“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

Monday morning with the Fallen Soldier

by | May 25, 2020 | Mondays, Uncategorized | 11 comments

Most Mondays are times for lighthearted jokes about what a terrible day it is and how we all need a bit of cheering up in the form of funny videos and memes mocking Leftist stupidity and evil.

Not today.

Today is Memorial Day, and for many – far too many – families in America, it is a day of wrenching loss and tragedy, when they are forced to remember and relive the loss of a father, husband, brother, son. And, increasingly and very tragically, it is also the day on which far too many American families have to remember the death of a mother, wife, sister, daughter.

I’ll spare you the usual platitudes about how they died for “American freedoms”. Let’s be clear about something: in the last forty years, America has not fought ONE SINGLE WAR to preserve its actual freedoms. America was a great and proud and free nation, which became an empire, and gradually lost its sense of self and freedom in the process.

But it is important to remember and to understand the value of the blood that was spilled in the name of ordinary Americans – because America is in dire danger of throwing all of those sacrifices away.

Blue-state governors and mayors across the country are using a disease of almost certainly foreign origin to imprison their own citizens, supposedly for their own good, and are threatening them with armed retaliation if they fail to comply.

This is NOT what American soldiers fought and bled and died for. This is NOT worthy of their sacrifice. And this is NOT what America is supposed to be.

I lived in America for 12 long and happy years. I was and remain deeply grateful to the American people for letting me live there in peace and plenty as a guest. I came to love America, bumps, warts, and all, and I feel great sadness when I see what it has become – a country that sends its best to die in endless foreign “savage wars of peace” to no ultimate end, while it heaps abuse atop profligacy at home.

Yet even now, even at this late hour, there is hope.

For the mighty God-Emperor has made it clear that he intends to bring America’s warfighters back home, where they belong, from those hostile foreign shores, and he intends to stop these pointless and stupid wars of useless intervention in countries that are not civilised and can never be. And he has also made it very clear that he intends to defend the American experiment in personal liberty and responsibility to the best of his ability.

He cannot do this alone. He needs your help. And you are not sheep to sit back and take the endless abuses of your state and local governments without complaint.

So this Memorial Day, remember why your brethren died – so that you could be free. And honour their sacrifices – by refusing to comply with the sheer stupidity and illegal orders of your blue-state tyrants.

***

While we are on the subject of America’s warfighters – here is an excellent interview with Mike Ritland, former US Navy SEAL and Multi-Purpose Canine Trainer (read: HE TRAINED BADASS DOGS FOR THE SEAL TEAMS!!!) on the subject of female commandos:

He is absolutely correct. The only point that matters is whether adding women to America’s – or any other nation’s – warfighting units increases the lethality and effectiveness of those units.

The answer to that question is: HELL NO!



Women simply should not be in combat roles in the military. If it were up to me, they wouldn’t be in the military at all, but that’s me.

***

His Most Illustrious, Noble, August, Benevolent, and Legendary Celestial Majesty, the God-Emperor of Mankind, Donaldus Triumphus Magnus Astra, the First of His Name, may the Lord bless him and preserve him, is not at all happy with the people who gave us all the Kung Flu, and he is making that VERY clear to them:

You should read his letter to the WHO’s Director General, too. It’s EPIC:

And his takedown of Odumbass the Lightworker left the liberal journohacks in the room with severe burn marks:

***

Related – his latest White House Press Secretary isn’t just beautiful, she’s brutally effective, even more so than her predecessor:

One can take issue with the God-Emperor’s first pick for that post. Sean Spicer was gormless and useless. But Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was highly effective, and Kayleigh McEnany is a whole new level of lethality as far as the press is concerned.

***

#BasedTucker is based:

***

Mark Dice has a very great deal of fun mocking MSNPC’s native Karen, Mika Brzezinski:

Most of you know that the two hosts of the “Morning Joe” show are married, and they’d been boinking each other for quite some time before they finally got hitched.

