Halo 3: ODST (Review) - The Illusion of Vulnerability

Halo 3: ODST is arguably my favourite game in the Halo franchise but I've felt for a long while now that the more you know about it the worse it gets.
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[@ianmiddaugh1588]

I always felt that this game wasn’t that much harder than halo 3 in regards to being a human. It’s surprising how the silenced pistol can carry you if you can hit your headshots

[@Kraftium]

yeah its very much like ninja gaiden 2 vs ninja gaiden sigma 2 indivdual enemies are tankier and more threating but coming in smaller numbers means its arguablly easier to deal with

[@averagechadlegionary5824]

Yeah game is not hard but it gives you the illusion of vulnerability by way of forcing the player to run around alone in the dark relatively under geared at first. The first 30 minutes of this game are brilliant for that reason.

[@p3dro_productions680]

i had an extremely different experience playing ODST, i felt scared while in combat, i felt weaker and even fighting normal "weak" covenant squad, i would be constantly calculating risks, and i would be avoiding combat when possible, it gave me the feeling the normal marines must've had in Halo, that the covenant was extremely powerfull, and gave me the notion of how powerfull spartans were compared to normal soldiers. In my opinion, i didnt felt like i was just adequating my playstyle, it was tottally different, it felt scary sometimes, made me realise how valuable spartans were. In general ODST was the best experience i had in all Halo's when it comes to feel imersed in the combat and understand the real power of the covenant and the strength of spartans.

[@Kraftium]

hey if it worked out for you then more power too you I know I "complain" about alot of stuff in this vid and it certainly hampers my enjoyment of what could of been but at the end of the day its still my favourite halo game

[@mariobadia4553]

Except for the fact that you still punch a tank to death even though you are supposedly still a normal human

[@Kraftium]

@@mariobadia4553 i mean have you watched fist of the north star? 😏

[@witherwolf3316]

I never knew the UNSC weapons did less damage, that explains the "Xenophobia" challenge in MCC, frankly I would have been fine with weapons doing the same damage for the trade-off of being more fragile, but I doubt it would have been received nearly as well as the system we got, Halo being more of a casual run-and-gunner series and all.

[@Kraftium]

Yeah if they wanted to make you more fragile they'd have to rework the entire game up instead of using halo 3's engine also you'd arguably need to do stuff like armour maintainence as well as use med packs etc to really sell it without it being too fustraiting dying from a stray shot you didn't see but that kinda stuff is something you'd usually only find in a easten european shooter like metro or stalker

[@prilaja]

Really enjoyed the video, it was nice to hear your go into detail more about games you're passionate about! This video resonated a bit more than normal due to a unique circumstance; for Christmas this year I got to open a 'time capsule' Christmas present of sorts that was from 10 years ago, from when my dad was still around. Inside was, of all things, a Mega Blok Halo ODST escape pod thing with a soldier. I always knew what it was going to be, since I briefly had a period of liking 'Sci-Fi building toys' and games, but the coincidence of that and your video feels like the universe is trying to tell me something along the lines of 'return to the sci-fi! return to the sci-fi!' Apologies for the rambling, but I thought it was pretty cool from my perspective. Thank you again for the awesome videos! Hoping to see your channel grow more in the next year, you more than deserve it!

[@Kraftium]

Eyyy I'm glad you enjoyed it Prila Also the idea of a "time capsule" style present is a really cool and sweet idea But yes it does sound like the holistic voices of the universe are telling you to return to scifi lol

[@Petronia911]

Halo's a series I've played very little bits and limited parts of. I've only done Halo Reach. On Steam, last year with friends. Yet I've watched so many videos, criticisms or topics regarding Halo. It's an intriguing sets of games to just listen about. I guess this video fills another spot in that library of vids. Enjoyable video, Kraft.

