward). Hmm, I wonder if the Librarian makes Jul and the UNSC make a peace treaty?

Also note the keys are Red and Blue. Coincidence? I don’t think so. And I’d venture to guess one is the Didact’s while the other is the Librarian’s.

Hmm, this episode is getting better and better and it’s not even out yet!

-Sal

The first gallery is of mission screencaps. Looks like we’re getting a new map! WOOT!! As well “Apex” makes it’s return.

-Sal

All I can say is, OH MY! I think this episode is going to ROCK!

Finally Palmer puts her helmet on AND goes into battle on Requiem!

Halsey meeting the Librarian. Oh, this is going to be SOOO GOOD!

-Sal

http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/post/2013/02/06/Fan-made-Halo-4-Spartan-Ops-Graphic-Novel-Part-5.aspx

Thanks to BS Angel for posting it up there!

-Sal

First things first.

I have this nagging suspicion that Halsey is going to become an AI. In fact it’s possible that she becomes the new Cortana (of sorts). It’s kind of cool AND creepy at the same time if you think about it. Clearly Master Chief has feelings for Cortana. Cortana was born of the cloned mind of Halsey for whom Chief learned from in his early stages of training and one whom the Spartans called “mom.”

To have her as an AI would be cool, so long as she doesn’t have the 7 year rampancy bit.

But then to have her replace Cortana…She’s motherly toward Chief, yet she has Cortana within her so to speak. It’s all just confusing. It’s kind of like a partial Oedipus complex. (Look it up if you don’t know)

Also, did anyone else catch that Parangosky is dead (or maybe retired, thoguh I don’t think that old hag would ever retire…)? She was the former head of ONI. Now the new head is actually a former Spartan. Yes…she is. Read the books. Serin Osman was a Spartan II. She didn’t get all of the enhancements as her body was rejecting them. But she’s a Spartan II none-the-less. To have her give the order to kill Halsey is just well…WOW. She didn’t seem to worried about her decision though. Seems like at first she was okay with her “non-decision” of not putting Halsey in a deep hole or killing her. Now that all has changed.

If Halsey does indeed become an AI, well, she’s going to be a LOT harder to kill. I dont’ think Lasky will have Halsey killed. Well, that’s if she’s not turned into an AI already. Though by disobeying a direct order from the head of ONI, well, that would have some serious repercussions.

Okay, trying to get back on track here. What happened to the Knight who looked both Halsey and Lasky in the face and gave them it’s skull scream? That wasn’t shown. Would have been nice to see Lasky blow it away with the shotgun he had.

Once again Palmer is a …. oh nevermind, she’s just not worth talking about anymore. Okay maybe just a few sentences. She can dual weild. Great, why can’t we then in either War games or Spartan Ops? She can take out a Knight with just one shot from a magnum? That must be the most powerful magnum in all of the UNSC. And why for gawd sakes dos she never where her helmet? She might as well be in that skin tight suit we saw in the first episode if she’s going to stay on the ship all the time. She needs to be a much better example to her troops and be IN UNIFORM at all times. Well at least she should have found a way to snag her helmet during the invasion. I get that 343 wants people to know who she is by having her face shown. We know who she is now. Please put a bucket on her! (Bucket is slang for helmet)

The CG is this is pretty good. Nothing too remarkable though. I did like the map Madsen found and showed. As well the holotable of the Infinity bridge was very cool to look at. Where can I get one of those? LOL.

Gek, poor Gek. Why did he have to die? I actually LIKED him. I wanted to know how he was shamed as well as how he lost his left eye. Will we ever find out? Hopefully in the third book of the latest series.

So Halsey goes up into the blue light stream. Man, I gotta think she’s going to become evolved. LIke I said at the beginning, an AI, likely.

As for the missions, well again as of this writing they still aren’t up on Waypoint for me to recall. I do remember that the initial cutscene from the first chapter didn’t looked finished. At least the first couple of seconds didn’t. The background, especially the green hillsides looked terribly low res.