Judging by that video, and judging by some classic, sadly lost, posts from Heartiste back in the day, it’s really obvious that Karen wears the pants (and the strap-on) in that marriage.

***

Jason from Blue Collar Logic points out the real fascists in America nowadays:

And Dave muses on the possibility that the lockdowns will flip Commiefornia red:

***

Bill Whittle and his buddies explore an intriguing and knotty question about whether it is justified to give up American citizenship for tax purposes:

In my view, paper citizens would certainly give up their citizenship because their attachment to American values and ideals is barely skin-deep. That is the danger of substituting paper citizenship for actual nationalism.

That being said… Taxation of citizens overseas is a profoundly idiotic thing to do. Of the many, MANY stupid things that the American government does with respect to taxation and regulation of its citizens, perhaps only the egregiously un-Constitutional and grossly abusive FATCA nonsense is worse.

***

The Male Brain sent over a hell of a lot of material for this week’s post, starting with a video from Felix Rex that really puts things into perspective with this whole Kung Flu bullshit:

There have been other benefits from the Chinkin Pox too – it has proven to be highly dangerous to the “traditional” model of education:

Here’s the other side of that story, with respect to how being away from school and their friends is really damaging young children:

Homeschooling is, in my opinion, the way of the future – which is to say, it is the way of the past, being rediscovered. There was a time when it was expected that children would be taught the “three r’s” at home. Government-run schooling is basically government-sponsored indoctrination, and the sooner that it ends, the better.

But Mrs. Ingraham does have a point about the need for children to socialise and be happy with their own peer groups.

In this next one, she knocks it out of the park talking about the way that blue-state mayors and governors are using the Kung Flu as an excuse to vastly expand the surveillance state:

Those blue-state, blue-pilled idiots need to learn an abject lesson – preferably via instant deportation. If they like surveillance states so much, I’m sure that China or Singapore would be happy to welcome them – hell, even the UK is like that these days.

Following on from last week’s video about what it’s like to believe everything the media tells you, here’s what it’s like to be completely blue-pilled:

The next video starts off with commentary from a left-wing elitist – with whose family I happen to be VERY well-acquainted, personally:

Anand Ghiridaradas is the son of a very old family friend of ours. I won’t go into the exact details here, but it’s certainly a damn small world.

There is apparently a new Netflix film coming out about Jeffrey Epstein; as Dawn Pine stated, let’s see how this goes. Given that it’s Netflix, which is run by ticket-takers for ticket-takers, I very much doubt that it will tell any of the real truths behind that monster. And if you watch the trailer, it is extremely obvious that the creators want to use it to take down the God-Emperor, when in reality, The Lion of Midnight was one of the first of Epstein’s rich and powerful friends to give him the boot when his sheer degeneracy was exposed:

Now here’s one video full of karmic justice – a woman tries to come on to a man, threatens him if he refuses to comply, and he takes her to court, and wins a harassment suit:

The moral of that story is really simple. Avoid female coworkers as though they ooze Chinkin Pox from their very pores. I’m not saying this because I hate women – I’m saying this because it is far safer for men.

And for those who think that I am misguided (to put it mildly) in my belief that journalists are mostly traitorous scum who deserve to experience the tender ministrations of Madame Guillotine, here’s a video that should change your mind in a big hurry:

***

China Uncensored looks at the kerfuffle going on at the India-China border:

India’s border clashes with China are indeed nothing new. There was a distinct possibility a few years ago that another Sino-Indian war would break out over the disputed territory – my own relatives were affected by it.

But, to be honest, in an armed conflict between the two powers, it is likely that India would get its ass kicked, pretty handily.

***

Paul Ramsey shreds the “I f***ing LOVE Science!” idiots in summary fashion:

Mr. Ramsey did make a mistake in this video, though. He failed to distinguish between scientody, the scientific method, and scientistry, the scientific profession. The two are VERY different.

The scientific method is a tremendously powerful tool, but it has its limits. It helps us come up with powerful and cogent explanations of the way that the Universe around us works. This is very much to the good. That which explains the nature of the Universe, brings us closer to God – and this is good.