[@Kraftium]

Glad you enjoyed it homie I'd defo recommend playing all the games on the MCC especially with friends (besides halo 4, its multiplayer is great but its campaign is ... rough)

[@bengrean1412]

I always hope someday we'd get a ODST style game where it has the survivor & level up mechanics of the 1st dead rising game (just with better ai lol). Starting off with low stats slowly with each play through getting better & better as you try escort desperate strings of survivors out of a destroyed city. One can dream, great review btw! Would be cool if you did the rest of the series too

[@LaserGlow]

As someone who has only played Halo 3 somewhat briefly, ODST seems like the most intriguing game to me simply because it had a highly specialized vision of what it wanted to be that would remarkably contrast to everything that would come before it, hell even after it and although I've never played and probably never will, I greatly respect entries in a series like this.

[@Kraftium]

I'd wish they'd experiement more with Halo and do some spinoffs that even if they're still first person shooters they'd tweak the formular for a specfic setting alas 343 and xbox seem to hate building a franchise, there was a kids 3rd person megablox style halo game that was indevelopment (you can find early demos on youtube) that got pretty far along before it got scrapped before we even knew about it

[@roguetrufflepig]

Great video. I'm surprised you don't have more subs. Sub'd!

[@Kraftium]

Haha thank you very much, tbf I've been lacking in a few areas that have probably held me back a bit (consistency, readable thumbnails, slightly too long intros etc) until earlier this year, I've gained over 2000 subs in the last 8 months tho so I must of started to do something right

[@strikeforce1500]

I remember playing the split screen coop with my cousin, and man, it was hard. But I do love the environment of Mumbasa and the idea of being a normal guy instead of a super soldier. Being a hero is always cool,but the idea of being a 'grunt' is both attractive and terrifying idea, especially in universe like Halo or Doom, when the aliens *do* have flat advantage over humans

[@Kraftium]

yeah both styles have a place but the "hero" style is usual one thats used so it makes these games like ODST and doom 3 stand out a bit more

[@DEDManGamingWins]

Loved the video bud!!! ODST was the first halo game I beat to completion. I remember a friend of my giving me a copy for Christmas one year and I just gor SUPER cozy and beat the whole game.

[@Kraftium]

eyyy nice I think it was probably the second one I finished, I'm pretty sure I beat Halo 3 over like a year and a half between seeing my brother and picking up where I left off each time

[@Cadian575]

The last point you make about the lack of Halo spin offs aged incredibly well as. thanks to the success of the extremely ODST like Helldivers 2, it just came to light that Microsoft has been shooting down Halo spin-off ideas like crazy including a dedicated ODST game.

[@Kraftium]

Yeaaaaa... I saw those tweets and was just like "god I hate being right"

[@RepublicTrooper125]

What’s interesting about the stamina system is that was present in halo 1. The marines had armor that was regenerative but it didn’t completely shield the marine from damage. It can be seen in mods like ultimate playable marine experience and halo Ce Infantry(non EZ version).

[@Kraftium]

Oh wow that is pretty interesting actually Tho it makes sense given how warthogs in halo 1 don't have health and it all transfers to the people in them

[@shreksnow1918]

