ODST was such a somber change from the rest of the franchise, walking around the silent streets with smooth jazz playing in the background. Almost complete contrast from the prior games.
Real. I played it co-op with my little brother and it was an amazing time. Sadly life/family/work has taken over and we don’t game much anymore but have those good memories 🔥🔥🔥
The reason Romeo only has 1 shot in the sniper @ 29:35 is because during the cutscene, he shot at the Banshees. It’s a little attention to detail that I didn’t know until recently
Yes. They actually did the same thing in halo 2 when arbiter shoots at the forerunner machine at the beginning of the library. When it cuts to gameplay, there's 3 or 4 shots missing from the cartridge in your carbine.
@@vanguardraidcommand2285 Correct. They easy way to tell the difference between a Clip and a Mag is that a Mag stays with the weapon and a Clip is usually used to help load a Mag.
@DraustTrollbaneUS That, and if you can't see the bullets (with the exception of 1 or 2 when looking down from the top). I know it annoys people when we correct them, but it would be the same as calling the transmission and the gear shifter on a car the same thing. They both involve the gears of the vehicle, but they aren't the same at all
46:15 you might of found that cop a little suspicious. There's a 2nd story that you can piece together by collecting audio logs throughout the game. Long story short he was a corrupt cop who was working for a corrupt commissioner. The city AI knew and locked him out, which is why he was struggling to open that first stack. The 2nd story is definitely a lot more interesting than I have made it out to be here, but it's hard to explain in its entirety 😅
Vergil is trying to tell the Rookie too. "Warning: hitchhikers may be escaped convicts" which just seems like some random AI line that has no meaning until you know. And later "crime doesn't pay"
@@LeeAndersonMusic "Hitchhikers May be Escaped Convicts" is also the name of the final level of HALO:CE so if the player doesn't complete the terminal sidequest it sounds like it's just a HALO:CE reference.
1:00:00 Not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but in Halo: Reach during the New Alexandria level one of the objectives is to provide air support for Buck and his old ODST squad. It even plays his theme from ODST.
@@Renorick1Yes and no. The side missions are randomized, but one of them will always have Buck (though there's three possible missions that can involve him).
I love how in the CCTV footage, you can see the little AI making faces regarding what's going on in the recording. Be it joy of seeing people, or scorn of seeing things blow up in it's city. It's the little touches 😂
Seriously, Vergil has more characterization that most TV Characters these days, *And he has to speak in Canned safety messages, with only icons for expressions*, some folks really have a talent to do more with less and make it really work
The one who made this compilation is a god tier creator because instead of just doing the bare minimum of ripping cutscenes off the game they put a lot of context in between that clears a lot of misunderstandings.
Just Wish They Would’ve Added Buck And Dares Conversation When Buck Found The Aftermath Of A Battle Between The Elites And Brutes. Little Early Precursor To The Great Schism.
@@manticorephoenix yeah if you get them all before going underground the police officer jumps down with you instead of dying and tries to kill you later on.
Just a little casting fun fact (if it hasn't been said already): Mickey and Dutch are played by Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin respectively. They were co stars with Nathan Fillion in 'Firefly' and voiced various marines in Halo 3.
So you have 8 missions with your standard halo formula and level design, and between them you play as the rookie in a pseudo open world environment, you can walk around and explore, looking for secrets/collectable audio logs (which provide rewards in the open world) or walk towards the next mission. Enemies walk around in patrols or have set up little areas they guard. There's a bigger emphasis on stealthing around and avoiding fights, With the city's local AI blocking enemy patrols, giving you detour signs to avoid enemies, opening doors for you, etc. There's still enough fighting to not get bored (if you choose to engage), just not as much as a standard mission.
Something of note to add, the mission objectives rookie looks for can be found in any order resulting in you playing the flashbacks in the order of which you find them. This can give slight permutations to each Rookie cutscene in which Dare calls out for help. With the permutation of the cutscene in which you find her helmet being the rarest as it can only be seen in 2nd Playthrough’s and beyond.
57:53 If you look at the rookie you can see he's about to say something, but he's cut off by Buck yelling. I love how many times the game makes you think the Rookie's going to talk, but you never end up hearing his voice.
While a nice bit of humour, it makes even more sense when getting all the audio logs, given the different data centre cutscene and they both learn of each other along the way basically becoming friends without realising
Right I think it is implied but never completely confirmed that the engineer was actually controlling the superintendent's network (which is ostensibly why "Virgil," the superintendent, isn't opening up for the police he is supposed to work for but does when the rookie shows up) the whole time guiding the rookie to the data center. The rookie whistles the superintendent's chime to get the engineer to come out if you have collected all 30 audio logs and instead of Dare saying "don't shoot" the rookie stops her and pushes her weapon down. @@blackdog6969
Fun fact, all the CCTV parts are part of a side-story! The city actually has an 🤖AI janitor🤖 that is monitoring the troops, and when you play as the Rookie he’ll give you access to weapon/vehicle caches to help you around the city!
@@dernwine Not really. Virgil is a separate entity from the Engineer. The Engineer is more just assisting in keeping his functions active after the city is heavily damaged by the first wave of Covenant, and then downloads Virgil into himself in the second to last mission.
@@DeStrykeGaming Not really, its heavily implied it was the Engineer the whole game. We literally never got clarity if there was an additional AI from the Engineer.
There are general parts of the city (ie. crosswalks, traffic lights, building lighting) that the superintendent will use to try and guide the rookie in the right direction, as well as audio cues that it will trigger to try and draw you in a specific direction. The irony is that the rookie feels alone, but they weren't ever truly alone, as the superintendent/Virgil were watching over him and trying to help as much as they can the whole time.
It's not the Engineer, it's VERGIL. VERGIL is a subroutine within the larger Superintendent AI, tasked with looking after Sadie. When you arrive at the ONI datacentre, the Superintendent is being shut down and downloaded by the Engineer, and within that download is the VERGIL subroutine, still trying to keep Sadie safe - in this case, by assisting the military. The Engineer, Quick-To-Adjust, adopts the VRGL FOF tag to indicate that he's now absorbed the subroutine and is your friend.
That mongoose thing was in Halo 3 and ODST, the vid master challenges. After lots of demand from fans for the Halo 3 Recon helmet (since when Halo 3 launched it was only for Bungie devs and special people in the community), Bungie added the vid master challenges which were a series of 7 challenges (hard ones) you needed to complete to get recon. The 6th challenge was the one you did. You had to play the final mission of Halo 3: ODST on legendary, then on the final bit on the highway you had to drive 4 mongooses (with friends) to the end of the mission. After completing the 7 challenges, Bungie would award you the coveted Halo 3 Recon helmet.
Man, the Vidmaster Challenges are still burned into my brain, brutally difficult especially in the days of shoty internet connections (mine only really improved 'somewhat' XD) and a group of random kids manages to brute force our way threw that, it was such an achievement to do and the Helmet was just a welcome bonus
I literally just finished your halo reach reaction and was looking for a Halo 3 ODST reaction just for you to upload it as I’m searching, cheers mate great stuff
Fun fact Halo 3 ODST should really be called Halo 2.5 ODST as it starts in Halo 2 in the middle of the Brutes betraying the Elites and ends at the beginning of Halo 3. This is why you see dead elites and talk about how only 1 covenant cruiser got through but at the end see more cruisers as Truths forces have arrived and are excavating the arc. To give more context the CCTV is actually the cities AI called the Superintendent which is tracking and helping the ODSTs giving them info and helping them link up. A few hours after drop so when the rookie is linking up with the rest of the team the floating alien (Engineer) has actually linked itself with the Superintendent gaining its knowledge to save as many people as it can from the Brutes as the engineers are treated as slaves and don't really want to help the Covenant. If anyone has any questions please let me know.
