The Grunt Failed

[uberfoop]

The Grunt Failed

Halo: Combat Evolved is an excellent game for campaign tricking, and over the years the Halo tricking community has created tons of amazing content for it. But much more generally than just the tricking, this games' campaign is fantastic. Bungie did an excellent job building content and making it all fit perfectly together, from the environment design, to the AI system, to the grunts.

When HIH announced its closure, I wanted to make some last thingy. So, I created a video guide for those who love the in-game grunt characters: "How to not avoid grunt survival." Or, maybe it was "How not to avoid not letting grunts not die." I seem to have forgotten which, and I can't really tell from the footage. Anyway, here it is!

Youtube

Gamefront

If you enjoyed that, consider watching this outtake, though be forewarned that a grunt rather decidedly wins in this clip:

Youtube


Just in case something was hard to understand for anyone, the spoiler section contains trick explanations for a few of the tricks:

Herbie Stuff (Most of the AotCR tricks)
Three of the tricks in the video (The shade launch, the grunt-falling-off-cliff-in surprise, and the knock-shade-off-pipes) were done with the help of Herbie.
Herbie is the grunt who spawns in the shade to your left on AotCR when you first head out into the snow on ground level. This grunt, and the entire battle on the ground level, is set ready to spawn when you head into the tunnels at the far side of the skybridge; typically, you have to pass the loadzone to prepare the spawn. If you then enter or exit the door on the ground level (you might get to the door without using the elevator by doing a bridge descent, for example), the grunt will spawn in the shade no matter where it is. That is how I spawn him instantly in front of the player, or get an occupied shade onto pipes without killing the grunt.

The Running Grunt
The grunts that use the shade turrets in the underground cavern on AotCR are very intent on using their turrets. If you do a bridge descent and move their turrets when they haven't spawned yet, then when you go through the level normally and spawn them, at least one of them will run for the turret even if it's a good distance away, and they'll ignore you in the process (aside from occasionally glaring at you).

The Frozen Grunt and Sarge
If you take AI from the outside areas on the island, move them past the loading zone in the main facility, and then run back out, that AI will be frozen whenever you head back down through the loading zone (the exception being if you make them aware to your presence as you pass down through the zone, ie by shooting).
If you bring an unfrozen marine to an enemy who has been frozen in this way, they will normally not notice the enemy. However, if you fire somewhat in the direction of the enemy, the marine may notice it in the instants that you’re firing, and may himself fire upon it.

The Silent Cartographer Security Cutscene
Similar to the frozen grunt/sarge thing. In this case, I had left a grunt in the underground area, and then dropped two marines there as well. This can sometimes be problematic, since they will actively fight each other when they’re all unfrozen when you’re not underground. But once you move a substantial distance away from the loading zone spot, the battle pauses itself until you’re close again.
The battle will then un-stop when you trigger the cutscene, allowing the marines to shoot the grunt.

[grumpy]

uber, that was really fun to watch. I love Grunts so knowing how not to treat them really helps.

When the Hog flew over the cliff and then landed right where you were standing was truly awesome. The turret launch was hilarious as was most of the others. That ending was perfect, a beautiful launch. A pro vid, imo.

Gonna miss you man.

[-=MaToR=-]

Very cool video. Innovative gruntyness.

I'll mirror this.

Great job.

I'll try to treat grunts nicer from now on :]

[Muzza]

That was quite an enjoyable video.

[Shoe]

haha, that grunt in the out take wanted to live really badly

[Rockslider]

So you're HaloTupolev eh? That explains how you knew about that co-op descent tutorial you mentioned recently - it was yours! But I now realize I commented on your 'Halo: 5 thingies' vid last year, so I guess I forgot about the connection.

Anyway, to business. Grunts. Yes, they do tend to stop working after a while. I get that a lot. Tragic accident with a hog in AOTCR at 1:07, but that was nothing compared to the squishy incident at around 1:32 on the Silent Cartographer hilltop. Those Grunts just weren't paying enough attention to the aerial danger. Don't they know Warthogs can fall out of the sky at any moment? And then there was that Herbie fella spawning in the Shade in mid-air. A tragically short career. He barely had time to spot the cyborg, and then it was curtains. Excellent. The outtake was amusing too.

I guessed how you got the running Grunt in AOTCR. I've played about with moving those cavern Shades myself and enjoyed running alongside the Grunts or having other mischief with them. I wrote about it in Grunty fun with Shades. I really must capture some of that mischief in a video of my own sometime. I didn't know you were such a Grunt fan - though I guess your avatar is a clue.

[uberfoop]

Originally Posted by grumpy

uber, that was really fun to watch. I love Grunts so knowing how not to treat them really helps.
When the Hog flew over the cliff and then landed right where you were standing was truly awesome. The turret launch was hilarious as was most of the others. That ending was perfect, a beautiful launch. A pro vid, imo.
Gonna miss you man.

Gonna miss you too, grumpy. Thanks.

Originally Posted by -=MaToR=-

Very cool video. Innovative gruntyness.
I'll mirror this.
Great job.
I'll try to treat grunts nicer from now on :]

Thanks Mator; as for the grunts, feel free to treat them every bit as well as I did ;)

Originally Posted by Muzza

That was quite an enjoyable video.

Thank you :)

Originally Posted by Shoe

haha, that grunt in the out take wanted to live really badly

Indeed. People make fun of grunts for their short attention spans and clumsiness, but occasionally their grunty instincts come through and do amazing things.

Originally Posted by Rockslider

So you're HaloTupolev eh? That explains how you knew about that co-op descent tutorial you mentioned recently - it was yours! But I now realize I commented on your 'Halo: 5 thingies' vid last year, so I guess I forgot about the connection.

Oh, that. Yeah sorry, totally forgot to get around to getting back to that post. As it happens, I actually made that video right before posting it, since I wasn't sure if any other example was floating about; my recording equipment, xbox, and TV are all currently right next to my computer, so I was able to make it easily and quickly.

Anyway, to business. Grunts. Yes, they do tend to stop working after a while. I get that a lot. Tragic accident with a hog in AOTCR at 1:07, but that was nothing compared to the squishy incident at around 1:32 on the Silent Cartographer hilltop. Those Grunts just weren't paying enough attention to the aerial danger. Don't they know Warthogs can fall out of the sky at any moment? And then there was that Herbie fella spawning in the Shade in mid-air. A tragically short career. He barely had time to spot the cyborg, and then it was curtains. Excellent. The outtake was amusing too.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I guessed how you got the running Grunt in AOTCR. I've played about with moving those cavern Shades myself and enjoyed running alongside the Grunts or having other mischief with them. I wrote about it in Grunty fun with Shades. I really must capture some of that mischief in a video of my own sometime. I didn't know you were such a Grunt fan - though I guess your avatar is a clue.

I've been at least somewhat of a grunt fan for ages. However, Rockslider, I could probably thank you for inspiration; I've poked about Bad Cyborg occasionally over the past year, and I doubt that there are many people who are capable of doing that without becoming fans of grunts. Seriously, that is an awesome website you host.

[ViviD]

That was a really entertaining vid! The long distance hog launch on SC was awesome, and I really liked your Herbie stuff. I loved seeing the OS launch on SC, particularly since today is the last day before HIH goes into cryo. Very great job man.