The Evolution of Halo's Covenant - The Drones
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2024
- In this episode of The Evolution of Halo's Covenant, I take an in depth look into the various appearances, gameplay and AI behaviors the Drones have seen throughout the years. Thanks for watching! Twitter: / ebr_halo
#Halo #HaloMCC #HaloInfinite - Hry
What's your favorite Drone and why? What Halo Evolution should I cover next? Leave me a comment down below. Thanks for watching :)
The skimmers 😂
Skimmers, I fucking hate Drones.
I enjoy the H3: ODST Captain Drones, they got pretty colours, sweet beetle dudeman.
I want to see you do each Forerunner caste! (Builders/Miners/Warrior Servants/Lifeworkers, Juridicals, etc)!!!!
Evolution of the Grunts: Halo Infinite update
Always felt like the drones got overlooked by so many people and just written of as some annoying enemy. But when you actually take a closer look you will see how much love and effort were put in to them.
I think if they had some kind of characterization, like dialogue or impact on the story, they'd be much more beloved. I think the only example of a narrative impact was near the end of Halo 3: ODST.
I think their designs are great but gameplay wise they were always a massive chore to fight. I think that was kind of the point but I never had a good time with them honestly.
@@TherapyGel Yeah same same tbh with the gameplay, especially on like LD difficulty, they were just a pain in the ass.
@@Nefnoj Yeah true true, a spinoff mission would be fun where you are in one of those hives but it's a MEGA hive, and you can see and fight larvae and kill the queen or something
I'm not doubting there was a lot of attention put onto them, it's just that they are the second most annoying enemy in the whole series.
I never realized how little we see of the drones. Gives me a newfound respect for the encounters we do have
Random thought but if Drones and Hunters ever split off into their own post-Covenant faction, they’d be a damn good defense against the Flood
drones? not so much mainly because they're not too tough and have lots of number, biomass and all that nerd stuff, the hunters tho yeah, especially since you could get a human like scarab and throw a bunch of them in, like a tank with and orbital MAC type of crazy
Shielded drones have ended so many heroic/legendary firefight games. Combined with Black Eye they're deadly as hell.
Even on Easy or Normal they aren't exactly a picnic, the SMG is pretty much the only effective weapon against them and it runs out of ammo so quicly it 's not funny if you forget to fire in controlled bursts.
They were a great enemy and should definitely come back, because just like the Hunters, they were a "OH SHIT" moment each time they appeared.
Hunter\Drone boss fight? 1 Gold Hunter, 2 Blues, 1 Gold Drone, 3 Reds, 12 Whites 30 Basic, and about 70 Hatchlings. A multi level arena with a central platform ringed by upper and lower walkways. Hunters in the middle, drones coming in waves. After so many waves some Marines come in to reinforce the player(s).
How does is sound?
Unironically one of my favorite covenant enemies, and I so want them back in the games
Same man, they are kinda annoying but I can look pass that for the sake of them being an awesome sci fi bug species
@@entomologistmaximus5097 not to mention, if they were mixed in with other enemies it woul make combat encounters so interesting. Imagine a mix of them, Skimmer, and other covenant species, the skimmers try to snipe you in the distance while the drone try to swarm closely around the player
@@Biodragon882 I'd hate it but yes exactly
Drones always seemed to be the odd ones out in the Covenant IMO
- They don't really have any unique relationships with other Covenant species, at least not in-game. We read about their roles in the books. They're more often than not found in isolated "waves"
-Gameplay-wise they're more akin to the flood, being low in health but overwhelming in numbers. I think of them as flying combat forms. Fun to mow down with an auto weapon.
- They don't display much "culture" if that makes any sense. Their armor is just their chiton with a few antigrav lights. They seem about as mindless and animalistic as the flood or the promethean crawlers.
- Variants are a bit...lackluster. It reminds me of the many Halo 3 blue brute ranks. Same tactic, exact same silhouette, slight variations in color. Reach was headed in the right direction with the horns.
I'd love to see them return with a few overhauls:
- Ranks having more distinct functions like in an actual hive. Workers that move crates, Equipment users, engineers, the typical warriors, flightless melee males that craw along the walls, etc.
- Boss ranks? One with very long arms that can quadruple wield for instance, or one with a marksman weapon
- Having their limbs and wings be shoot-offable
- No energy shields! The flying shielded enemy class has enough already, with the Rangers, Sentinels, Watchers
They won’t make a return, sadly 343 added the Skimmers that seems to be the drone’s counterpart
The thing is, Halo 4 concept art shows the very different class types of hive-based insects 343 had devised when they still planned to have drones in the game before they were cut.