Odst got a lot of backlash when it came out because it was the first game you didnt play as a spartan but in the years since its release its become a really beloved entry into the series. The somber night sections as rookie are really nice to look back on.
I think the backlash was mostly more about it feeling like a DLC rather than a full game. Don't remember much people complaining about not being a spartan.
Controversy was more about the pricing than not playing as a spartan, full priced game, even though it's the shortest halo game. Firefight was cool, but not enough for people to agree with the price.
The opening drop takes place exactly as Miranda chases after Regret’s carrier. You can actually see In Amber Clad chasing after the ship in that cutscene here. Notice there aren’t any Elites? That’s because the Great Schism is taking place in the Covenant so the Elites are fighting with the Brutes. The Engineers are peaceful but have bombs strapped on by the Brutes. The city AI was changing the signs in the city trying to help Rookie find his squad mates. In Halo 3 you can see the space elevator support rings scattered around on the Earth levels. Those rings came from the elevator that collapsed in the Dutch level. I think this is the first Halo where we actually see police officers. The police officer Rookie runs into underground is a corrupt police officer working for the corrupt police commissioner Kinsler who is in the terminal side story. He was down there to make sure a scientist down there was dead. The cctv footage was the ai Superintendent aka Vergil. The Engineer downloaded Vergil and basically became the host for Vergil’s consciousness. So the Buck line about Reach is actually deeper. Noble 6 actually saves Buck’s group in a random encounter mission in New Alexandria during the glassing. Buck has PTSD from the glassing of New Alexandria. All of the ships flying over and slipspace warping in are Truth’s fleet he sent to Earth in the end of Halo 2. In the last Earth cutscene Truth’s fleet is digging up the Ark. I always found that shot eerie. Lots of Covenant ships flying over a human city shooting their beams down at it just like Reach but this time they are digging something up not destroying something.
@@HotForgeChaos I mean the mission Delta Halo when the IAC and the Super Carrier exit slipspace is about 2 weeks after they entered it. Probably took another 2 weeks to get back
@@HotForgeChaos Johnson dies roughly two weeks after this meeting (which probably takes place on November 19/20, 2552, as the main game takes place October 20 and 21) on December 11, 2552.
A few comments in random order as I thought of them throughout the video 29:50 the reason he had to reload after one shot is because in the cutscene before he fires the gun, and they keep that consistent and leave you with a mostly empty magazine. Which the player didn't reload before that fight. Like you were saying throughout, the ODSTs are definitely a lot more vulnerable. You actually need to play more careful and find healing to get you patched up if you get actually hurt. Of all the Halo games this one is my favourite. You are playing as the Rookie inbetween all the cuts to the other characters and it really has that noir vibe you describe. You're in the dark figuring out this mystery. Getting hints from something that hopefully has your best interests in mind. There's lots of little secrets and lore bits to be found around the place as well. If you like regular Halo, and you like these vibes then it's highly recommended to play it yourself, even if this video has spoiled the plot. The one song you seemed to like but got cut of due to the video skipping forwards is Deference for Darkness. An amazing moody piece of music.
ODST has a very special character: the environment. Basically the city is managed by an AI, and it constantly tries to use its limited tools to help you. Stuff like raising bollards to stop you from walking out in front of a patrol, or causing ATMs to go crazy flinging out money to draw your attention to a weapons cache. It can't speak itself, so it reuses typical municipal management lines to try to "talk" to you "Warning: Hitchhikers may be escaped convicts!". If you pay attention to it all, you also uncover an entire extra storyline and the truth of the engineers way before the end. While the overall plot doesn't change, a LOT of Datahive changes based off of how much you found - meaning how much the Rookie figured out. As you might guess, the random unexplained cop that shows up then just dies off screen is related to that story. This compilation seems to have just skipped all that stuff.
The music in ODST just stands out from already the all the amazing Halo soundtracks. It is just different and beautiful. I love playing this game multiple times.
Love the bits like 14:10 where you give understanding and an emotional analysis/response to the story Instead of just going “wow cool” like lost reviewers you’re diving into the context and giving feedback on the nuances of the game, love it my man. Looking forward to more critical analysis!
just the first ''cutscene'' if we can call it that where it gives a little summary of what is going on and what you are going to do gave me goosebumps. normally i skip every intro before the game actually starts, but i have watched this so many times before going to the main menu. it was simply amazingly well done
29:44 Romeo only had one shot left after he fired three times in the cutscene. I've always liked Superintendents little face on the upper right corner of the cctv shots. Gives you little insight on what the city AI is thinking, even though it's not actually a smart AI like Cortana.
Inbetween these flashback missions where you play as buck or one of the others, you play as the rookie in new mombasa, activley trying to piece together what happened to your squad and trying to link up with them. Your essentially alone in the city teaming with covenant, i think the whole idea behind the game is to make you feel small in contrast to the other halo games where you're an unstoppable war machine
@ 25:46 to answer your question about the route the game is played. Yes you play as The Rookie in the New Mombasa street missions at night, Noir detective style figuring out what happened to his team, and you play the flashbacks of the characters as you discover them until they synch up. You tend not to fight super difficult enemies in the rookie missions, you're meant to play it as stealthy as you can, but you'll run into brutes, grunts, jackals, engineers, and hunters.
I think one of the coolest things about ODST was the fact that basically all of the set pieces in the daytime missions and flashbacks can be found as the rookie in the free roam during the night such as bucks pod on the roof and the warthog dutch crashes
This has probably been said a few times already in the comments but the Rookie's motif consisting of 3 descending notes is meant by the composer to convey "All Alone" or lined up with the notes, "All A-lone". Marty O Donnell, one of the composers for the series explained he wanted the Rookie's music to reflect the feeling of being all alone in a dark rainy city as you search for answers after waking up. It's meant to feel intimate and not necessarily sad but almost melancholy. ODST's music and specifically the Rookie's music is beloved by the community, it's so unique to this game but fits perfectly into the series even though it's unlike anything before it. It's masterful.
I love that at the start of the romeo mission the shots he fired in the cutscene leave you with 1 bullet left in when you start. That's why the player only shot one sniper shot at 29:40.
dude, i tell people that ODST is my fav halo game when ever the convo on halo is brought up and i never get tired of explaining my POV. its the exact opposite of the rest of the games, it was sad depressing and hopeless but as you progress through the game the storm clouds break slowly showing that its not over until its over. the realism i felt isnt comparable to others games when they have realism. it truly made me feel a kind of way. got this when it came out, im 28 now and i always replay this game just so i can experience it all over again. so you are the rookie and you play as him, but every for every item you approach and you have a "flashback" you play situationally as the other ODST team members kind of like a Quentin Tarantino movie where it jumps to different POVs in the story ending up with everything blending together, hope that made sense. love your videos, cant wait to see more.
I really enjoy these reactions. Hearing somebody who knows how to make films break down the techniques the animators have used is very interesting. It's amazing how video games went from side scrollers with text to using actual cinematography techniques and complex characters to tell their stories.
this was…….my first “modern” halo game. i had Halo 2 after the fact. but H3:ODST was my first game that was still in the ecosystem. it was strange to see New mombasa look so different, yet familiar. looking forward to to seeing your reaction to this.