(Copy and paste of a comment I posted on a different ODST video. I just didn’t feel like retyping this) ODST might be one of my favorite Halos because I really enjoyed experiencing the Human Covenant War from a different perspective. Bungie did a phenomenal job with the way the story was presented, adding small details, and other things of making you feel like a normal human in a story sense. Unfortunately, the gameplay falls flat since you don’t play like a normal human, and it was basically just diet Halo 3. It should’ve been a tactical shooter with a fleshed out stealth system that required you to really weigh your options instead of running head first into a fight. The “silenced” weapons weren’t actually quiet and would still alert enemies of your presence. Stamina was just reskinned shields that allowed you to easily tank and recover from damage (Reach has the best health system where it will partially regenerate if you go long enough without taking damage). In an early build of Halo 3 Bungie had prototyped a leaning around cover mechanic that was scrapped because they didn’t think it felt right to have in the game where you’re supposed to be a walking tank. Why they didn’t take that same mechanic and implement it into a game where it would’ve fit perfectly is beyond me. Another big disappointment comes from the fact that we weren’t fighting any Elites. Those should’ve been the main enemy for most of the game, with the Brutes appearing in the last few flashback and night missions. They wouldn’t have had to change the story that much, and could’ve had your squad use the ensuing chaos as the perfect opportunity to collect Virgil and escape the city. Just imagine how awesome it would’ve been to experience the Great Schism from the perspective of a normal human. It would add more enemy variety into the mix, and allow for the three way fights we see in other Halos. Something else they should’ve done in addition to having Brutes and Elites fight alongside each other before butchering each other was to overhaul the lesser Covenant (Grunts, Drones, and Jackals). Brutes and Elites should’ve been more akin to mini bosses, with the lesser Covenant being your equals/close lessers. There’s a lot of small things they could’ve done to buff the enemies, while keeping true to what made them work in the original trilogy. If I could have any Halo it would be a remake of ODST that addresses these issues. Unfortunately, a lot of people would meltdown over this because it changes up the gameplay and would retcon the story. Even though that would be an example of a good retcon (like when they blatantly changed the Covenant knowing Halo is a weapon in CE to having them grossly misunderstand its purpose in 2 onwards), and Bungie falsely advertised ODST as being a more tactical experience with stealth elements. Plus, they originally sold the game for $60 back in the day and gave us a glorified level pack. I had a lot of fun with Firefight and the campaign, but it should’ve been more.

[@Kraftium]

I would of really loved if the game was kinda split in 2. With the night time sections leaning into stealth and limited resources and the day time sections being a more traditional halo experience but with tactical stuffs like republic commando (I liked that game since most squad based shooters I struggle to think why I'd tell a team mate to shoot something instead of just shooting it myself, but if you could be like "that looks like a good spot to use your sniper" and suddenly you're team mate is using a power weapon would actually be helpful) ODST is primerly just a tragedy of reusing an engine for a gameplay style that really needed to be built from the ground up

[@dead_fox]

Really well made essay! I’m re-playing ODST again and honestly yes the more you think about it you start to see some flaws, especially with the illusion of vulnerability. Personally I dislike most of the cast of characters too, it’s mostly personal but they’re not as fantastic as I remember. But ODST will always be one of my favorites halo games along with reach. Also YES the flood mode on firefight is just so so good, especially in dark maps like crater at night, you really get a whole different vibe from the game

[@Kraftium]

ey thank you very much I'm gald you enjoyed it and yeah I'll agree the more you take a magnifining glass to the characters the more you kinda see them as a collection of memorable quotes that are held together with some filler lines. I watched an old LPer (woolieVS) play through the bungie halo games like ... 2 years ago now? and a comment he made about ODSTs writing at one point was something like "wannabe hollywood" specfically at the dare punching and then kissing buck scene. STILL those memerable quotes are quite fun, I'm very fond of dutch being an ...unorthodox christian. "its as the holy book says, paybacks a bitch" Oh yeah theres definately a reason why I choice a nighttime map to get my floodfight footage

[@dead_fox]

@@Kraftium agree! Very Hollywood-ish. The demolition mission always felt like a COD campaign mission to me, but yes it’s still a very quotable game.

[@averagechadlegionary5824]

This game has a top tier cast. A Halo game with Captain Mal, Jayne and Wash? Sign me up!

[@Kraftium]

take my home, take my land, take me where I cannot stand...