The scientific profession is much the same as any other, and those employed within it will always seek to protect their own interests.

***

PJW takes on Karens everywhere:

***

El Razorfist has a very interesting logical and philosophical take on the subject of whether intellectual property rights are justified:



I used to be a libertardian, so I had a lot of sympathy for the idea of doing away with IP rights entirely, but I was never fully convinced by the arguments against IP. Looking at the arguments given by the Razorfist, he makes a very compelling case that the product of a man’s mind is indeed his property. And I agree with him.

I do think that reasonable limits have to be set to such rights. A man has the right to profit from the products of his mind, but not forever and not at the expense of everyone else. That is why drug patents, for instance, are issued for 14 years. You and I can disagree on whether drug companies have a right to make “obscene” profits – I think that they do – but it is inarguable that the cost of creating new drugs is astonishingly high.

It costs up to 10 years and up to $1 BILLION to bring a new drug to market. Given those extreme costs, it is entirely justified for drug companies to make profits where and when they can.

It is NOT justified for drug companies to try to slap new restrictions and “off-patent” use cases onto existing drugs simply to manage access to those drugs after their patents expire.

In the end, a man should be able to choose whether he wants to release his work for profit or not.



***

Jared Taylor from American Renaissance takes a good hard look at the silly idea of “white privilege”:

***

Terrence Popp’s channel is evidently right on the cusp of getting deep-sixed, because YooToobz really hates him:

That doesn’t surprise me. YouTube absolutely hates truth-tellers.

***

Peter Robinson interviewed Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for the third time about the Chinkin Pox, and there is a mix of very good and VERY BAD news concerning it from the good doctor:

***

Y’all remember that dying polar bear that the ecomentalists used to beat the rest of us over the head with an extremely unsubtle message about how POLAR BEARS ARE DYING BECAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE zOMG!!!!111!!!?

Yeah, turns out they were lying their asses off:

And environmentalists wonder why the rest of us think of them as a bunch of sanctimonious mouth-breathing prigs…

***

Midnight’s Edge looks at Pattman’s recent comments about not working out, at all, for the next Batman film, and analyses the intriguing possibility that Warner Bros. is pulling off a MASSIVE troll-job on all of us:

***

Overlord Dicktor Van Doomcock analyses rumours about George Lucas’s views of the Devil Mouse Trilogy, and the possible existence of a “Lucas Cut” of The Fall of Skywalker:

***

Gary from Nerdrotic is vastly amused by the continuing fallout from Ruby Rose’s abrupt departure from Batwoman:

***

The Drinker looks at James Cameron’s Avatar as a highly successful failure:

In terms of storytelling and narrative, Avatar absolutely WAS a failure. It was just a retread of stories done far better in the past – it was basically Native American History Dances with Pocahontas and the Last Smurfs in Ferngully Space.

But in terms of visuals… Whoa Nelly, what a film.

***

Here’s a great video asking whether HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary was actually a good remaster:

I personally think it was great, but there were definitely things wrong with it. The character visuals were just plain WEIRD. Sgt. Johnson, Capt. Keyes, and various other humans did not look human, at all. And Master Chief’s armour was just… strange to look at.

The feedback from H:CEA was definitely used to make HALO 2 Anniversary vastly better. I’ve been playing the latter game for the past few days, and my GOD it’s fun. It looks simply stunning. And the gameplay, though irritating relative to H:CEA or HALO 3 or especially HALO 4, which is my personal favourite in terms of the actual foot-soldier combat, is every bit as much fun as it always was.

***

And while we’re on the subject of HALO – if the Master (Badass-in-)Chief were real, which difficulty level would he live in?

I know a lot of HALO fans would argue that the Master Chief’s life is lived on Legendary difficulty. I tend to disagree. To me, Heroic level is the true HALO experience, especially in HALO 3 and HALO 4, where the Master Chief faces tremendous challenges but manages to overcome them all.

