If you guys have anything to add to this, especially any official comment on BOBs from Bungie or 343, it would be greatly appreciated. As it stands, this video is about 95% done and I could have it out the door by the end of the week.
Also, if you think the official definition is inaccurate, let me know. I want the wording to be precise. Also feel free to fact-check any of this.
BOB Video Guide Part 2 - Winter Contingency
Filming is done for this one, I've got no-death Legendary runs for each of the seven BOBs and film clips for each kill. I'm also going to talk about the invisible Spectre elite (Bill) at the beginning of the mission as a non-BOB. Once I finish Part 1 I can have this ready in a few days, probably.
BOB Video Guide Part 3 - ONI
I want to pop the mission designer for ONI in the mouth. Not really, but there are 16 different spawn/armor combinations, and I want to be thorough, so... yeah, I have to beat this level 16 times on Legendary without dying, and each time kill a different BOB, which is random. The good news is that I've only got 3 armor/spawn combinations left on this level. The bad news is that this means there's a 3/16 chance that I'll get one of those combinations, and probably a 1/4 chance I'll actually beat the level without dying, so on any given run I have a 3/64 chance of success. :(
BOB Video Guide Part 5 - Tip of the Spear
THIS one is where I need major help. I'm about 80% sure that either there is some trick to the BOB spawns on this mission, or there's an undiscovered BOB. I've done many runs of this level where no BOB appears. If you guys want to run through this level a few times, see if the BOBs spawn where expected, it'd be appreciated.
I'm impressed by what I've found here, and I look forward to working together.
I feel the definition should include "Born On Board", since that is what BOB actually stands for.
BS Angel hasn't really done anything regarding the "BOB Helmet" beyond what the rest of us have: acknowledge that some weird helmet exists in promotional images. The lame "I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you" trope is probably nothing more than a corporate cop-out. Whatever is up with that helmet (they were going to release it, but it got scrapped due to technical issues... it's slated for later release... we haven't found it yet), it seems the company line is that they can't talk about it. And Bungie employees just hand the ball back to 343.
"Bill" was an ill-informed nickname given to that Spec Ops Elite by the Reach Secrets Group. It was given with no basis, other than they apparently thought it was similar sounding to the name "BOB". Naming something after a random English male name like "Bill" implies that the name "BOB" was likewise randomly attributed from a list of English male names, which is certainly not the case here. As stated above: "Born On Board". My personal opinion is that we should refrain from propagating that nickname.
WOW! That's dedication! I'm more likely to pop the LNoS mission designer in the mouth for the Beach BOB issues. Or pop whoever was responsible for Banshee BOBs not awarding Seek and Destroy medals in the mouth. But mostly, I'm thankful that my investment in the game has kept my intermittent interest for over a year. Entertainment money well spent.
I'll start saving full run-throughs of TotS.
Alright, I won't call him Bill. I guess he's just "the invisible Spec-Ops Elite that drops a Data Pad"? In any case, I do explain in the video where the name BOB comes from.
Since a lot of my run-throughs use skips (not approaching the first Tyrant gun, bypassing the BXR facility) I'm wondering if maybe the Spire BOBs only spawn if you load all the other enemies in the level. Seems far-fetched though. In any case, run-throughs that don't use skips are more valuable, and once I'm done with ONI and Nightfall I'll be saving the same.
LOL. I get your point that any alternative will be longer than "Bill"- and I struggled to come up with a shorter description myself- so thanks for your support. The "Data Pad Spec Ops" is probably sufficient, but since this is a thread about BOBs and not Data Pads, can we table this for another day? ;)
Do you care which difficulty? I was going to just blast through on Easy a bunch of times. I have yet to find any BOB spawn which doesn't appear on every difficulty.
In my Fileshare, I have 3 videos of separate BoBs. (http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileShare.aspx?player=Insane%20Monx) The TotS one is the very first Bob on that level.
- Name BOB refers to Marathon friendlies that rogue AI instructed player to killEven though that's true, the way you wrote it (or, more correctly, the way I understood it) means that the Halo: Reach characters referenced to as Elite Rangers in the Enemies page of a player's Career Stats in Bungie.net are called BOBs and are so because there are characters in a game called Marathon with the same name.
Might want to clarify this, Pulse: is the problem the fact that the connection between Gold Rangers and Marathon BOBs is feeble, or is it even that the fact between Gold Rangers and the name "BOB" is feeble itself?- Name BOB refers to Marathon friendlies that rogue AI instructed player to killEven though that's true, the way you wrote it (or, more correctly, the way I understood it) means that the Halo: Reach characters referenced to as Elite Rangers in the Enemies page of a player's Career Stats in Bungie.net are called BOBs and are so because there are characters in a game called Marathon with the same name.