One thing that really elevates ODST’s story is it’s connection to Dante’s inferno. ODST’s are nicknamed hell divers and each level reflects a level of hell in Dante’s inferno, with the main area you wonder around being limbo. It really comes together as you explore and listen to the audio logs throughout the map and hell is referenced throughout the story numerous times. Really subtle and cool story telling.
Came here to say this, shame your comment isn't further up. It even goes further then that in several ways. Sadie's story the audio logs is broken into arcs, each of which represent a different circle. Lust, gluttony, etc. The Rookie is guided by the superintendent, but that is being controlled by the engineer Vergil, an obvious reference to Virgil guide from the story. Then we also have sublevel 9 of the data center being frozen over, and the scene of betrayal by the police. Which is how the 9th circle is described as being frozen over and is where betrayers are supposed to go.
Halo 3 ODST is a pretty awesome game, you mentioned the game having a "movie" aesthetic, well its on purpose as the game is set like one of those Noire detective novels from the 40s and 50s. Funnily enough the fanbase has a theory that the story of Halo 3 ODST has analogues to Dante's Inferno and its 9 circles of Hell, Installation 00 has a great video on it. But yeah they really don't make games as captivating as they used to... Great Reaction as always!
51:00 There is an alternate scene where The Rookie pushes her gun down instead of her saying "Don't Shoot." You can go out of your way to not kill most if not all the Engineers throughout your playthrough, and if you find hidden data caches, the Rookie will Whistle mimicking the AI chime (do de doot) calling out to it to come out.
Early on in the first mission as Buck, him and Dare mention finding a lot of dead Elites and the schism. During that same mission, iirc, was one of the first Easter Eggs for Destiny. A poster on a wall.
55:35 was the 'awkwardly staring at each other because they are third wheeling' btw. You missed this part and then immediately suggested that they do the thing they just did LMAO
There’s something so powerful about the intro and how “We are losing” stands alone on screen. It’s such a simple line yet it really sets everything into perspective when you’re not playing as master chief. (Favorite halo game btw)
ODST's are the closest you can get to a spartan without using augmentations and power armor, so they dont have shields or an AI companion but they are obscenely well trained
1:00:59 Did you know Buck was featured in Reach? You rescue him in a short segment in the city mission where you are flying around to the different skyscrapers...
Mombasa Streets, the segments where you play as the Rookie between the core missions is actually my favorite moments of gameplay for Halo. I love the atmosphere and music.
I'm sure others will tell you this but the story of Buck and this squad (alpha nine) continues with the New Blood and Bad Blood books (very good) and Halo 5, which I think you mentioned. Like you I love Chief, but Buck is my favourite character in Halo and being a huge Firefly (and Fillion) fan, ODST has a very special place in my heart 😁 Thanks for watching this, it reminded me I haven't played it for a few years and need to drop back in!
Once again really enjoyed your reactions, both you reacting as a filmmaker and as a Halo fan with solid memories of the earlier games and books. You were right about most/all of the questions you asked; Biofoam indeed! I hope you do play through ODST at some point; it's a unique entry in the Halo series and there's plenty of stuff that this Gamer's Little Playground didn't cover (I think they did do a pretty great job with most of the gameplay they included). Hell of a soundtrack, too!
I think your channel is my new favorite thing. I wanted to replay the game with my friend but they weren't interested in shooters. This is like experiencing the games all over with a friend
Love the reactions and everything you add to the content on screen. I can definitely say that having some gameplay to add context is a great addition, and i hope it stays in the future! I can't wait to see more, love the uploads👍
It’s a shame you’re done with the Bungie games. After Bungie left, halo’s cutscenes got a bit blander in terms of cinematography. Not that quality got worse, it just got… pedestrian and lacked the more dynamic and interesting camerawork/dollying
Yes would love to see you play and record your game play and that way you can find things to point out you find interesting. Thanks for the videos mate ❤
You play as the rookie in a psuedo open world and he has to find his squad through the clues he finds. When you find the clues you then play a mission as the character that relates to the clue
Fun note of gameplay affecting story in this game: If you've played through the Rookie's sections at night and haven't killed a single Huragok (Engineer), at 51:01 the Rookie makes Dare lower her weapon and whistles to the Engineer to bring it out of hiding; inferring that he knows they're not hostile.
6 months late but you actually have to have spared every engineer and collected all the audio logs so that the Rookie has heard Sadie and Virgil's whole backstory; sparing them just gave you the "good sameritan" achievemement which unlocked the ODST avatar outfit back in the day.
Did you know we actually invented the biofoam used to save Romeo? They just came out with a syringe that you shoot into gaping bleeding wounds to stop it instantly in real life and i immediately thought of the canister they used on Rome's punctured chest lol
So this is not just Nathan Fillion here, but Adam Tudyk (Mickey), Adam Baldwin (Dutch), and Tricia Helfer (Dare). The former 3 are buddies from Firefly and notably big Halo 3 fans. A lot of the one liners in the cut scenes are repurposed/reprised from Firefly/Serenity. Dare/Tricia is from Battle Star Galactica. There are also cameos from Rooster Teeth fame who did Red vs Blue.
This is probably my top 3 favorite Halo campaigns and I’m so glad i recently found your channel and got to learn more about how artistic these masterpiece games are.
This playthrough was done really well, they grabbed all the important dialogue from gameplay sections, really lets you see the complete picture when looking at it. As always, great commentary.
Odst are the helljumpers in halo. They drop into the hottest spots possible in a battle. Those huge drops of covenant are what they are trained for. In the books when john was a kid after the supplements he almost killed a few odst in the gym. It shows just how much stronger the spartans are than the rest of the military. That doesnt discount how courageous and heroic the odst are by any means though.
ODST is the peak of Halo storytelling. This video did a decent job of grabbing some of the important bits, but honestly there's so many details during the gameplay segments that add to the narrative that it's hard to get everything. There's also a series of audio logs that tell yet another story that ties in with the main story and changes how part of that Rookie mission plays out, which also gives a lot more context to the "CCTV" segments. I would love to see you do a Let's Play series for this game.
Long time halo fan and have played every game/read every book. Odst holds a special place in my heart. The atmosphere of the game is unreal and I still get chills from it to this day. The books accompanying it are great too.
at 5:29, if you look to the right of the covenant carrier, you can see the 'In Amber Clad' jumping into the slipspace portal as well. nice little detail that connects the games
19:35 there's some great gameplay detail there as well, the cutscene changes depending on what vehicle you use and I think even the drone crashing is slightly altered from memory
4:50 So, as you probably recall, this opening scene takes place during the end of the Halo 2 level "Metropolis" when the Prophet of Regret's ship jumps into slipspace inside the city and the In Amber Clad chases it. 5:30 Right to the right side of the carrier, you can actually see the UNSC In Amber Clad follow the carrier through the portal.
To answer your question at around 25:40 - yes. You play as Rookie in between chapters and have to go from point A to B, but there will be fighting in between, some easter eggs and secrets for those who search, etc. and you will love the music that the Rookie sequences have. It's kind of a detective film noir feel to it, and it lays out all these crumbs of clues to lead up to a great conclusion at the end. It's like several different red threads that are scattered, but it all forms into one united big red thread,
Always loved how even the city itself is a character in this, how _everything_ the AI Virgil says is relevant to the plot and the street signs around the city tell you where to go.