***

Your “Science is F***ing WEIRD” moment of the week is from Dawn Pine again:

This study provides several recommendations for future applications of ultrasonic neuromodulation in animals and humans. First, the effects of ultrasonic neuromodulation on behavior are likely to be maximized when a subject is making a decision. The delicate balance of weighing decision options renders neural circuitry sensitive to perturbation (Fig. 6). This has been demonstrated in previous studies (30, 31) and in the present study (Fig. 2A and figs. S1 and S2), in which the stimulation effects are particularly prominent near the point of equal preference. Second, anesthesia should be avoided. Anesthesia dampens neuronal excitability and susceptibility to stimulation. Both the anesthesia level (41) and the kind of anesthesia (42) affect ultrasound-mediated responses, and some authors claim responses only under specific anesthesia conditions (8, 11). There may even be little or no neuromodulatory effects under anesthesia (14, 15). Third, the ultrasonic stimulus should be relatively long (several dozens of milliseconds) and applied before the respective neuronal pools are engaged in a given task. This is because the effects of ultrasound take time to emerge (8, 37). This effect may be due to an integration of membrane voltage toward a threshold for activity (43). Fourth, stimulation should be applied relatively infrequently. This reflects our finding that repetitive stimulation diminishes the neuromodulatory effects (Fig. 3A and fig. S3). The effects of ultrasound on neurons are, in part, of mechanical nature (37), and it is known that frequent mechanical stimuli lead to an adaptation at the level of cells and molecules (39). Fifth, good acoustic coupling and real-time monitoring is paramount. Acoustic coupling from a transducer to skin has been, in most neuromodulation studies, achieved using a coupling cone. In our case, the cone was positioned over the temporal muscle. The muscle is strongly developed in male macaques and is engaged each time an animal receives juice reward. This movement could have led to a loss of coupling or at least to variability in the targeted FEF subregions. Because specific FEF subregions code for specific target locations (44), variability in targeted FEF subregions could have led to variable effects on decision curves. Some sessions showed strong effects and some sessions showed no effect, and decision curves of single sessions were affected in various ways (figs. S1 and S2). These methodological issues can be mitigated by using a system that (i) couples ultrasound to the skin using water and (ii) operates under real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance (45).

TL;DR version: we’re gonna use ultrasonic waves to control your thoughts and actions!!!!11!!!



Let the tinfoil-hattery commence.

***

Your long read of the week is also from The Male Brain, and concerns one of the major threats to China’s long-sought-after naval dominance of the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean:

In 2015, CCDI inspectors sent to CSIC discovered issues such as lack of oversight by Party and discipline inspection organizations, violation of regulations among research institutes, incomplete financial records, exchanging bribes for research funding, redirecting research projects to private companies, sale of company resources and technology for personal gain, using one’s position to benefit businesses of family and friends, violation of party rules, and incomplete regulations on personnel selection and appointment.



There had been little improvement when CCDI inspectors returned in 2017. On March 6 that year a CCDI team showed up at CSIC for a surprise, month-long inspection tour. In the end, the team concluded that CSIC’s Party group had not fixed all the problems from the 2015 report; there was a lack of focus on key responsibilities; and the Party group did not fully implement the Party Central Committee’s political and strategic demands. The CCDI team also reported that there was a lack of democratic centralism in the company’s practices and some company leaders did not truthfully report personal conduct. Promotion and hiring practices were not rigorous and reports of cronyism and irregular personnel appointments were frequent. Some company leaders were indifferent to Party discipline, and knowingly violated the Central Committee’s regulations on proper official conduct, i.e. using company position for private gains.



CCDI inspectors again found little improvement when they returned for the third time in March 2019. Despite warnings, there were continued violations of Central Committee regulations on proper official conduct. Corruption was still ongoing and laws were regularly broken. The Party’s influence had been weakened and problems in unrigorous hiring and personnel appointment continued unabated.