I didn’t mind too much that we revisited areas again, but the missions themselves seemed a bit boring, even though we had more vehicle combat. There really wasn’t much room for the vehicles to maneuver around in anyway, so that was kind of wasteful. Though I did manage to get the Warthog into areas I’m pretty sure they weren’t intended to be. (I like to do that kind of stuff). Same with the Wraith. I think it’s the fourth mission, you can capture a wraith if you’re careful about how you kill the driver. There are clearly Forerunner pieces in the way between where you get it and where you need to go. SO I suspect they don’t want you to take it there. However, by punching off the tips of the front “wings” of the wraith, you can EASILY get it to the next area as it will fit between those Forerunner poles.

While I liked the video, it wasn’t as good as the previous two and the missions weren’t as good either. I did like the last mission where you had to defend areas. That circling holo defend area was kind of cool. And what do you know, Glassman isn’t as much a dolt as he was made out to be. Seems like even Halsey noted that to in the video.

Well, i’m furiously finishing up the Spartan Ops comic for episode 7 so I can get started on 8.

Any thought on this episode and/or missions? Click reply below!

-Sal

This discussion came up on Halo Waypoint. I responded to it and just had to share my thoughts with you folks.

First I quoted two other forum users and responded in kind.

If it’s like $10-15 and the episodes are as good as they have been the last two weeks, then yeah I’d buy it.

Exactly! I’ve enjoyed all of Spartan Ops to date. The latest two episodes are even better than the first 6.

if there is a season 2, and I’m expected to purchase it, it needs the following 3 things.

theater mode support
campaign scoring
skulls

or it needs to be free. at least for me. by that i dont mean that i should be the only one that gets it for free only that this is just my opinion.

Theater mode is one thing that would make me pay for it in an instant. There are SO many screenshots I want to be able to take and can’t because 343 left it out. Campaign scoring isn’t a huge deal to me, however it does help to know when you’ve killed off one of those bigger enemies at a distance so you don’t waste anymore ammo on an enemy.
Skulls would be cool, especially if it adds to XP. I’m already at 130, but still for those who aren’t it would be a nice aded feature.

As far as price, as the first person I quoted mentioned, $10-15 would be great. Anything more and you start to get into Arcade game prices. For that there would need to be a bit more.

Longer videos, interaction IN-GAME with Majestic and/or Palmer, how about adding the Falcon and/or Pelican to be able to fly in missions? What about the Broadsword in a space mission?

One thing is for certain, if 343/M$ is asking us to pay for a Season 2, they need to be a LOT more forthcoming about what we can expect in the next season. What upgrades they are making, general story plot without giving away spoilers. They need to SELL it to us, not ask that we take them blindly on faith.

They asked us to “trust them” before the release of Halo 4. Some feel burned by that comment. While I think Spartan Ops is AWESOME and would buy in a minute, there are many who need to be convinced of why they should pay for more Halo 4 content. So it’s up to 343 to do that.

For the last nearly two months I’ve been teaming up with POD Dust Storm of Podtacular to bring you Podcasts of the Spartan Ops Episodes and Missions. Simultaneously, we worked together on this guidebook. Dust Storm did all the writing while I contributed by adding things to write about, correcting where needed, etc. This guidebook will continue on to finish out the full first season of Spartan Ops. For now feel free to download the PDF for the first five episodes.

http://www.duststorm.org/files/spartanops1-5_preview.pdf

Thanks to my friend POD Dust Storm for asking me to be part of this adventure. We had and continue to have a lot of fun along the way and learn a great deal about Spartan Ops.

-Sal

Take a look at some pics from the upcoming episode of Spartan Ops: “Expendable.”

I can’t wait to see what happens in this episode. As for the missions though, there are already two repeating maps. Still, what happens to Halsey in this episode may have a major impact on the future of the Halo universe.