Fun fact. At 5:30 you can see the inamberd clad (may have butchered the name but it’s the frigate in halo 2) go into slip space with the covenant carrier. Can never not see it now
Halo 3 ODST is one of my favorite Halos. While the gameplay is a little toned down and slower than the rest of the trilogy, in my opinion it still competes with all of them. Also there's so many little easter eggs I would have never paid attention to the first or even second time through, but once you start looking for some of the signs, you notice something strange or recurring throughout the game. The Superintendent is constantly watching the ODST's and tracking them, which you can see my the camera cuts. If you read many of the street signs as Rookie, it is typically guiding you to the next clue, or telling you to proceed with caution when there's enemies ahead. I could ramble on and on about how many little things you may never even notice. Not to mention the atmosphere while playing rookie is phenomenal. Glad to see you react to this one!
59:49 that was this level, it's a vidmaster challenge which is to complete the level 4-player legendary LIVE co-op with the Iron skull on and without using warthogs or tanks. You do get to use quads with rocket launchers which is nice
25:35 yes you play as the rookie in between each chapter, you sneak around the city finding clues about where your squad went, you can fight covenant patrols as you find them, or you can sneak around
5:30 If you pay close attention, you can see the In Amber Clad moving in and enter slipspace with the Covenant carrier, just like it did in Halo 2. Just a nice bit of attention to detail on Bungie's part, and helps to establish where in the Halo timeline this takes place.
I dont know if youll read this given its very late compared to when this video released, but the Rookies goal is to find out what happened to the team given its been several hours since he dropped. He is being led by the cities super intendant which is something you will see if you ever play the game which is how he knows where to go and what to look for to know where his team is. Because the Rookie is alone at night Bungie decided to go with a darker more ominous tone which is why its very quiet and ambient with scores of piano music while the rest of the team members have louder larger music and sets. The Rookie also fights a lot less enemies given he fights small patrols at night compared to his allies during the day. Also another aspect is as the story ramps up and gets closer to the climax both for the rookie at night and his allies during the day the enemies in missions and across the free roam city increase by a lot. Halo 3 ODST is easily one of my favorite halo games just because of the sound track gameplay easter eggs and character relationships that are told in a fantastic story.
Im so glad you did ODST! I watched the reach video just before this and i have to say i almost cried several times having played the game numerous times before. As much as i love halo reach tho odst has and forever will be my favorite game ever because of how they do the atmosphere and above all the music, so im happy you mentioned it early. Anyway only a minute in as im writing this, gonna go watch the rest. byeee!
The thing that made such an impact on me playing Reach and ODST was the fact that we weren't the main character.tm, but in reach it showed your team of super soldiers fighting overwhelming odds and sacrificing for a greater good of humanity, and in ODST it was about your team of regular (un-augmented but highly skilled) humans Surviving agaisnt insurmountable odds
25:37 The rookie's sections have quite a few enemies and even hidden audio logs for a side story. Something kind of emphasized for the Rookie is wanting to avoid combat where possible and get to your next clue. You still can go rambo and kill every brute and grunt you see, but most environments you can sneak around and avoid combat
First up love the videos! Came here for your halo stuff but I’ve stayed around for some of the other franchises too. Very interesting to see some of the tricks pointed out. One thing that I didn’t see covered too much but you did mention, and its more a curiosity and visual story telling element, is that on some of the maps/missions you can find dead elite and brute corpses which does a bit of visual foreshadowing of the split of the covenant. It’s a cool little detail to see.
It's great when they do that because it allows you to grow the universe, a bit like Star Wars. It feels huge like an actual space. Thank you for watching the videos and being apart of the channel. It's awesome fella!
@@kaizammit it is very cool. It’s also interesting to see how in some cases people can latch onto some of these stories which can sort of “blow up” a little leading to more in depth explorations of the side stories, creating other central branches to the main story. Another game series that does quite a lot of these universe growing elements is the mass effect series. The amount stories that you can find spread throughout is *usually* done very well. Some very clever people out there to make it all work.
ODST was such a somber change from the rest of the franchise, walking around the silent streets with smooth jazz playing in the background. Almost complete contrast from the prior games.
Real. I played it co-op with my little brother and it was an amazing time.
Sadly life/family/work has taken over and we don’t game much anymore but have those good memories 🔥🔥🔥
It's got a very unique feel. Wish they would do another spinoff in a similar vein. But I don't have too much hope for 343 campaigns after 3 games.
@@JT_117at least they fired a bunch of people and have a team that’s actually trying now
Literally changing from a god in a war, to a one of the foot soldiers. such a massive change in how war "feels"
Bungie showed how to make a really good spin off for the fans❤
The reason Romeo only has 1 shot in the sniper @ 29:35 is because during the cutscene, he shot at the Banshees. It’s a little attention to detail that I didn’t know until recently
Yes. They actually did the same thing in halo 2 when arbiter shoots at the forerunner machine at the beginning of the library. When it cuts to gameplay, there's 3 or 4 shots missing from the cartridge in your carbine.
If you skip the cutscene where he shoots the banshee he still has a full clip in the sniper.
@l.v.4375 * full magazine. I know it's a nitpick but it's not called a clip.
@@vanguardraidcommand2285 Correct. They easy way to tell the difference between a Clip and a Mag is that a Mag stays with the weapon and a Clip is usually used to help load a Mag.
@DraustTrollbaneUS That, and if you can't see the bullets (with the exception of 1 or 2 when looking down from the top).
I know it annoys people when we correct them, but it would be the same as calling the transmission and the gear shifter on a car the same thing. They both involve the gears of the vehicle, but they aren't the same at all
46:15 you might of found that cop a little suspicious. There's a 2nd story that you can piece together by collecting audio logs throughout the game. Long story short he was a corrupt cop who was working for a corrupt commissioner. The city AI knew and locked him out, which is why he was struggling to open that first stack.
The 2nd story is definitely a lot more interesting than I have made it out to be here, but it's hard to explain in its entirety 😅
Vergil is trying to tell the Rookie too. "Warning: hitchhikers may be escaped convicts" which just seems like some random AI line that has no meaning until you know. And later "crime doesn't pay"
Keep him alive long enough through the last mission for that sweet Easter egg....
@@pedrotrejo8118 only way he stays alive is if you listened to all the audio log
@@LeeAndersonMusic oh yeah 😅
@@LeeAndersonMusic "Hitchhikers May be Escaped Convicts" is also the name of the final level of HALO:CE so if the player doesn't complete the terminal sidequest it sounds like it's just a HALO:CE reference.
1:00:00 Not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but in Halo: Reach during the New Alexandria level one of the objectives is to provide air support for Buck and his old ODST squad. It even plays his theme from ODST.
Mission is randomized, but yes. Buck is one possible encounter.
@@Renorick1 buck is always an encounter
@@Renorick1Yes and no. The side missions are randomized, but one of them will always have Buck (though there's three possible missions that can involve him).
How do I do this? I wanna see Buck.
@@NosajKnows Nothing you need to do specifically. Just play the mission "New Alexandria," and he'll show up eventually.
