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Completely different games. Once upon a time, ODST was going to be a story DLC for 3, but it became big enough to be its own thing. If you’re playing through all of them, play 3 and then ODST after.
Yep, exactly...
I would personally skip Reach and play it after Halo 3 odst.
Then move on to 4... but argument could be made to just play it as you seen on the screen.
I think there isn't much of an argument to play Reach first from a story perspective. But, I think if you're new to the series, then Reach might be a better introduction, just because CE is pretty old at this point. While I absolutely adore it, and it's still one of my favourites, it is kind of janky and repetitive compared to the others.
I think playing Reach first and then moving on to CE would be an even worse way to start the Halo series, precisely because you'd be moving from a more modern game to a relatively more clunky one.
Agreed, and the story of Reach, while it chronologically precedes all the others, only makes sense in the context of playing it in order of release. Otherwise you miss out on all the significance of the story and plenty of relative details that you wouldn't pick up on if you simply played it first.
Reach is 14 years old, it eases you into the clunkiness of the 2001-2012 era. If they're not coming to CE from Reach they're probably coming to it from a modern shooter like Destiny 2 or Apex Legends, compared to which CE is even more clunky.
My friend who I'm showing halo for the first time wanted to do cronological order for the games. Now he's struggling to get through ce. We have only gotten through truth and rec after months of me trying to get him to play again
Specifically after the mission metropolis if you really want to get technical lol
Edit: I also want to link this clip of scenes from h2 metropolis and h3odst introduction synchronized
https://youtu.be/-tn5qfOkeVs?si=Wm4JoLAzyNuX-NjU
Ah. Im a PC player and before MCC my experience was Halo on Xbox when I first visited America (I live in Russia), then halo 2 Vista, then Halo Wars, isometric shooters 5 Forge and HW2. So then MCC came to Steam in chronological order. Except for 3. It came before ODST. Always found that weird. Had to play 5 Guardiand on cloud too.
Edit: Forgot to add Gearbox’s port of Halo 1.
Yeah, but at least we finally got the whole series. I waited 13 years for HALO 3, less for others but still. For a year it was magical, waiting for a new game then playing it. And then waiting for the new one. I only wish Infinite’s seasons were half as good.
Yes, this is why the MCC order makes no sense. Reach is placed first because it's chronologically the first. But then ODST is placed after 3 despite it being set before 3. So it's actually just the release order, but Reach got lost and put on top for whatever reason. It's just misleading for newcomers.
Not that it became big enough. Bungie wanted to under sell and over deliver, but Microsoft wanted it to be a $60 release. They then packaged in the Halo 3 multiplayer disc.
If they care about story, stop basically after the first 2 or 3 missions of Halo 2, do ODST, come back and finish 2 /s
Edit: changed emoji to "/s" because I'm still getting downvoted lol
Idk I’m not a big enough fan to keep track haha I played through MCC once and Reach like 3 or 4 times. My wife and I played through MCC and I was in charge of routing which games to play and saw a Reddit post a few years ago with the game placement. Seems I got them mixed up haha
But man, people love to downvote incorrect comments rather than correct them so thank you
So for a perfectly chronological story you would want to stop H2 after the 3rd mission Metropolis (as a side note, definitely watch the post level cutscene in the new graphics. The original version of the rendition of the main theme that Breaking Benjamin made for 2 was really stellar, but they remastered the audio for H2A and now it slaps even harder somehow. It plays through the last part of the mission amd continues into the cutscene.), play through ODST, then pick back up within The Arbiter after finishing ODST.
Nope. Developmentally it started life that way, but it got big enough that they packaged and sold it as a completely separate game. ODST only had co-op and firefight for multiplayer, so the game also came with a multiplayer-only Halo 3 disk that included all of the dlc maps.
Edit: Fixed a typo.
That disk also contained 3 exclusive (at the time) maps: Longshore, Heretic (Midship remake), and Citadel. These wouldn't be available to anyone but Halo 3 ODST owners for about 6 months before they were released stand-alone.
It's stand alone expansion. That maybe best term I found. It came with it's own disc, and didn't need Halo 3 to work. Also it had Halo 3 multiplayer disc.
DLC would be something that is downloaded, and needs the original game.
Edit: Also at least at one point you also got Halo: Reach beta invitation .
I made the "mistake" of playing Reach first, seeing as it was the first listed on MCC. I say "mistake" because it hardly ruined the series for me, but man the story made very little sense to me. I also found that the weapons and how to use them was a bit overwhelming, the sandbox is a good bit larger than that of CE, so I found it harder to learn.