Bungie was all "aw fuck aw shit we need a new enemy, fuck it just make this annoying prick fly around a bunch, we'll put them in the worst parts of the game."
What I didn't like is how little they interact with other Covenant.
Their cartoony exploding body would've been so much better if it was limbs falling off. Since insects deal with being damaged differently than other more intelligent animals.
I'm surprised you didn't mention that one other piece of Halo 4 concept art, which showed the Drones as having a more mosquito-like appearance.
Also worth mentioning that the drone eyes in Halo 2 are mounted on stalks, akin to a crab or snail. Their Reach design even reintroduces their stalk-eyes as their third, backmost pair alongside the first two set-in pairs.
Absolutely hated the drones growing up, in a good way. The way they would swarm you out of NOWHERE, with their disgusting roach-like hissing and appearance, it just seemed like such a smart way to incorporate flying enemies. Like, okay, yeah. They’re a bit weird. But I can buy the idea of flying beetle aliens much more than whatever those lame gremlin things were in Infinite. The way they used them in Reach was great.
chances are the Skimmers were based on the halo 4 sniper drone concept art as I do know that a lot of skimmers are equipped with shock rifles
I hate em in a bad way. They’re just like the flood, unsatisfying to kill, can’t melee them, are pretty bland, and just feel like a chore to play against
Absolutely agree
I’ll always have an affinity for the Reach drones. Their satisfying headshot gibbing just makes you feel good.
A...Certain Affinity?
Two things I've always wondered about drones -
Why weren't they ever paired with Halo 2 ranger Elites?
Why weren't they ever featured in flying segments?
They're one of my favorite enemy types to face, but their placement in level design is very formulaic. There are plenty of opportunities to make neat gameplay segments with them.
modders will probably utilize them better
@@protocetid yeah cuz they're really well made, just not well implemented
Halo 2 rangers dual-wielding Plasma rifles are already scary enough LMAO leave the drones outta that ;-;
also, you encounter a whole segment of drones right after the first two Rangers you meet on Cairo as well. And then, right after fighting the rising/lowering platform wave of enemies (after the drones), you encounter 5 Ranger elites outside.
on legendary at least
It's Nefnoj again haha
Turned out you are spot on right on the money as in those were cut content scenarios during the early development of Halo 2. I do believe I learned that from Halo 2's Uncut campaign mod or from RejectedShotgun or some other CZcamsr idr correctly but one of those indeed.
Great video, once again! Only thing left to cover is the Flood, the Sentinels, an Prometheans
And*
Fuck the promethians
It’s thanks to these guys I always nickname my Yanmega’s in Pokémon “Drone”
Halo 4 drone concept looks so cool, shame we never got them!
Here’s how I think their gameplay could have played out: When they’re flying they’d be extremely inaccurate (think the sniper Jackal accuracy in the same game), but when they’re perched they’d be able to get a good shot on you. That would definitely be interesting to see. Sadly, it didn’t happen.
Would've been better then the watcher
@@shreksnow1918 they'd also be accurate if they're fly around slow at a safe distance.
While it wasn’t featured in the game, since the Halo lore mentioned that Drones have a Queen Caste, it would’ve been a cool boss fight to feature one where she acted as a breeding factor for the Drones.
I think it would be cool to see the evolution of the spartans, and how their look has changed
For me, drones legitimise dual wielding in Halo 3. Since I suck with grenades, volume of fire becomes the best way to thin out drone swarms
the ole reliable BR helps with them too
I wonder if he can do evolution of the drop ship
Drones shined in ODST and unfortunately just weren’t as good in the other games. Though the halo 3 swarm sizes were ridiculous in a good way
Sorta wish they implemented Drones back into the modern Halo games. It is nice to have a change of pace fighting ground units all the time.
Anyways, i'd like to see more evolution videos involving the Halo Infinite designs!~ :D
Grunts: BIG SCARY THING RUN AWAY!!!
Drones: hold my human
The lack luster Skimmers of Infinite gave me a new appreciation for Drones. Way better AI both alone and in groups, can hijack, and don't carry hit-scan weapons.