I love how in the CCTV footage, you can see the little AI making faces regarding what's going on in the recording. Be it joy of seeing people, or scorn of seeing things blow up in it's city. It's the little touches 😂
I literally just noticed this the other night while playing through with my buddy for the first time
Definitely has a WTF? expression followed by anger after they blow up the ONI building 😆
Seriously, Vergil has more characterization that most TV Characters these days, *And he has to speak in Canned safety messages, with only icons for expressions*, some folks really have a talent to do more with less and make it really work
I just noticed that during this video lol I saw and was like “what?? HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT ITS SO CUTE?!”
the ai also guides the ODSTs throughout the city especially the rookie, with the screens saying turn left and otherwise
The one who made this compilation is a god tier creator because instead of just doing the bare minimum of ripping cutscenes off the game they put a lot of context in between that clears a lot of misunderstandings.
Didn’t do the audio logs in this compilation tho, which is a disappointment
Not the best player though and he could have gotten some more wide shots but I mean yeah it’s good so props to him
Just Wish They Would’ve Added Buck And Dares Conversation When Buck Found The Aftermath Of A Battle Between The Elites And Brutes. Little Early Precursor To The Great Schism.
@@manticorephoenix yeah if you get them all before going underground the police officer jumps down with you instead of dying and tries to kill you later on.
They also skipped the elite corpse section where Buck talk abouts why are they all dead, pretty low quality technically
Just a little casting fun fact (if it hasn't been said already): Mickey and Dutch are played by Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin respectively. They were co stars with Nathan Fillion in 'Firefly' and voiced various marines in Halo 3.
58:35 oh I almost forgot, the actor who voices Dare is Tricia Helfer (from battlestar galactica)
i love nathan fillion, he deserves to play nathan drake in the next live action
So you have 8 missions with your standard halo formula and level design, and between them you play as the rookie in a pseudo open world environment, you can walk around and explore, looking for secrets/collectable audio logs (which provide rewards in the open world) or walk towards the next mission. Enemies walk around in patrols or have set up little areas they guard. There's a bigger emphasis on stealthing around and avoiding fights, With the city's local AI blocking enemy patrols, giving you detour signs to avoid enemies, opening doors for you, etc. There's still enough fighting to not get bored (if you choose to engage), just not as much as a standard mission.
Something of note to add, the mission objectives rookie looks for can be found in any order resulting in you playing the flashbacks in the order of which you find them.
This can give slight permutations to each Rookie cutscene in which Dare calls out for help. With the permutation of the cutscene in which you find her helmet being the rarest as it can only be seen in 2nd Playthrough’s and beyond.
57:53 If you look at the rookie you can see he's about to say something, but he's cut off by Buck yelling. I love how many times the game makes you think the Rookie's going to talk, but you never end up hearing his voice.
"....uh-" *raises finger*
*Prepares to say something*
*Realizes writing on the wall*
*Remembers Dare is with ONI and Buck is his CO*
*Decides to just let this play out*
You may have missed it when distracted by their teeth, but they did have rookie and the engineer look at each other like a 3rd wheel at 55:36
Oh shit, so they did! I was right though, made it better. I was very distracted by her teeth.
While a nice bit of humour, it makes even more sense when getting all the audio logs, given the different data centre cutscene and they both learn of each other along the way basically becoming friends without realising
Right I think it is implied but never completely confirmed that the engineer was actually controlling the superintendent's network (which is ostensibly why "Virgil," the superintendent, isn't opening up for the police he is supposed to work for but does when the rookie shows up) the whole time guiding the rookie to the data center. The rookie whistles the superintendent's chime to get the engineer to come out if you have collected all 30 audio logs and instead of Dare saying "don't shoot" the rookie stops her and pushes her weapon down. @@blackdog6969
Fun fact, all the CCTV parts are part of a side-story!
The city actually has an 🤖AI janitor🤖 that is monitoring the troops, and when you play as the Rookie he’ll give you access to weapon/vehicle caches to help you around the city!
The AI Janitor is heavily implied to be the Engineer when you are the Rookie.
@@dernwine Not really. Virgil is a separate entity from the Engineer. The Engineer is more just assisting in keeping his functions active after the city is heavily damaged by the first wave of Covenant, and then downloads Virgil into himself in the second to last mission.
@@DeStrykeGaming Not really, its heavily implied it was the Engineer the whole game. We literally never got clarity if there was an additional AI from the Engineer.
There are general parts of the city (ie. crosswalks, traffic lights, building lighting) that the superintendent will use to try and guide the rookie in the right direction, as well as audio cues that it will trigger to try and draw you in a specific direction. The irony is that the rookie feels alone, but they weren't ever truly alone, as the superintendent/Virgil were watching over him and trying to help as much as they can the whole time.
It's not the Engineer, it's VERGIL. VERGIL is a subroutine within the larger Superintendent AI, tasked with looking after Sadie. When you arrive at the ONI datacentre, the Superintendent is being shut down and downloaded by the Engineer, and within that download is the VERGIL subroutine, still trying to keep Sadie safe - in this case, by assisting the military. The Engineer, Quick-To-Adjust, adopts the VRGL FOF tag to indicate that he's now absorbed the subroutine and is your friend.
That mongoose thing was in Halo 3 and ODST, the vid master challenges.
After lots of demand from fans for the Halo 3 Recon helmet (since when Halo 3 launched it was only for Bungie devs and special people in the community), Bungie added the vid master challenges which were a series of 7 challenges (hard ones) you needed to complete to get recon.
The 6th challenge was the one you did. You had to play the final mission of Halo 3: ODST on legendary, then on the final bit on the highway you had to drive 4 mongooses (with friends) to the end of the mission. After completing the 7 challenges, Bungie would award you the coveted Halo 3 Recon helmet.
Oh yeah! Dude, memories.
Man, the Vidmaster Challenges are still burned into my brain, brutally difficult especially in the days of shoty internet connections (mine only really improved 'somewhat' XD) and a group of random kids manages to brute force our way threw that, it was such an achievement to do and the Helmet was just a welcome bonus
I literally just finished your halo reach reaction and was looking for a Halo 3 ODST reaction just for you to upload it as I’m searching, cheers mate great stuff
I'm glad you're enjoying them! Thank you for watching the videos.
@@kaizammitto reply directly. As the rookie you fight through war torn new Mombasa finding the clue's flashbacks
Fun fact Halo 3 ODST should really be called Halo 2.5 ODST as it starts in Halo 2 in the middle of the Brutes betraying the Elites and ends at the beginning of Halo 3. This is why you see dead elites and talk about how only 1 covenant cruiser got through but at the end see more cruisers as Truths forces have arrived and are excavating the arc.
To give more context the CCTV is actually the cities AI called the Superintendent which is tracking and helping the ODSTs giving them info and helping them link up. A few hours after drop so when the rookie is linking up with the rest of the team the floating alien (Engineer) has actually linked itself with the Superintendent gaining its knowledge to save as many people as it can from the Brutes as the engineers are treated as slaves and don't really want to help the Covenant.
If anyone has any questions please let me know.
I remember the original title they were going to have for the game was Halo 3 Recon
@@quarkedbutt3957 yeah which was even weirder considering non of them were recon lol
Finally someone other than me says this
@@CT-9904-Crosshair I tried to ask about this on the halo reddit and they declined me because it was divisive apparently lmao
Crazy they missed the dead elites part
Odst got a lot of backlash when it came out because it was the first game you didnt play as a spartan but in the years since its release its become a really beloved entry into the series. The somber night sections as rookie are really nice to look back on.
Don't remember the backlash myself, it filled the niche of being a normal human compared to Spartans
I think the backlash was mostly more about it feeling like a DLC rather than a full game. Don't remember much people complaining about not being a spartan.