The substandard results from each tour led to arrests. First to fall was Liu Changhong, the CSIC anti-corruption czar. Fired, expelled from the party, and arrested in September 2017, Liu was accused of accepting bribes and using the convenience of his position to “seek benefits for others in business operations as well as personnel selection and appointment.”

Corruption among senior military officials is nothing new; with good reason did President Eisenhower warn of the “military industrial complex”. Nor is corruption unique to China. The endemic corruption at the heart of the Joint Strike Flying Piano program is so severe that the turducken plane is basically an unkillable expenditure that will only die off when the planes and their pilots are slaughtered in vast numbers on the ground in an actual shooting war.

However, the Chinese military’s corruption is a direct result of their own culture of Confucian ethics, which inculcates an attitude of absolute and unquestioning obedience of higher authority and an outright refusal to confront problems head-on.

Furthermore, the Chinese military is hampered by a severe lack of what you might call “systemology”. They have all of the toys and the shiny uniforms, but they don’t have the level of training, competence, and sheer confidence that American troops do.

I’d still put my money on China winning an actual shooting war over, say, an invasion of Taiwan or a showdown in the South China Sea, simply because I think that the US military has become far too enamoured with whiz-bang Buck Rogers toys and ridiculously stupid shit to win wars anymore – indeed, I argue that the USA hasn’t actually won a war since WWII.

But that does not mean that Chinese military dominance is a foregone conclusion. In fact, the Chinese have a very long way to go to match the pound-for-pound effectiveness of Western militaries.

***

Linkage is good for you:

And some more from The Male Brain:

***

The Neo-Tsar stated emphatically that Russia has a distinct culture and civilisation, and he’s absolutely 100% right – though you might be surprised at the ways in which he plans to secure that civilisation:

Russia is a distinct civilization that must be protected through genetics and other advanced technologies, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that aired Sunday.



Putin told state television that “it would be impossible to secure the future of our civilization” without artificial intelligence, genetics and unmanned vehicles, as well as hypersonic weapons.



“Russia is not just a country, it’s really a separate civilization. If we want to preserve this civilization, we should focus on high-level technology and its future development,” Putin said.



“These new technologies have appeared and they will change the world, they’re already changing it,” he added.



Russia should watch other countries’ innovations, Putin said, “but never forget that we have a solid base of our own.”



“Without basic science, research schools and engineers, we would never have had the modern types of high-tech weapons that no other country in the world has, at least as of yet.”

I’ve spent close to 10 months living in Moscow, all told. The two major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg are undoubtedly the most “European” of the Russian cities. Yet there is absolutely no question that Russia has a distinct culture, civilisation, and ethic.

***

History lessons of the week:

***

Wazzocks gonna wazzock:

***

Kitchen Nightmares with the Angry Scot:

If only he had served red meat to vegans – I reckon I would have just about died laughing.

And here are some great breakfast recipes from the very same angry man:

The last recipe in the list is basically hipster-friendly non-smashed avocado toast, which I find hilarious given that Gordon himself is the very antithesis of a Shrillennial snowflake.

Judging by this next recipe, though, Gordon should probably stay away from Italy for, oh, the rest of his life:

My sister’s boyfriend is Italian – half Sicilian, half Napoli. I suspect that he would find peas and chili in his carbonara to be sufficient pretext to go to war with the English – or in this case, the Scots.

***

Comedy hour by Dawn Pine and Dave Chappelle:

***

Pics, guns, girls, starting with Dawn Pine’s contributions:

Onward:

F*** YEAH!!!

If this actually worked, the Italians would never have been shellacked quite so hard. Jus’ sayin’.

That’s not quite accurate. Most real Texans think that Californians should be shot upon entry. Judging by the way that Commiefornians behave, I’m thoroughly inclined to agree with them.

Does anyone remember that hilarious scene in Hot Shots Part Deux where Richard Crenna is captured and interrogated by Saddam Hussein’s forces and is forced to make a televised address to the American people, and in it he basically makes it clear through his gestures that his captors are complete tools? And the sign-language interpreter basically uses the same gestures?