[@LegoAngel-yk6pe]

Ash Williams (Army of darkness) or Josh McGrath / Max Steel or Action Man (1993) or Guts / Gatsu (berserk) be like John 117 or Noble 6 or Zavala or Lord Saladin (Destiny), Elizaberth Betsy Braddock / Psylocke or Setsuna Meiou / sailor pluto or Lina Inverse (slayers 1989) or Kaine or A2 (Nier) be like Cortana, Duke Nukem rises from the ashes,theory or clue Halo is the future from the real life,theories and clue of Aliens from the real life not all are fake

[@100Servings]

This was a great take on ODST. It's kind of the black sheep of the series and certainly shouldn't be. I never really noticed the height difference until you mentioned it. My kids are into the Halo Mega Construx toys. They've never played the games, but they certainly know the figures. They just got some for Christmas that still need to be put together. They also make an anniversary set of the figures that's a must-have for serious fans, that even includes the parody character, "Mister Chief", and he's as silly as that sounds. I've got it sitting on my closet shelf for my son's birthday coming up. We're also big into Nerf around here and there's tons of Halo stuff to enjoy there. My oldest just got the assault rifle for Christmas. Mattel used to have the license to make blasters and there were all kinds of them made by BOOMco. They haven't made them for years, but you can still track them down, and I have a few. Nerf also made a prop-style needler this year with lights, sounds, and a display stand. It's cool if you just want something neat for your shelf. This was a great video, Kraft. Good work, as always. Your personal stories always awkward enough to be undoubtedly true. Trust me, some day you'll look fondly on those memories of salsa dancing with middle-aged women. Probably when you're middle-aged like me.

[@Kraftium]

I always love an underdog like ODST (both the game and the characters) and I always will Oh I'm well aware of mister chief don't you worry ;) you can get his helmet in the MCC version of reach these days and he's an AI companion in infinite (tho as expected I use the superintendent from ODST (or fret when I'm feeling like hearing some robbie daymond)) and yeah I remember here in the UK we had a tv show called "the gatchet show" and one of the hosts had one of those plasma rifles and needlers sitting in the background and I've been been eyeing them up for years either way I'm glad you enjoy the video as usual servings though I don't think I'll ever look back fondly on that salsa party, to much lies and deciet, the only thing it taught me was you should ALWAYS bite the hand that feeds you (joke)

[@chengxiaoshi3461]

I rate the Holo PFP. Ur opinion is right Holo is the best of all time. And i cant wait for s3 s1 remake

[@Kraftium]

My last name is Lawrence so I live the delusional reality believing their are my ancestors but yes holo is the best.

[@Cadian575]

I've always thought the guns doing less damage was the idea that while Master Chief can make micro adjustments to get pin point accuracy between enemy armor plates in the middle of a salvo, a regular human simply can't and is forced to rely on volume of fire. Also you can very much rip the turrets off their mounts and I think that's something that should have been taken out of the game, its just too super hero for a normal guy.

[@Kraftium]

Thats a good wat to head canon it funny thing about the turrets is on 360 you can only rip them off in firefight and in campaign you have to melee them 4 or 5 times to break them but this was changed in MCC I don't mind turret carrying and its needed for that skyscraper section with the banchees but they really should of added some sort of major downside using it

[@sandvicheatfresh]

I played the MCC a few months ago and found odst slightly boring. The shifting perspective where you start off as rookie finding for example the bent sniper rifle then shifting perspective to see how that happened was cool but with how few encounters you have as the rookie combined with the final level being mostly a long slow drive followed by a "hold position for X amount of time" (which I breezed by giving everyone a rocket launcher or sniper rifle which is also what i did in the driving segments of halo 2 and 3), was what held it back a bit for me though it could be because i played on normal difficulty. If there were a few encounters as the rookie where you stumble across a few surviving marines either in a scripted segment or like in the start of halo 3 where you can save the marine from being killed by the brute then it would be a slightly more worthwhile experience.