Pretty sure it was mostly because of the price.
Controversy was more about the pricing than not playing as a spartan, full priced game, even though it's the shortest halo game. Firefight was cool, but not enough for people to agree with the price.
Word. Something serene about that night stage. Night missions are relatively rare in games I noticed.
The opening drop takes place exactly as Miranda chases after Regret’s carrier. You can actually see In Amber Clad chasing after the ship in that cutscene here. Notice there aren’t any Elites? That’s because the Great Schism is taking place in the Covenant so the Elites are fighting with the Brutes. The Engineers are peaceful but have bombs strapped on by the Brutes. The city AI was changing the signs in the city trying to help Rookie find his squad mates. In Halo 3 you can see the space elevator support rings scattered around on the Earth levels. Those rings came from the elevator that collapsed in the Dutch level. I think this is the first Halo where we actually see police officers. The police officer Rookie runs into underground is a corrupt police officer working for the corrupt police commissioner Kinsler who is in the terminal side story. He was down there to make sure a scientist down there was dead. The cctv footage was the ai Superintendent aka Vergil. The Engineer downloaded Vergil and basically became the host for Vergil’s consciousness. So the Buck line about Reach is actually deeper. Noble 6 actually saves Buck’s group in a random encounter mission in New Alexandria during the glassing. Buck has PTSD from the glassing of New Alexandria. All of the ships flying over and slipspace warping in are Truth’s fleet he sent to Earth in the end of Halo 2. In the last Earth cutscene Truth’s fleet is digging up the Ark. I always found that shot eerie. Lots of Covenant ships flying over a human city shooting their beams down at it just like Reach but this time they are digging something up not destroying something.
Nerd (i read and appreciated all of this)
Holy sheet that's awesome
Something's not sitting right with me. If its a month after the drop, shouldn't Sgt. Johnson be dead?
@@HotForgeChaos I mean the mission Delta Halo when the IAC and the Super Carrier exit slipspace is about 2 weeks after they entered it. Probably took another 2 weeks to get back
@@HotForgeChaos Johnson dies roughly two weeks after this meeting (which probably takes place on November 19/20, 2552, as the main game takes place October 20 and 21) on December 11, 2552.
A few comments in random order as I thought of them throughout the video
29:50 the reason he had to reload after one shot is because in the cutscene before he fires the gun, and they keep that consistent and leave you with a mostly empty magazine. Which the player didn't reload before that fight.
Like you were saying throughout, the ODSTs are definitely a lot more vulnerable. You actually need to play more careful and find healing to get you patched up if you get actually hurt.
Of all the Halo games this one is my favourite. You are playing as the Rookie inbetween all the cuts to the other characters and it really has that noir vibe you describe. You're in the dark figuring out this mystery. Getting hints from something that hopefully has your best interests in mind. There's lots of little secrets and lore bits to be found around the place as well. If you like regular Halo, and you like these vibes then it's highly recommended to play it yourself, even if this video has spoiled the plot.
The one song you seemed to like but got cut of due to the video skipping forwards is Deference for Darkness. An amazing moody piece of music.
ODST has a very special character: the environment.
Basically the city is managed by an AI, and it constantly tries to use its limited tools to help you. Stuff like raising bollards to stop you from walking out in front of a patrol, or causing ATMs to go crazy flinging out money to draw your attention to a weapons cache. It can't speak itself, so it reuses typical municipal management lines to try to "talk" to you "Warning: Hitchhikers may be escaped convicts!".
If you pay attention to it all, you also uncover an entire extra storyline and the truth of the engineers way before the end. While the overall plot doesn't change, a LOT of Datahive changes based off of how much you found - meaning how much the Rookie figured out.
As you might guess, the random unexplained cop that shows up then just dies off screen is related to that story. This compilation seems to have just skipped all that stuff.
The music in ODST just stands out from already the all the amazing Halo soundtracks. It is just different and beautiful. I love playing this game multiple times.
Love the bits like 14:10 where you give understanding and an emotional analysis/response to the story
Instead of just going “wow cool” like lost reviewers you’re diving into the context and giving feedback on the nuances of the game, love it my man. Looking forward to more critical analysis!
1:07:17 you can see that HE KNOWS who that is walking in half a second lol
just the first ''cutscene'' if we can call it that where it gives a little summary of what is going on and what you are going to do gave me goosebumps.
normally i skip every intro before the game actually starts, but i have watched this so many times before going to the main menu. it was simply amazingly well done
29:44 Romeo only had one shot left after he fired three times in the cutscene.
I've always liked Superintendents little face on the upper right corner of the cctv shots. Gives you little insight on what the city AI is thinking, even though it's not actually a smart AI like Cortana.
The detail 🤌
Inbetween these flashback missions where you play as buck or one of the others, you play as the rookie in new mombasa, activley trying to piece together what happened to your squad and trying to link up with them. Your essentially alone in the city teaming with covenant, i think the whole idea behind the game is to make you feel small in contrast to the other halo games where you're an unstoppable war machine
@ 25:46 to answer your question about the route the game is played. Yes you play as The Rookie in the New Mombasa street missions at night, Noir detective style figuring out what happened to his team, and you play the flashbacks of the characters as you discover them until they synch up. You tend not to fight super difficult enemies in the rookie missions, you're meant to play it as stealthy as you can, but you'll run into brutes, grunts, jackals, engineers, and hunters.
I think one of the coolest things about ODST was the fact that basically all of the set pieces in the daytime missions and flashbacks can be found as the rookie in the free roam during the night such as bucks pod on the roof and the warthog dutch crashes
This has probably been said a few times already in the comments but the Rookie's motif consisting of 3 descending notes is meant by the composer to convey "All Alone" or lined up with the notes, "All A-lone".
Marty O Donnell, one of the composers for the series explained he wanted the Rookie's music to reflect the feeling of being all alone in a dark rainy city as you search for answers after waking up. It's meant to feel intimate and not necessarily sad but almost melancholy.
ODST's music and specifically the Rookie's music is beloved by the community, it's so unique to this game but fits perfectly into the series even though it's unlike anything before it. It's masterful.
I've fallen asleep to this soundtrack so many times
I love that at the start of the romeo mission the shots he fired in the cutscene leave you with 1 bullet left in when you start. That's why the player only shot one sniper shot at 29:40.
dude, i tell people that ODST is my fav halo game when ever the convo on halo is brought up and i never get tired of explaining my POV. its the exact opposite of the rest of the games, it was sad depressing and hopeless but as you progress through the game the storm clouds break slowly showing that its not over until its over. the realism i felt isnt comparable to others games when they have realism. it truly made me feel a kind of way. got this when it came out, im 28 now and i always replay this game just so i can experience it all over again. so you are the rookie and you play as him, but every for every item you approach and you have a "flashback" you play situationally as the other ODST team members kind of like a Quentin Tarantino movie where it jumps to different POVs in the story ending up with everything blending together, hope that made sense. love your videos, cant wait to see more.
I really enjoy these reactions. Hearing somebody who knows how to make films break down the techniques the animators have used is very interesting. It's amazing how video games went from side scrollers with text to using actual cinematography techniques and complex characters to tell their stories.
this was…….my first “modern” halo game. i had Halo 2 after the fact. but H3:ODST was my first game that was still in the ecosystem. it was strange to see New mombasa look so different, yet familiar.
looking forward to to seeing your reaction to this.