That scene came to mind from looking at that picture above.

This next one is bound to thoroughly discombobulate Leftists:

That’s one can of worms I’m not really sure I want to open…

Your headlines of the week show that the world is simply getting weirder by the day:

Well, that’s one way to keep people off your damn lawn, I suppose.

Your “Grassy Knoll” moment of the week:

Your “Acid Jazz” moment of the week:

Your “Audience Participation” moment of the week:

Your… ah hell, just read this:

And some more:

We’re all turning into Jack Nicholson:

Had plans, did you? Well:

I feel that, bro.

One for the tech nerds:

50″? Bitch please… We’re up to 65 INCHES OLED nowadays!

And now for some sexy girls with guns, right in time for Memorial Day:

***

Your dog of the week is the English Pointer:

Pointer Dog Breed Information, Buying Advice, Photos and ...

***

For your gym beast section, let’s do something a little different and look at the WSM 2017 final between Eddie Hall and Hafthor Bjornsson.

Thor maintains that he lost that final by a single point because the referee for the Viking Press event, Colin Bryce, conspired with Eddie Hall against him. That has been a huge controversy ever since.

But recent unseen footage now being released shows that, in fact, Thor DID cheat reps, and the referee’s decision was entirely correct:

There has been a bit of controversy over the editing of the podium shot at the beginning. It’s made to look as though Thor refused to shake Eddie’s hand.

That was bullshit.

Thor did shake Eddie’s hand and congratulate him. The editing was misleading and the creators of the video rightly got slammed for it – and it turns out that the company that made this video is part-owned by Eddie anyway.

However, if you look at the actual footage of the incident in question, there can simply be no doubt whatsoever that Thor deserved to have a lot more than one rep taken away from him on the Viking Press. He got 3 reps that were not correct.

And the idea that the events were put together to favour Eddie in the final is simply absurd. About the only event that Eddie can claim as his own, beyond dispute, is the deadlift.

Brian Shaw is perhaps the world’s best tire flipper and puller and is one of the world’s top squatters. Hafthor owns the frame carry and probably the Atlas stones events. Martins Licis is an up-and-coming strongman who is probably going to be a multiple title winner in the future.

The level of competition that year was insanely high. Eddie won because he was the best, not because of any favouritism, and for Thor to claim otherwise is pure sour grapes.

The only reasonable conclusion to draw from that footage is that Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is an absolute beast – and a very sore loser.

If you haven’t watched the full final of the 2017 WSM competition… it’s an absolute barn-burner:

***

Buakaw Beatdown of the Week, because Jesus Loves Knockouts:

***

Some soothing and chilled out synthwave for you before we get to the good stuff:

***

Before we get to the really GOOD music, here’s a video of badass veteran and all-around awesome dude Mat Best combining mockery of gangsta-rap culture and all of its resultant idiocy, with a coffee commercial:

You kinda have to see that to believe it.

***

#MeltThySteel

Given that it’s Memorial Day, this classic from MOTORHEAD seems highly apt and apposite:

Life is always better with a little POWERWOLF:

***

And finally here’s your Instathot to get the week off to a good start. Since today IS Memorial Day, it seems only fitting to show off a combat veteran from Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Her name is Taylor Spadaccino, age 26 (roughly) from Holland, PA. She served as a Lance Corporal in the USMC in Afghanistan and is now an NPC fitness and bikini model.

Semper fi, boys.

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And two more for the veterans:

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11 Comments

  1. JohnC

    Hey Didact,

    In your opinion what would a war between India and China be like?

    Also could a small war between India and China had any benefits?

    It is a weird question to ask but in regrading to the surplus of men to women in both countries such thing might help the gender divide. Also wake up the average Indian up to the threats.