At least skimmers weren't absolutely annoying came out of nowhere and we're actually someone decent to fight unlike drones and watchers which had very basic and boring AI and were occasionally just distractions so that you could get killed
@@argo9721 that's exactly what Skimmers are: Annoying, poorly scripted, completely basic annoyances.
@@Vegito_Fanpage i like skimmers more than the drones.
Ultimate strategies for Crows Nest on Legendary:
- After clearing the Hangar, bring a turret and just aim at the vent duct they come out from. Guarantee most if not all die.
- Bringing fuel rod after clearing bomb room for the swarm fleeing the exploding base.
We want the drones back..the fact that some game “journalists” prefer Skimmers instead is mind boggling smh.
How?!
Maybe do the sentinels evolution? I strongly suggest and would be happy to see it
Reach has easily the best looking drones. So goddamn cool. I’ll always be a Brute/Jackle/Drone loyalist
Couldn’t tell you where to find it, but I remember for reach that devs said in a blog post that they intentionally left them out of firefight. Drones were pretty unanimously seen as obnoxious in firefight by the community, so bungie decided to mostly cut them from reach.
Should have just had options to add or remove certain enemies
@@spinzig they do, it’s just annoying having flying bullet sponges when tilt activates
Should have a mod to take back in.
Skimmers are alright but Drones deserve more love
Excellent video. I’m really glad that you finally did one on the Drones. Some people think they’re annoying, but I think that’s due to the fact that they were so poorly utilized. Personally I really liked them because they break up the normal enemy encounters, and make you fight them with radically different tactics. Luckily mods like Vengeful Vadam’s Reach Evolved uses the Drones a lot more, and gives them ranks similar to the ones in ODST.
In terms of visuals the H2A ones are my favorites, but the ODST ones are my favorite in terms of gameplay. I’m sad that we didn’t get to see them in 4. That would have been interesting. If they made it so they were very inaccurate when shooting while flying, but more accurate when standing on a wall they could probably have worked.
I really hope that 343 adds in Drones to Reach’s Firefight mode. Along with the cut Schism Firefight mode, and a mode where you play as Elites against the UNSC. That would be cool.
I’ve been looking forward to this.
I read somewhere that the Skimmers for Halo Infinite were going to be Drones originally but where changed to be something completely new
I think, for Halo infinite DLC, if they plan on adding drones, emphasise their swarm mentality. Have them fly around as a giant cloud, picking up vehicles and fusion coils to throw at the player. You could have a single skimmer be leading them, kind of like an Elite, that would pop in and out of the swarm giving you a few seconds to kill it, dispersing the swarm and turning them into a more classic drone form. Imagine them as a mini boss fight when you first encounter them, which then becomes a more common tougher enemy in the later levels.
The most underrated and underused Covenant race for gameplay and appearance I’d have to give it to halo 3 ODST the only enemies that could be covered are Huragok Flood and Sentinels
If Drones appeared more in halo reach, they would be my all time favorite version of them.
But ODST beats them by being in the campaign more than thrice.
Dude, keep it up man! I watch this serious on my lunch at work and I get genuinely excited when I see that you upload. You've got a keen eye for detail!
i love that the chapters are quotes about drones
"buggers heading over the rooftops" is something my brother and i still say
I hated these guys so much. My brain never could get their movement figured out which made killing them a bit of a chore practically. Still liked them as a way of changing up how you handle certain encounters though.
I love your videos man. Alot. Please keep them coming
Ahh these damn, roaches lol
Considering H2s development, I think Bungie did amazing. The speed and accuracy of elites, w the health of a grunt? They're the perfect glass cannon, as a swarm. They definitely made me think, before running into anything.
Another great video, famlyy, glad u still grinding 😁👌
EBR thanks for making such great context I really hope you get way more popular you deserve way more views likes and subs with these kind of vids love you man :) oh i also expect The Evolution of Halo's Traffic Cones😎
I love your overview videos. Always so comprehensive and relaxing. My favourite drones are probably Reach. The different horns of the higher ranks are awesome, especially the kabuto-like Ultras. Shame the enemy is still so under-utilized.
I love the drones 🥰
I'm no game designer and could be talking out of my ass but I'm guessing the reason the drones were lack luster is due either time or tediousness. I believe Bungie had to put each drone 1 by 1 and have them follow certain commands for each of those encounters like ones in "The Storm" and could perhaps take too much data for the missions if you have too many encounters with the drones. But idk, I'm just speculating.