One thing that really elevates ODST’s story is it’s connection to Dante’s inferno.
ODST’s are nicknamed hell divers and each level reflects a level of hell in Dante’s inferno, with the main area you wonder around being limbo.
It really comes together as you explore and listen to the audio logs throughout the map and hell is referenced throughout the story numerous times. Really subtle and cool story telling.
Came here to say this, shame your comment isn't further up. It even goes further then that in several ways. Sadie's story the audio logs is broken into arcs, each of which represent a different circle. Lust, gluttony, etc. The Rookie is guided by the superintendent, but that is being controlled by the engineer Vergil, an obvious reference to Virgil guide from the story. Then we also have sublevel 9 of the data center being frozen over, and the scene of betrayal by the police. Which is how the 9th circle is described as being frozen over and is where betrayers are supposed to go.
Halo 3 ODST is a pretty awesome game, you mentioned the game having a "movie" aesthetic, well its on purpose as the game is set like one of those Noire detective novels from the 40s and 50s. Funnily enough the fanbase has a theory that the story of Halo 3 ODST has analogues to Dante's Inferno and its 9 circles of Hell, Installation 00 has a great video on it.
But yeah they really don't make games as captivating as they used to...
Great Reaction as always!
the engineer is literally called Vergil lmaoo
51:00
There is an alternate scene where The Rookie pushes her gun down instead of her saying "Don't Shoot."
You can go out of your way to not kill most if not all the Engineers throughout your playthrough, and if you find hidden data caches, the Rookie will Whistle mimicking the AI chime (do de doot) calling out to it to come out.
yes, this game is set during the covenant schism, during missions you can find dead elites
Early on in the first mission as Buck, him and Dare mention finding a lot of dead Elites and the schism.
During that same mission, iirc, was one of the first Easter Eggs for Destiny. A poster on a wall.
@@stevenhirtle7000i forgot about them mentioning it, its been years since i played odst
55:35 was the 'awkwardly staring at each other because they are third wheeling' btw. You missed this part and then immediately suggested that they do the thing they just did LMAO
that part always makes me laugh
That intro music is straight up band of brothers style
5:30 If you look closely at the right side of the carrier, you can see the UNSC ship fly into the slip space rupture too.
after finishing your vid, this is been so much fun to watch, cant wait when you finally get to Halo Infinite
Thank you so much for watching, it means so much to hear you're enjoying the videos.
There’s something so powerful about the intro and how “We are losing” stands alone on screen. It’s such a simple line yet it really sets everything into perspective when you’re not playing as master chief. (Favorite halo game btw)
ODST's are the closest you can get to a spartan without using augmentations and power armor, so they dont have shields or an AI companion but they are obscenely well trained
Actually, ODST are know to have augmentations, but acceptable ones with their bones to help them feel with impact when hell jumping
1:00:59 Did you know Buck was featured in Reach? You rescue him in a short segment in the city mission where you are flying around to the different skyscrapers...
Fun fact about the Rookie, his canonical name is Johnathan Doherty, which is clearly a play on words of John Doe, truly making him a nobody
Mombasa Streets, the segments where you play as the Rookie between the core missions is actually my favorite moments of gameplay for Halo. I love the atmosphere and music.
I'm sure others will tell you this but the story of Buck and this squad (alpha nine) continues with the New Blood and Bad Blood books (very good) and Halo 5, which I think you mentioned.
Like you I love Chief, but Buck is my favourite character in Halo and being a huge Firefly (and Fillion) fan, ODST has a very special place in my heart 😁 Thanks for watching this, it reminded me I haven't played it for a few years and need to drop back in!
JUSTICE FOR THE ROOKIE
THIS SOME BULLSHIT 😵💫😵💫
@@jester4323 Yeah, they did Rook dirty. Probably because they didn't wanna make an ODST 2. The cowards!
Gonna watch this when I get home from work! Love your videos.
Once again really enjoyed your reactions, both you reacting as a filmmaker and as a Halo fan with solid memories of the earlier games and books. You were right about most/all of the questions you asked; Biofoam indeed! I hope you do play through ODST at some point; it's a unique entry in the Halo series and there's plenty of stuff that this Gamer's Little Playground didn't cover (I think they did do a pretty great job with most of the gameplay they included). Hell of a soundtrack, too!
Thank you so much for watching, I really appreciate it.
I think your channel is my new favorite thing. I wanted to replay the game with my friend but they weren't interested in shooters. This is like experiencing the games all over with a friend
Love the reactions and everything you add to the content on screen. I can definitely say that having some gameplay to add context is a great addition, and i hope it stays in the future! I can't wait to see more, love the uploads👍
Thank you so much for watching! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos.
It’s a shame you’re done with the Bungie games. After Bungie left, halo’s cutscenes got a bit blander in terms of cinematography.
Not that quality got worse, it just got… pedestrian and lacked the more dynamic and interesting camerawork/dollying
Yes would love to see you play and record your game play and that way you can find things to point out you find interesting. Thanks for the videos mate ❤
I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the videos. Thank you for watching and commenting, I really appreciate it.
You play as the rookie in a psuedo open world and he has to find his squad through the clues he finds. When you find the clues you then play a mission as the character that relates to the clue
Sad that the edit guy skipped all the majestic music that plays after the Rookie's cutscenes. ODST is a great game, definetily worth a try.
Up-in-coming channel. Great breakdown keep making the vids my dude!
Thank you fella!
I do enjoy watching Obi-Wan react to my favourite games.
Fun note of gameplay affecting story in this game: If you've played through the Rookie's sections at night and haven't killed a single Huragok (Engineer), at 51:01 the Rookie makes Dare lower her weapon and whistles to the Engineer to bring it out of hiding; inferring that he knows they're not hostile.
6 months late but you actually have to have spared every engineer and collected all the audio logs so that the Rookie has heard Sadie and Virgil's whole backstory; sparing them just gave you the "good sameritan" achievemement which unlocked the ODST avatar outfit back in the day.
7:22 haha glad I wasn't the only one when I was younger who didn't know what that meant! Like the videos!!
Did you know we actually invented the biofoam used to save Romeo? They just came out with a syringe that you shoot into gaping bleeding wounds to stop it instantly in real life and i immediately thought of the canister they used on Rome's punctured chest lol
So this is not just Nathan Fillion here, but Adam Tudyk (Mickey), Adam Baldwin (Dutch), and Tricia Helfer (Dare). The former 3 are buddies from Firefly and notably big Halo 3 fans. A lot of the one liners in the cut scenes are repurposed/reprised from Firefly/Serenity.
Dare/Tricia is from Battle Star Galactica. There are also cameos from Rooster Teeth fame who did Red vs Blue.
45:55 "Warning, hitchhikers may be escaped convicts!" I love how Virgil tries to warn you that the cop is the antagonist of the side story
This is probably my top 3 favorite Halo campaigns and I’m so glad i recently found your channel and got to learn more about how artistic these masterpiece games are.
Thank you so much for being here. It's awesome.
Love Dutch's remark on the longsword and the fighter drone, "I'll keep my feet on the ground." And they bring it all back at the end.
This playthrough was done really well, they grabbed all the important dialogue from gameplay sections, really lets you see the complete picture when looking at it.
As always, great commentary.
Ooooh, this outta be good. Gonna watch tonight. ODST is such a gem. And that music!!! Blessed be Marty & Mike.
18:48 The best part about Dutch’s scene when he jumps from the warthog is the sheer amount of perfect one-liners that he just drops one after another
I absolutely love this concept, keep the halo reactions coming!!!