    I was thinking about after WW2 with the Russians. Yes the country was trashed and a lot of family lost loves ones. Millions die.
    The gender balance change afterwards has affected the men and women. And the war has psychology affected them. This is one (as well as years of living under a communist system) reason why Russians did not sign up for the immigration crisis like Western Europeans.

    You have commented in the past on Indian men and women, Indian military ranks and the Caste system is in part why India is what it is. A war might be force them to rework or change. Though this might require such a disaster to force change.

    Reply
  2. MrUNIVAC

    I might roll Legendary exclusively but I agree that Heroic is much closer to how the lore and universe portrays Spartans. On Legendary, the Chief with all his cyborg augments and high-tech shielded power armor can stop bullets as well as I can, at least in Halo 2.

    Reply
    • Didact

      Let's not forget the Jackal snipers and the drones with plasma pistols and the berserking Brutes and…

      The list of stupid shit in HALO 2 on Heroic, never mind Legendary, is just ridiculous. Even in HALO: Reach, Legendary mode was one long exercise in severe masochism.

      Heroic, on the other hand, especially in H3 and H4, is challenging yet exhilirating.

      Reply
    • MrUNIVAC

      Yup, I'm with you. This vid pretty much says it all: youtu.be/qKX-aI1TQXM.

      Things do get WAY easier after Gravemind, even on Legendary. The first room in that level is the high point for difficulty not just for Halo 2, but maybe the entire franchise (well, if you fight it like you're supposed to and don't cheese it like I did). It's also super fun (and cathartic!) to get a Banshee into Tartarus's arena and bomb him and his buddies from the other side of the map, after the hell it took to get there. I totally did that last night.

      On to the last three chapters of Spartan Ops (which I never finished back in the day since they're clearly not designed for solo players) and then either Reach or 5 after that. I know 5 sucks, but at this point I'm interested in seeing just how bad of a trainwreck it turned out to be.

      Reply
    • Didact

      Things do get WAY easier after Gravemind

      That's one of the most annoying levels in the entire game. It's a series of exercises in self-flagellation strung together with amazing visuals.

      It's also super fun (and cathartic!) to get a Banshee into Tartarus's arena and bomb him and his buddies from the other side of the map, after the hell it took to get there. I totally did that last night.

      I didn't even know you could do that. And I've been playing HALO for 10 years… That's badass, though.

      I know 5 sucks, but at this point I'm interested in seeing just how bad of a trainwreck it turned out to be.

      It's bad. Really bad. Going through H2, which I used to consider the worst game in the series, on the MCC on PC, has forced me to revise my already relatively low opinion of H5:G significantly downward.

      I wanted to like H5:G. I really did. It had so much potential to be an AMAZEBALLS game. They had the lead designer from STAR WARS: Republic Commando to help them design the squad AI – but it turned out to be next to useless. The gameplay feels almost nothing like H3 or H4. The Prometheans are stupidly overpowered, while the Covenant are largely just cannon fodder now, even the Elites – the only really dangerous unit among them are the Hunters.

      And that's before we get to the Warden Eternal. He's a COLOSSAL pain in the ass, and he's a very repetitive enemy to fight.

      I'll give you a hint for fighting him: just shoot him in the face, constantly, and stay in cover whenever he sends those giant black balls of… whatever that is, at you.

      H5:G has gender politics stamped all over it, too. The ONLY good thing about Fireteam Osiris, is Eddie Buck. Nathan Fillion still does a great job with the voice acting for that character.

      Reply
    • MrUNIVAC

      You have to rip at least one of the wings off and feather it juuuust right through Sarge's hole. After you waste the Brutes in the next room and fly down the hallway, it'll be on the ground back there after the cutscene finishes.

      This guide was super helpful and is where I got the Banshee idea from. It's meant for Legendary but the tips are just as good on Heroic. There's also one on that site for H1.
      halo.bungie.org/gameplay/halo2_leg_walk/
      halo.bungie.org/tipsntricks/legwalk/

      Reply
    • lynch

      I have only successfully gotten the banshee in once, and it's great. The other couple times I tried, I'd have someone in the banshee and another player would enter the chamber and post-cutscene, no banshee 🙁

      @ MrUNIVAC, I largely agree with Didact on H5. The multiplayer is amazing, and the campaign's visuals are good, but the plot is crap. They seriously buffed the Promethean Knights and added these stupid soldiers who *teleport* around. Annoying in Heroic, 10x annoying in Legendary.