[@Kraftium]

Its definately a game concept that had so much more potential than they were able to get off. I love the switching between day time and night time sections but I wish they did more to differntiate them. Like playing the rookie at night and having stealth play a factor, meanwhile having you play as buck or someone in the day who can command at squad ala star wars republic commando or something. I definately think if you found it a bit boring you might of wanted to kick the difficulty up to atleast heroic, halo is a series where the difficulty selection focuses more on which enemies are actually present and their AI upposed to just boosting stats and anyone whos atleast half way decent should be playing heroic (hell it even says "the way halo is meant to be played" in some games)

[@BlueTeam-John-Fred-Linda-Kelly]

My personal headcanon defense for the gun damage and stamina are that ODSTs are canonically worse shots than steel muscled spartans and haven't survived enough battles to understand exactly how energy shields deflect bullets. That and the ODST armor itself is pretty fu©king good but obviously not impervious, it will save you from most single plasma shots even to the face but you will be injured and the armor will become more dangerous than protective if it's hit.

[@Kraftium]

That works, you could also say the tilt skull is their aim getting even sloppier with fatigue with most of their shots grazing the enemy we're using arguments with quite a few grains of salt for sure but who cares head canons are fun :D

[@yoturaliaz6205]

I never felt like i was an odst in an odst setting. The game treated me as one, but that was in name only. Idc for consistency as much, but odsts are just as squishy and bullet spongy as the regular boots on the grounds marines. Sure you're weaker, no shields and everything especially on higher difficulties. But still able to take on an army of headstrong covenant armies armed to the teeth with the baddest plasma weapons

[@civilwarfare101]

I actually agree with much of your points if not all of them minus where only 3 of the Legends shorts being worth watching. I think Legends overall is solid stuff, not amazing but I appreciate it more than I already did thanks to that garbage Paramount show. As for the game itself, yeah you are technically right, Raycevick said many of the same points, but even despite the fact that ODSTs in the titular game are basically just lite Spartans, I do find the game to be oddly charming and enjoyable. Much of the stuff in ODST are gimmicks for sure and it's not as good as the Covenant fights in Halo 3 but I still got some enjoyment out of it. And absolutely, Firefight is the way how you experience the vision Bungie wanted to do. Fighting a Chieftan alone in Firefight is a suicide attempt. I tried Lone Wolfing against them so many times and I got killed easily. I found ODST's Firefight much better than Reach's.

[@Kraftium]

I'll admit the halo legends comment was a tad exaggerated but I do think "the babysitter" "homecoming" and "prototype" are all a cut above the rest by a good margin and would recommend them to even the casualist of halo fans I'll have to check out raycevicks video, ive probably seen it a while back but he makes good stuff Bless MCC for fleshing out firefight

[@civilwarfare101]

@@Kraftium Fair enough. They were above the rest, "Homecoming" to me tells a better story than the games do. Then again, I'm a sucker for stories being told effectively and making me attached very quickly. I find him to be okay, his Halo stuff and his "games should leave me wanting more" vid are the best. I sort of want to play that Firefight flood mode, its been a while since I played it.

[@fallingtree123animations9]

Look on the bright side now that MCC is on Pc with mods the game can be made perfect by the fans

[@Kraftium]

That is a very good point, only mods I've played is the 1.0 release of SPV3 and cursed halo (and a halo reach re-balence mod that I believe turned the DMR into a battle rifle) but I know theres a few different campaign overhall mods and a good number of ODST ones. Tho I ain't sure which are finished/considered good

[@funkykelly7130]

well ik why the flood is so beefy in odst firefight thanks

[@Kraftium]

luckily the infection form sticking out infected marine's brutes and elites are still a weakpoint so if you have a battle rifle or carbine you can still put them down with a well placed shot (it will live the body intact for a new one to take control of with most of the time tho) its the ones that mutate that are really scary tho

[@davemac9563]

I like the tone and atmosphere but I think everyone hyping this up as a masterpiece needs to take a seat and think about it for more than five seconds. The story is okay, but is riddled with cliches. Of course the gameplay is solid because it’s halo 3 extended. But you’re not much in danger than you were as master chief or noble team. Hell you’re even stronger than halo 2 Chief. I’ll admit the vehicle sections and banshee sections were awesome, but aside from that, it’s pretty meh. I was mostly disappointed the stealth mechanics weren’t fleshed out in the slightest. I have nostalgia for it a little, but the older I get, the roses tinted glasses show more cracks

[@YonOtto]

Nah just finished ODST on Heroic. Hated it then hated it now. It was awful. Wasn't a challenge, died maybe less than 20 times. I just wanted it done so I can play Reach.