But I will say, the drones are definitely a fun unit to fight against, they're like a counter part of the grunts but more on a harder scale do to their numbers and mobility. It would be nice to see them again and see them actually do some engineering stuff (According to lore they apparently deal with engineering covenant tech)
Babe, wake up. New EBR video just dropped
I think the history of the forerunner enemies would be cool next step even if i find them kinda lame.
Other than that there's also the halo vehicles and weapons
Great video
I would have loved to see Drones in Halo Infinite. Adding more content would be a game changer!
I loved that Halo 4 drone redesign that had them hold plasma weapons in their mouth and shoot with their jaws, thought that was creative
clearly the most under utilized halo enemy in the entire series, would have much preferred they appear in halo infinite instead of the skimmers
Agreed. The whole time i fought skimmers i kept thinking how they could have been drones instead
I agree, but wouldn't it have been a problem with the open world idea? I think that could be a reason they weren't in the game
@@abandonedchannel1159 think about what you just said. We already have 3 flying enemy types, one of which (skirmishers) fills a very similar niche to the drones in older games
@@gjgaming2133 what I mean is that we didn't have open world, not that we didn't have flying enemies. Skirmishers didn't fly though
@@abandonedchannel1159 aren't skirmishers the new species of flying enemies on zeta halo? Even so, we still have different typed of sentinels. I don't really understand your argument tbh
Nice a new vid!
YEEEEEEESSSSS! I have been waiting for a long time for this video.
So many hours of playing ODST firefight on lost platoon back in the 360 days, it's always an interesting round when the 4th wave has drones and hunters.... especially when you don't even kill all the drones and then suddenly you've got 3 brute chieftans chasing you and some invisible brutes lurking around.
I don’t mind the limited times we fight Drones. It makes each encounter, to me at least, more special and not just another firefight
Halo 77
All 50 missions are about the drones include one in which you play as a drone
EBR: Unfortunately, they did not feature the drones enough
I always had a mixed opinion of the Drone’s gameplay, and I agree with a lot of your points relating to the limited amount of their appearances and their high damage
I feel there’s a bit of doubt regarding a re-appearance in Infinite, since the Skimmers debut as a new enemy
But I have a few ideas on how they could their behaviour could be affected to be distinct
Make them a support unit to other Banished species
Drones could carry a grunt to another spot, which can allow for creative encounter ideas
Pick up fusion coils, and fly above the player, then drop them
Scavenge weapons from fallen allies/enemies and bring them to Elites/Brutes
While slightly reducing their numbers to compensate for them working with other species, and modifying their flight patterns
Of course, it’s not a perfect idea, but I’d love to see them make a return for the series!
Great video! I’d suggest doing sentinels next but also a quick engineer video would be a good holdover. Probably wouldn’t be more than eight minutes long, get some views and it’s one more covenant species down for a completionist sake. Just an idea tho
Nobody:
Halo drones: pelvic thrust!
Engineers next? Great videos btw!
Man, those Halo 4 redesigned Drones look amazing. Wish they made the cut.
you forgot that ranger elites also can fly in H2 , jump brutes in H3 and tangers in reach were more "jump" then fly but h2 rangers defenitly were flying ( and so also did the heretic leader boss and regret. also flood could also board and smack player in vehicels
I always had a fascination about insects and when the drones came to Halo they instantly became my second favorite alien race. Right behind the elites but they were also a pain in the ass on the harder difficulty.
I miss the drones so much. They were so unique and cool
Great video, you made a couple mistakes with regard to the Halo 3 and ODST Drones that I feel I should point out but otherwise was spot on.
6:04 You actually can't headshot drones in Halo 3, they just have very low health which is likely why the drone in the clip you showed died. You can confirm this by turning on campaign scoring and "headshotting" drones, you will not receive a headshot medal. This was only added in OSDT, which in my opinion was a very welcome change.
9:21 These are not called "Hatchlings", but rather "Pupas", which is a word for juvenile insects. Everything else you said about them was accurate.
I really agree with your assessment that the drones throughout the games they appear in are either misused or underused. With the amount of cool playspaces The Ark in Halo has with verticality, it would've been very cool to see them make an appearance there, as well as on the final area of The Storm like you mentioned or on The Covenant. I think having the player go up against drones when they are piloting a Hornet would've been very cool.
Reach's underuse of the drones as well is sad, their exclusion from Firefight especially doesn't make any sense to me considering they are utilized very effectively in ODST's Firefight.
