Hi dude, this mod was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fantastic, played it on legendary with no issue, at the beginning is harder, but then it turns much much easier, which is fine considering what happens story wise in the mod.

Very well done, and very fun, my only gripe is that the last quarter of the level almost has no fights and the Breaking Benjamin fight is nonexistent which was a cool moment in the original. But besides that, it's very cool.

This mod was awesome, it brought such a refreshing perspective of Halo 2, THE HALO GAME I started with. Thanks for creating this mod, it really brought back the nostalgic memory of playing halo for the first time.

thank you very much for the review! i do intend on trying to fix those bugs, but for the past while and a bit my irl stuff has been hectic and i haven't had a huge amount of time or energy to dedicate to halo modding

fingers crossed that changes soon tho!

Unfortunately I got the bug that I think a few others did too when the level ended before I could finish listening to the elite buddy's final dialogue. Cortana was speaking over it and I couldn't hear what he had to say, then the last cutscene started and I couldn't even revert to last checkpoint :(

And gosh that skybox is just really heckin beautiful! Really good job with this one!!

Ok, the level is really fantastic without the scripts being bugged and with the elite buddy on your side. Love all the added dialogue and that wave of enemies at the end. Really good job with the mod! :)

Okay I played it again and I think I figured out where the elite buddy got stuck. In the room after ascending the gravity lift from the prison, after all the enemies in that room are gone, all the AI left in the bottom level get stuck and have their AI turned off. My elite buddy jumped down to the lower level to shoot at a corpse or to dodge a grenade. A couple of marines did too, and basically all the AI that went to that lower level stopped functioning, and didn't follow you through the rest of the level.

It took a while, but by pushing them to the central gravity lift, you can push them back to the second level, after which their AI will start working again and follow you through to the rest of the level.

Kind of surprised this wasn't caught in a playtest. Its like the very first fight after the elite buddy puts on his armor. I'm playing on Normal difficulty

@3 Grots In A Trench Coat punishment for trying to skip the opening waves :))

Man this mod is a blast. I played it on heroic and it got pretty difficult at the end but so much fun. A tip if you're struggling in mausoleum on the later waves - like where there will be a hundred enemies coming from every single entrance possible: pick up dual needlers and get onto the side top levels, shoot all the brutes with the needlers with the 1s bursts, esp the honor guard ones (as I found it difficult to kill them with beam rifle or carbine), and keep on the move and taking cover with the pillars. Then use covenant carbine on jackals and leftover brutes.

I just had the strangest experience in the Council Chambers. I ran through the middle door on the left (if you're facing the lift) and hid below the seats. I checkpointed and suddenly a golden Elite killed me from behind with a sword. Once I reverted and killed him, my door got swarmed by stealth Elites with swords. I kept dying over and over to the point I restarted. Yet I can't make this happen again.

Did you add this, Robert?

In my playthrough unfortunately the elite buddy bugged out in the first room immediately after coming out of the jail cells. His AI broke and he was just standing dumbly at me and never followed me around. By the time I realized he stopped following me around it had already been a few checkpoints.

Perhaps the level kind of depends on having him around to give context and dialogue, but finishing the rest of the level with all the elites on your side but without the elite buddy feels rather... numb?

All of the combat encounters were trivialized and there were many rooms in a row with nothing happening in them because they were either empty or just filled with elites. I feel I got a much worse experience than vanilla.

Maybe I will try this again and hopefully the elite buddy AI doesn't bug out again. But perhaps the level scripting could be improved to teleport him/reset him after every room if he is such a consequential character for the feel of the level.

My man, I love this mod, but this is NOT gonna be a good experience on heroic unless you want to pull your hair out, I had to play on normal. And that last encounter was INSANE, but I respect the vision, W mod.

if you get softlocked in the mausoleum, you can try reverting checkpoint, running through the entrance when the enemies open it, and then walking as far as you can. if you get a checkpoint when walking back then it should be safe to go back inside

Wish the damage multiplier was removed on higher difficulties, sad boy hours.

This mod was great, it made Gravemind even better, which is crazy to me since it's already a perfect mission, though I am of the onion that enemies fighting each other is more enjoyable than allies fighting enemies, I will conceed that it's just SO cool to fight alongside guys that are normally enemies during missions

2nd time getting stuck at the mausoleum, what am I doing wrong?

This was amazing. The attention to detail, the skybox, and added voice lines are great. This is what Gravemind shouldve been. Very true to the original concept. Thanks for the work you put into this! H2 is my favorite in the series and Im glad to see mods like this still going. Lmk if I can donate somehow

I love Gravemind so I had to play this. And for the most part it's a nice improvement! I love the skybox changes and how in the first outdoor area of the level you see elites fighting brutes already. I love how after the prison sequence the elite ally rallies all the elites onto your side. Working with the elites is great because it makes the alliance come into the story more naturally I think. For the first two thirds of the mission it actually felt quite balanced because the brutes were in large numbers and were still a huge threat.