[@bl4ckw1ngz64]

Fun game as it is: Why can ODSTs carry turrets and flip cars? Hilariously beam rifles cant kill you in one shot on legendary on full health lmao

[@Kraftium]

I think carrying turrets is fine cos most mounted turrets irl are able to be moved about but i did like how you couldnt actually rip them off their posts in the 360 campaign and you'd had to melee them 3 or 4 times or throw a grenade at them to break the stand manually (you could rip them off in fire fight and that transfered over to the campaign in the MCC) Its also very silly that you can use a gravity hammer

[@MBDLDN]

odst was a vibe

[@ki_charger]

If you've seen General Kidd's videos you'd know that basically all the weapons have totally unchanged stats from their Halo 3 counterparts. In fact the carbine and the smg actually deal more damage than the Halo 3 versions. So I don't understand why you're saying all your weapons are 50% weaker. They're all almost exactly the same

[@Kraftium]

Tried looking for this general kidd video but I cant seem to find it I will say that as I point out I specify later in the video that only the UNSC weapons are weaker (silence smg and automag are they're own varients so they're excluded) The assault rifle, the sniper, the shotgun and the rocket launcher (as well as the turrets and tank albeit to a less extent) all have a noticable drop off in damage This is something that is felt but is also very easily shown with the sniper rifle In halo 3 a sniper headshot can take out a major brute in 1 shot whilest in odst you cant even 1 shot minor brutes (only jetpack/invisible ones) at least on heroic I tested myself to make sure i wasnt just blowing hot air Others are less noticable but the shotgun cant 1 shot brutes at super close range and has more damage drop off, rocket launcher's still feel super strong but they have less splash damage and the assault rifle feels like ass which is why the covernant weaponry and the new SMG feel so much better than usual

[@RedCommunistDragon]

⁠@@KraftiumThere’s no spaces in his name and G is the only thing that is capitalized. Hopefully this helps.

[@Kraftium]

@@RedCommunistDragon i can find his videos in general but the only one I can find comparing weapon stats in ODST are the ones back ported from ODST to halo in the MCC which isnt what I'm talking about

[@ki_charger]

@@Kraftium @Kraftium search Generalkidd "which halo game has the best _____?" So it turns out that the silenced smg is stronger than the H3 smg, and the odst sniper is stronger than the H3 sniper. All other UNSC weapons are unchanged, excluding the automag because it is a different gun to the H3 magnum

[@Kraftium]

@@ki_charger ok I've found them now. Silenced SMG is its own weapon like the automag (i know its just an SMG still but gameplay wise its its own thing) I watched the sniper one of his videos and according to it it actually says the ODST sniper is 50% stronger, dealing 120 damage in ODST compared to 80 damage in Halo 3 cos that DEFINATELY doesn't seem right so I went back and tested it again to make sure I'm not crazy and lo and behold the ODST sniper still can't 1 shot, headshot certain brute types when Halo 3's can My only assumption is Generalkidd has just looked at the weapons stats via the code or whatever, which doesn't take into account that enemies might have different health values in different games but honestly I don't know All I can comment on is what I did in my pratical tests, and if there is some sort of variable I haven't taken into account with them and the weapons are the same that does atleast prove my point about how ODST is pretending you're alot more vulnerable than you actually are even more.

[@lopesj6670]

Holo

[@Kraftium]

HOLO