I love all your videos Kai Zammit!
Odst are the helljumpers in halo. They drop into the hottest spots possible in a battle. Those huge drops of covenant are what they are trained for. In the books when john was a kid after the supplements he almost killed a few odst in the gym. It shows just how much stronger the spartans are than the rest of the military. That doesnt discount how courageous and heroic the odst are by any means though.
14:37 I know this might not be seen but the song is called _Deference for Darkness_
ODST is the peak of Halo storytelling. This video did a decent job of grabbing some of the important bits, but honestly there's so many details during the gameplay segments that add to the narrative that it's hard to get everything. There's also a series of audio logs that tell yet another story that ties in with the main story and changes how part of that Rookie mission plays out, which also gives a lot more context to the "CCTV" segments. I would love to see you do a Let's Play series for this game.
Long time halo fan and have played every game/read every book. Odst holds a special place in my heart. The atmosphere of the game is unreal and I still get chills from it to this day. The books accompanying it are great too.
You have made my whole week with all the ODST reaction videos you have released recently i wish they made another game!
I love how when the carrier jumps you can see the In Amber Clad above it going through the rupture the same exact way it did in Halo 2
at 5:29, if you look to the right of the covenant carrier, you can see the 'In Amber Clad' jumping into the slipspace portal as well. nice little detail that connects the games
19:35 there's some great gameplay detail there as well, the cutscene changes depending on what vehicle you use and I think even the drone crashing is slightly altered from memory
Gamer's Little Playground
One of the best channels out there for games
Still lives up to be my favorite Halo game, the mix of big combat and lowkey gameplay is perfect. Glad you covered this!
Bloody thank you for showing and adoring the ODST,s they are my favorite and your channel may fortune and happiness to you mate
Much appreciated!
4:50 So, as you probably recall, this opening scene takes place during the end of the Halo 2 level "Metropolis" when the Prophet of Regret's ship jumps into slipspace inside the city and the In Amber Clad chases it.
5:30 Right to the right side of the carrier, you can actually see the UNSC In Amber Clad follow the carrier through the portal.
To answer your question at around 25:40 - yes. You play as Rookie in between chapters and have to go from point A to B, but there will be fighting in between, some easter eggs and secrets for those who search, etc. and you will love the music that the Rookie sequences have. It's kind of a detective film noir feel to it, and it lays out all these crumbs of clues to lead up to a great conclusion at the end.
It's like several different red threads that are scattered, but it all forms into one united big red thread,
Always loved how even the city itself is a character in this, how _everything_ the AI Virgil says is relevant to the plot and the street signs around the city tell you where to go.
this was one of my favorite games growing up and just by chance caught this video 2 hours after it was posted. so stoked you checked it out!
I’ve absolutely loved this game more than any other I’ve ever played. This is a masterpiece and I’m glad you enjoyed it
ODST is my favourite Halo game. I got it in a box of used games and it's the game that I've replayed the most.
Fun fact. At 5:30 you can see the inamberd clad (may have butchered the name but it’s the frigate in halo 2) go into slip space with the covenant carrier. Can never not see it now
Halo 3 ODST is one of my favorite Halos. While the gameplay is a little toned down and slower than the rest of the trilogy, in my opinion it still competes with all of them. Also there's so many little easter eggs I would have never paid attention to the first or even second time through, but once you start looking for some of the signs, you notice something strange or recurring throughout the game. The Superintendent is constantly watching the ODST's and tracking them, which you can see my the camera cuts. If you read many of the street signs as Rookie, it is typically guiding you to the next clue, or telling you to proceed with caution when there's enemies ahead. I could ramble on and on about how many little things you may never even notice. Not to mention the atmosphere while playing rookie is phenomenal. Glad to see you react to this one!
59:49 that was this level, it's a vidmaster challenge which is to complete the level 4-player legendary LIVE co-op with the Iron skull on and without using warthogs or tanks. You do get to use quads with rocket launchers which is nice
Deference for Darkness at 14:28 still hits really hard from back then because of how ODST played out
odst is hands down one of my favorites, from the characters, to the music to the gameplay its outstanding
25:35 yes you play as the rookie in between each chapter, you sneak around the city finding clues about where your squad went, you can fight covenant patrols as you find them, or you can sneak around
I’ve been loving these halo reacts please keep doing this fantastic work
5:30 If you pay close attention, you can see the In Amber Clad moving in and enter slipspace with the Covenant carrier, just like it did in Halo 2. Just a nice bit of attention to detail on Bungie's part, and helps to establish where in the Halo timeline this takes place.
I dont know if youll read this given its very late compared to when this video released, but the Rookies goal is to find out what happened to the team given its been several hours since he dropped. He is being led by the cities super intendant which is something you will see if you ever play the game which is how he knows where to go and what to look for to know where his team is. Because the Rookie is alone at night Bungie decided to go with a darker more ominous tone which is why its very quiet and ambient with scores of piano music while the rest of the team members have louder larger music and sets. The Rookie also fights a lot less enemies given he fights small patrols at night compared to his allies during the day. Also another aspect is as the story ramps up and gets closer to the climax both for the rookie at night and his allies during the day the enemies in missions and across the free roam city increase by a lot. Halo 3 ODST is easily one of my favorite halo games just because of the sound track gameplay easter eggs and character relationships that are told in a fantastic story.
Im so glad you did ODST! I watched the reach video just before this and i have to say i almost cried several times having played the game numerous times before. As much as i love halo reach tho odst has and forever will be my favorite game ever because of how they do the atmosphere and above all the music, so im happy you mentioned it early. Anyway only a minute in as im writing this, gonna go watch the rest. byeee!
Currently at 1:20 in, so excited to see you cover my favorite halo game
The thing that made such an impact on me playing Reach and ODST was the fact that we weren't the main character.tm, but in reach it showed your team of super soldiers fighting overwhelming odds and sacrificing for a greater good of humanity, and in ODST it was about your team of regular (un-augmented but highly skilled) humans Surviving agaisnt insurmountable odds
25:37 The rookie's sections have quite a few enemies and even hidden audio logs for a side story. Something kind of emphasized for the Rookie is wanting to avoid combat where possible and get to your next clue. You still can go rambo and kill every brute and grunt you see, but most environments you can sneak around and avoid combat
man these videos are just awesome, i cant remember the last time i enjoyed a series on youtube this much.
Wow fella, thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Sometimes comments like yours just make it worth doing, you know what I mean. Thank you.
THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!
First up love the videos! Came here for your halo stuff but I’ve stayed around for some of the other franchises too. Very interesting to see some of the tricks pointed out.
One thing that I didn’t see covered too much but you did mention, and its more a curiosity and visual story telling element, is that on some of the maps/missions you can find dead elite and brute corpses which does a bit of visual foreshadowing of the split of the covenant. It’s a cool little detail to see.
It's great when they do that because it allows you to grow the universe, a bit like Star Wars. It feels huge like an actual space.
Thank you for watching the videos and being apart of the channel. It's awesome fella!
@@kaizammit it is very cool. It’s also interesting to see how in some cases people can latch onto some of these stories which can sort of “blow up” a little leading to more in depth explorations of the side stories, creating other central branches to the main story.
Another game series that does quite a lot of these universe growing elements is the mass effect series. The amount stories that you can find spread throughout is *usually* done very well. Some very clever people out there to make it all work.