      I would strongly suggest trying H5 co-op with other humans (online, no split screen 🙁 ) as your AI teammates are largely worthless, best used as distractions.

      At least on the second to last level (IIRC) where you have to fight 3 Warden Eternals (why make a better boss when you can just make more..) you can climb up the center structure of the level and jump over the wardens, avoiding the annoying antics.

      Reply
    • MrUNIVAC

      But if I play with others, I won't get my Lone Wolf achievement! 🙂

      Why the hell would they buff Knights? Those teleporting tanky bastards are MORE than powerful enough in H4. Do they at least leave more plasma pistols around so you aren't constantly unloading entire clips of scarce DMR rounds into them just to bring down their shields?

      Reply
    • Didact

      Why the hell would they buff Knights? Those teleporting tanky bastards are MORE than powerful enough in H4. Do they at least leave more plasma pistols around so you aren't constantly unloading entire clips of scarce DMR rounds into them just to bring down their shields?

      Doesn't work that way in H5:G. You'll find out when you play it. They are now absolute monsters that carry an Incineration Cannon (usually) which is significantly dialed back in terms of lethality – but the Knights themselves more than make up for it. And that's before we get to the Armigers that keep zipping around the battlefield and annoying you.

      Basically the Knights in H5:G are augmented with much heavier armour. You cannot wear them down the way you could in H4. You can take that armour out by shooting them under their "armpits". Each time you shoot through the glowing yellow circles under their arms, they'll turn and roar at you for about two seconds – that's when their skulls glow yellow and you can melt them down with a headshot. If you don't do this after taking out the second armour set, they'll continue to be a damned nuisance for a good long time.

      But – they now release Watchers which regenerate their armour. And while dead Knights don't respawn anymore – not that I can remember, anyway – the very last level of H5:G involves a massive free-for-all with multiple Knights and Armigers (the new Promethean constructs that zip around and teleport everywhere around the battlefield) and the Knights just get REALLY irritating when they're all blasting you with Incineration Cannons and Scattershots.

      The Incineration Cannon now "charges" in H5:G. Uncharged, it fires a two-burst volley. Charged, it fires a full-power shot that melts anything it hits – but there are no secondary explosions to exploit like you could in H4 to kill a swarm of Grunts and Elites.

      The other major difference between H4 and H5:G in terms of Knights is that the diversity of the Knight classes is gone. You no longer have Lancer, Battlewagon, and Commander classes. It's all basically one hulking horrible stupid

      H5:G is a long and miserable experience in terms of gameplay too. As lynch pointed out, the squad AI is basically useless and in the boss battles against that STUPID Warden Eternal they turn into something of a liability.

      I'm pretty down on H5:G overall. I gave it a review back in 2015 that made a lot of these gripes and complaints clear, but still give it a very generous rating of 94%. I never should have done that. It's an 80% game on a REALLY good day – the kind where all the lights were green in both directions, your wife made you a perfect steak for dinner, and then had fantastic sex with you. On any other day, it's probably a 60% game.

      Graphics are great, but I really miss both the O'Donnell/Salvatori and Davidge approaches to HALO soundtracks. Kazuma's style just doesn't work with HALO.

      Reply
  3. lynch

    IRL Halo would be Heroic. Legendary is just too insane, especially the earlier games. And being selfish, a world with Halo 2 Legendary Jackal Snipers is not a world I want to live in.

    Reply
    • Didact

      Yeah man. Master Chief can be killed by a six-year-old kid with a freakin' WATER BALLOON in H2 on Legendary. The guys at Bungie went way overboard on the difficulty settings with that game.

      Reply

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