I think the Drones are very interesting as a true flying unit and personally find the drones to be much more interesting than the Skimmers in Halo Infinite (which are actually just a ground unit under the hood) and hope they make it to that game in the future. It would actually be neat to see Drones and Skimmers trying to compete for superiority on the battlefield when they are (much to their chagrin) forced to fight on the same side.
I really hope 343 adds them to Reach Firefight. Alongside Zealots, Field Marshals, and BOB Elites. Surprised Bungie didn’t include them in Firefight
Because zealots n field Marshalls are almost never encountered on the battlefield. Unless you're the main character
@@ahsoka_polo It’s Firefight though. Why not have all the Covenant ranks in it.
The sniper drones mask for Halo 4 look like faces of Insecticons from Transformers Prime. I wonder if that's where they got their inspiration for the art? Probably.
The next Halo evolution should be the Hunters or better yet the Flood... Hopefully in the future you do evolution of vehicles i think that would be amazing either way keep up with the great work that you do
I think an interesting video idea you can do is one showing certain ranks and variants of the covenant would look like in Halo games they never appeared in. Like a grunt ultra or heavy in Halo CE like Ruby’s Rebalanced mod but to look like how Bungie would have implemented them.
I ❤️ fighting them in halo 2, 3, ODST, reach it made the gameplay more challenging when being in larger numbers of them but fun have an adaptive enemy to fight.
I love your videos, hope you do a video on the flood soon.
343 should add Drones to Halo: Reach Firefight, it's actually really easy to do with the mod tools so there's no reason why they couldn't do it. I modded them into the Installation 04 Firefight map and they hang down from the cubicles in the Spirit dropship like bats when they appear
Finally its here
Can't help but to mention how you said the drones are the only bungie era flying enemy besides sentinels.
Post Halo 2 drones can be described with the words "Good things come in small packages"
Evolution of the Spartans
Great video. When will you continue with the Halo Infinite updates ?
It's almost like Bungie realized that they're annoying enemies
"Look at those tunnels; I bet they're crawling with buggers. Hell, I wouldn't even go in there if you ordered me to".
Have you considered doing a Flood Evolution video?
ONE OF THE BEST DESIGNED ENEMY NEXT TO SKIRMISHERS
We need Drones in a(possible) infinite dlc
Flood evolution would be cool
on halo 2 legendary these guys made blow many fuses aha they just fire so fast
I miss theses guys
Never thought of this before but in H2 the drones look like those insects/aliens in turok 2
They are my lest favorite in the covenant.
Evolution of Sgt. Stacker and Sgt. Johnson
I wish we saw banished drones in halo infinite, maybe we will see them in a campaign dlc or a firefight mode if that ever happens but the drones are my favorite of all the covenant, yes they are annoying but thats what they are meant to do, they concept of their hives is so cool.
As someone who beat all the games on LASO, no Halo 3 didn't need anymore drone fights lol
I remember in H3 ODST they tried to play up the drones almost like the flood. I guess as a regular human they are scarier but I already meet them 2 games ago.
While drones were underused in the games they were in, I think it is hard to utilize them aside from set pieces. They require greater numbers than the other cannon fodder enemies to be a big enough threat to force movement from a player due to how easy it is to swat a few down but if too many are in play with other enemies, combat grinds to a halt and can become a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation
Why is this vid literally made on my birth-day
Gotta say, I really think the visual design of the H2 drones with the round eyes looks better than the 3/ODST/Reach oval eyes. H2's basic design updated with all the colors and design additions of the subsequent iterations would be ideal imo. A white pearlescent Ultra rank with shields that uses all four limbs to quad-wield plasma rifles would make an awesome boss enemy like a Brute Chieftain or Elite Zealot.
You know you've made a excellent enemy in a video game when the only real "criticism" is "there wasn't enough"
Huh, I've never been boarded by a drone before. Didn't know they could do that.
I want to point out that halo wars had a cut drone type which was the Recon drone
Flying sniper Jackals. Pog
4:00 you forgot about the Elite Rangers afn jetpack brutes in Halo 3. And technically also two bossfights. The Heretic Leader (and his clones) and Prophet of Regret fly as well.
and engineers
I think the reason the dron never had an animation in the game is because they expected the player to shoot the drome and save the marine but i still love the drones just wish they had more time in the games
Marlin was my favorite drone
Ever tought in covering Doom demons ?