As far as I know this hasn't been confirmed, which means that, in order to stay as accurate and factual as possible, you should NOT say in your guide that "BOB" means "Born On Board". It's okay to say that there are characters called BOBs in a whole different game and that, in the context of the same game, "BOB" means "Born On Board" AND, by chance, the player was instructed to kill every single one of them, which seems to also be the case with Halo: Reach's golden Elite Rangers.
Can anyone tell me where the known BOBs of ToTS are? I know of the first one, but no other ones. I need to know, otherwise, I might not see any BOBs just because I wasn't looking in the right place, and the film will be wasted.According to HRS/Bnet member "bjb yo",
There is an agressive BoB with a Fuel Rod right after crashing your Falcon into the sheild around the Spire. This BoB has many spawns around (and maybe even in) the Spire, but he always seems to make a run for the Spire at some point, making him even harder to kill in time.(Yay for the preciceness!)
Spire BoB #1 (http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx44/TheMadBaumer/Tip%20of%20the%20Spear%20BoBs/reach_3603519_Medium.jpg)
Spire BoB #2 (http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx44/TheMadBaumer/Tip%20of%20the%20Spear%20BoBs/reach_4293294_Medium.jpg)
Spire BoB #3 (http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx44/TheMadBaumer/Tip%20of%20the%20Spear%20BoBs/reach_4360280_Medium.jpg)
Might want to clarify this, Pulse: is the problem the fact that the connection between Gold Rangers and Marathon BOBs is feeble, or is it even that the fact between Gold Rangers and the name "BOB" is feeble itself?What I meant was that saying that the meaning of "BOB" (the Halo: Reach characters) is "Born On Board" should be avoided because there is absolutely no evidence that this is the case.
Almost positive that the QTA XII VI Marine is a BOB.This is either
Well, the QTA guy spawned even though I kill the first BOB. That's a letdown...
Anyways, there should be a BOB hanging around in that film clip. I couldn't find him, maybe you guys can.
No. Everything spawned.Well, the QTA guy spawned even though I kill the first BOB. That's a letdown...
Anyways, there should be a BOB hanging around in that film clip. I couldn't find him, maybe you guys can.
Did all the enemies spawn in the level? It's possible, at several points in this level, to proceed without spawning certain groups of enemies. Did you use any skips of any sort?
Okay, I finally decided to go ahead and post the first part of my BOB Video Guide. You can check it out here:Very nice indeed.
BOB Video Guide Part 1: What is a BOB? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThsrHuNcxo)
Let me know what you think! I kept going back and making changes, but eventually I decided to just post it, rather than spend forever making it "perfect".
Okay, I finally decided to go ahead and post the first part of my BOB Video Guide. You can check it out here:Though I'm not one for the legend of the BOB's, it's something that I never took too.
BOB Video Guide Part 1: What is a BOB? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThsrHuNcxo)
Let me know what you think! I kept going back and making changes, but eventually I decided to just post it, rather than spend forever making it "perfect".
Okay, I finally decided to go ahead and post the first part of my BOB Video Guide. You can check it out here:
BOB Video Guide Part 1: What is a BOB? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThsrHuNcxo)
Let me know what you think!
Also, is anyone here playing Reach on a PAL system? ColdGlider, was your video guide made on a PAL system? I suspect that the spawns and behaviors of the BOBs varies slightly between NTSC and PAL, but I'm not sure.The system available in my country is PAL. If you have a PAL-specific theory I can test, do tell - I'll try to manage some time to do it.
The system available in my country is PAL. If you have a PAL-specific theory I can test, do tell - I'll try to manage some time do do it.
I'm actually kind of sad I haven't been helpful, but I've always got so much work to do it's impossible to spend time in ghost hunting (and I need my bi-weekly fix of multiplayer Slaying).
But still, if there is something only I can test, I'll be glad to do it.
PS: Differences between NTSC and PAL are not far-fetched at all - I remember a jump/shortcut (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjgS_jG8lzo) on AotCR only NTSC people could do in Halo: CE.
but the Fuel Rod BOBs are proving to be quite a challenge.How so?
but the Fuel Rod BOBs are proving to be quite a challenge.How so?