My main gripe is with the last third of the mission. Some encounters were just empty (the bridge battle had no brute for some reason? Same applies to the mausoleum fight; there was one wave and then that was it. So I think the brute encounters should really ramp up by the end.

Overall I did quite enjoy it and it's a cool spin on the level to have the elites be friendly.. I just think it needs a little more work near the end :)

Thank you for this absolute gift. My fav mod of all time.

So i played the mod just now it was super fun (a lil tricky on heroic but ehh) but i do have one gripe. When the elite buddy was telling me his final words, i didn't know he was gonna say something and accidentally triggered the level end, so i didn't get to hear his full monologue. id recommend tieing the "win conditions" for the level to him finishing his speech if hes still alive, that way chief listens to him before rushing off to see a big triangle.

Amazing mod hope to one day see how you handle the next section if you ever plan or have plans for it love to see our Elite buddy again before we get off that hellhole

Loved it, well done!

Alr thx

I haven’t played halo in a while but Halo 2 is my fav and I loved the Elite focus. You did an amazing job fleshing out their interactions with each other and Chief. Since I haven’t played in a while I genuinely couldn’t tell what was new and what wasn’t, the voice acting on most of the Elites is so good you could tell me it’s in the original game and I’d be convinced. As for feedback on the gameplay, there are some minor issues like doors getting stuck or not opening, but it’s not consistent enough to pin down. Despite me dying constantly, think that’s just a product of me sucking, it’s fairly balanced (on heroic). Though, the boss fight with the one Brute did go on for a long time and him knocking the ally elites into geometry on the walls that caused their ai to remain passive didn’t help in not drawing it out even further, still I think it’s balanced fairly well (or at least relative to halo 2 balance already lmao). Amazing work overall.

@Soda_Floppa i should have added a marker for that part - the jail doors don't open automatically anymore, you need to use the terminal at the end of the hall

whenever i get to the part where i have to save the marines, the cell doors won't unlock once i kill the guards. I've not sure if im softlocked or what

Best H2 mod ever. Such a great playthrough. Strongly recommend if your favorite levels are Uprising or Gravemind from the original.

seems like there is a softlock, can't move through the door.

This is what I always wanted to see when I was younger. Awesome work.

cool mod

Is there any plans to continue this onto mission High Charity? Or having our elite friend be of help in Halo 3? Maybe a Halo 3 revamp?

Idk where hiddenxperia got that from (though I do love his coverage of it). I think he may have interpreted that as my intent, but ultimately there's nothing set up for them to ignore the player, they're just generally more likely to prioritise the brutes on the ledge.

is this bugged cuurrently? I downloaded it because of a hiddenxperia video from a while ago and he said at the start, the phantom and elites are supposed to ignore you and fight the brutes but thats not happening, so maybe he was wrong. just curious

The game softlocks in the garden with the Phantom over it. All the elites and marines just stand around shooting it and the doors are all locked.

Dope! Thanks!

alright there we go, back to the modding cave for me

finally, the MCC update we've all been waiting for

two secs lads

You'll need to update the mod, the recent MCC update broke it.

need a update

ive never worted harder with mah elite buddies

@Robert Weedman well ♥♥♥♥ ! if you try to surpasse yourself for the next one i can't imagine how good it will be when the first one is already excellent , i'll stay tune then

@Nightmare Lord thank you so much for the kind words! I'm having to take a break from modding, but i've been hard at work on a new project that'll (hopefully) blow this one out of the water in terms of new content

i've played your mod the first day it was on the steam workshop and i just redone it today and ho man that a lot of work you put into it ! , i pray you keep loving modding and do some more amazing content for the community , thank you for the good time i had on your mod

Won the mausoleum fight but everyone kind of just sits there after the hunters first appear. I know there is drones afterward but they don't appear (except once).

I don't think the transitions between fights are triggering properly.

Are you going to upload a version on nexus for the windows version of the game?

Kino as ♥♥♥♥, a good challenge too on Heroic but having all the friendly AI does balance it out for an enjoyable experience. You really captured my imagination of how I thought the Civil War on High Charity would of went down

softlock after winning the mausoleum boss fight, not sure what the trigger is.

Awesome thanks for the deets, will note these down for a future fix

Right after the elevator. He's often pushed under the small bridge by an attacking Brute, then just chills there. I had to push him back to the lift, alongside 2 marines. The first time i didn't i was straight up prevented from getting on the "Horizontal lift" later in the mission. Afterwards there are about 2 or 3 other instances where he is threatening to do the same, though ultimately does not. Guess due to the small army that tags along with us and block each other's pathfinding. Hunters especially had the habit of bashing crates which would then block the way for the others, though they would end up also bashing them out of the way.

@Aries-Taurus are there any specific/consistent aspects to how/where he bugs out?