1. How many Banshee BOB spawn points are there on New Alexandria? A French Halo site has identified four: http://www.halocreation.org/t9455-ee-bobs-de-nouvelle-alexandrie
There are four, one in each sector of the map- they appear below the city horizon and are scripted to fly to another point on constant boost. If you miss one, you must wait until the next one. The script will loop infinitely until you kill one.
2. What triggers the Banshee BOBs to spawn? It seems to be relative to your location, but perhaps based on number of checkpoints, or number of Banshees destroyed?
I have a timer hooked up to the map that gives a random variance. Here is the script:
(sleep (* 30 60 (random_range 5 7)))
This basically waits a random range of anywhere from 5-7 multiplied by 30 ticks (30 ticks = one second) times 60 seconds, so 5, 6 or 7 minutes.
There is no relative location. It just randomly picks a point and spawns a banshee.
1. Is there anything that could reset or otherwise affect the BOB spawn timer on New Alexandria?
No.
2. Did you have a method in mind for the player to wipe out the BOB in the atrium on The Package? I show my own, highly unreliable, method here: http://youtu.be/MysOomVmvZo
Nope. That BOB was designed to be incredibly hard to kill. I do recall that you could jump off of the wrecked artwork and in through the window. I’ve found that this community can make the impossible, possible. For that BOB, I just put in obstacle, not the means to solve the problem.
3. Why was the Banshee BOB chosen for New Alexandria? I had a theory that they were used on Exodus as the Elite model wasn't included in the level, but there are Rangers in the hospital, leaving me to wonder.
The way the game loads stuff in memory influenced Banshee BOB. We normally don’t have the Elite Character loaded when the player is flying around save for one mini-mission objective (kill the elites and the engineer). Normally, the elite is not loaded when the player is flying around the world.
4. Why don't Banshee BOBs award the Seek and Destroy medal, or grant an Elite Light Vehicle kill?
I am unaware of what all of that stuff means. Mission design doesn’t pay much attention to medals or kill types- sorry.
5. What's going on in this video taken during the underground sequence of The Package? http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=18238142 It was believed initially that this was another Banshee BOB, but of course you clarified that this was not the case in a post on HBO.
At the end of that mission, we want to remove the Banshee as an enemy, so we call a script that gets them to bug out and remove themselves from play.
6. Was it intentional for there to be 49 (=7^2) BOB spawn points in the Campaign on Legendary?
Sure!
7. Any undiscovered secrets in either New Alexandria or The Package?
I believe everything has been found- but I’ve been surprised before.
8. Were the switches that spawn four Banshees on The Package influenced at all by the Annual achievement from Halo 3?
No. They were there to support what I called the AJMode easter egg. AJMode basically kicks in when you hit either of the switches in New Alexandria (on the side of the building) or The Package. What AJMode does is remove soft ceilings so players can explore beyond the world. AJMode refers to Ascendant Justice, the Halo fansite- I was a big fan of their work and thought I’d give them props. There were complaints that Soft Ceilings hurt people’s exploration of levels- so I put in an easter egg that allows players to turn them off. The Package had no way of exploiting this since it was an Island, so I thought giving each player a Banshee would be a fun way to see the world.
9. Were the BOBs implemented as planned, or was something about them cut from the final game?
I don’t recall- that was Luke Smith’s baby. I’m sure we wanted to do more with it, we always do- but you gotta ship sometime.
Do you mind if I quote you directly in the video guide? I like to make my information as credible as possible, and being able to say that this information came directly from the mission designer himself (especially in regards to the script timer for the New Alexandria BOB spawn) would be a great help.
I have no problem with you quoting me. Feel free to post this wherever you wish.
Wow, really nice job. That has to be the most informative and detailed video of Bobs on this level out there. Wasn't too complicated and nice job with the random chance portrayal with the dice, pictures always help :)
Thanks! I keep seeing YouTube comments like "I looked for BOB X, and he wasn't there" so I thought I should clarify how it works. Stay tuned for Exodus! I learned some things about the BOBs on that level that I don't think anyone else knows.I'd be lying if I said that I didn't learn anything from that last video...
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't learn anything from that last video...
I am most definitely wanting to apply this to my NA-ODST theory. Let me look at audio log locations...
I am most definitely wanting to apply this to my NA-ODST theory. Let me look at audio log locations...
And that theory would be... ?
Wait, a human 'BOB'? Are you talking about the QTA marines, because I don't follow.
I can't view either of those games :(
Good job on the Bob series, I know you still have to do the Lone Wolf one, but those videos are really helpful. Thanks for making them, I'll definitely post them in threads on Bungie.net and Halo.xbox.com when they're needed.
P.S. What is that at the end of the PoA video?