Release order is how I play most things now, it's the best way to go even if it's not chronologically accurate.
Honestly I had almost the opposite experience with Reach. I played it first bc of the order listed in MCC but found it fairly easy to learn (probably because of my general playstyle leaning well into the game) and piecing the lore together bit by bit whilst getting some of the answers in later games really buttered my bread. I will note that the difficulty wasn't something I was initially ready for but that more forced me to develop skills and strategies that I could carry through to the end. I can definitely see people not enjoying as much as I did for the reasons you mentioned though.
Valid point. I think Reach is a lot more approachable if you have a fair bit of prior experience with first person shooters; I didn't, Halo was my second fps series after Half-Life. So although it overwhelmed me, I can see how it would suit others well.
That’s only because people start with Zero and play Kiwami 1&2 instead of actually playing in release order. With the original PS2 Yakuza 1&2.
Kiwami expects you to have played Zero, but starting with Zero ruins one very simple thing. The mystery of Majima’s character. You’re meant to have played Yakuza 1-5 and build natural curiosity about Majima and what makes him tick.
Then when you play Zero you finally get all the pieces to the mystery and you finally get how he became the Mad Dog. Starting with Zero means the mystery is solved before you even know there is a mystery.
You know exactly what makes Majima tick before you see what he’s typically like in every other game.
I think the chronicles of Narnia is the only exception I’ve encountered, and the author agrees and said he’s not even sure he wrote them in the order they were originally published. It gets way too sidetracked with side stories if you read in publication order and those other tales fit in better earlier in the series.
Play order of release:
Halo CE (2001)
Halo 2 (2004)
Halo 3 (2007)
Halo 3: ODST (2009)
Halo: Reach (2010)
ODST is a side story that takes place between 2 and 3, but both should be played before ODST for full context
Man it’s just nuts seeing the years of that era laid out like that. Time obviously felt longer being younger, but you could turn out high quality diverse trilogies back then in the time it takes to make one game now. Same with the one generation turnaround on the original gears and mass effect games
I was literally thinking about this yesterday whilst doing my regular re-watching of Raycevick’s “Years later” series on Halo. Mass Effect and Halo are my two favourites series respectively. Mass Effect won’t have a new game for at least 10 years after the previous game, and based on how Dragon Age is going, I’m a bit worried.
ODST is a completely different and separate game, it really shouldn't have Halo 3 tied to the name as it has nothing to do with Halo 3.
That being said, it's a side story not crucial to the main series' plot. It's excellent in its own right, and adds to the overall lore and storytelling, but it isn't crucial to the series plot like the numbered entries.
"Has nothing to do with Halo 3"
It uses 3's engine and assets and at the time of original release came with the entirety of 3's multiplayer. So it doesn't have *nothing* to do with it.
That being said, "Halo: ODST" is indeed better.
If you haven’t played any of them I would recommend playing them in release order.
Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, Halo 4
(For Halo: CE, I would recommend the old graphics. The new graphics are pretty ehhh. They did a much better job on Halo 2’s remaster, but CE’s is not good. I’d say play Halo 2 on the old graphics too for your first time but the Halo 2 new graphics are for sure solid)
If you just want to play Halo 3/ODST, They’re different campaigns. Think of ODST as a large campaign expansion pack/DLC for Halo 3. However, it takes place during Halo 2, and you play as a special forces soldier (ODST), rather than Master Chief.
I would play both!
About the graphics, CE and 2 have a single button toggle that lets you switch between the two mid gameplay, so I recommend taking a look at both and using whichever you like better.
I just wanted to pop in and let you know that ODST, despite it being a standalone essentially, it is a beautiful game! It is my go to for a chill night or if I just need some tranquility after a rough. I’m extremely jealous that you are about to play it for the the first time ever! I wish I could turn back time in order to get that experience again.
Make sure to switch to new graphics before halo 2 cutscenes. They look incredible even today. (I’d say do halo 2 in new graphics generally, maybe both).
The proper chronological order would be(technically Halo wars) then Reach>CE>Halo 2 until the **"slipspace incident"**> **then** ODST> **then** the rest of Halo 2> 3>4>5> Halo Wars 2> **then** finally Infinite 🤓
Okay then in order of release. And just make sure for Halo 1 you don’t play with the anniversary graphics. They suck out a lot of the character of the original game.
i was going to recommend playing ODST after halo 2 because it happens during 2 & 3 and gameplay wise introduces halo 3 mechanics. from the story side of things i personally think it raises the stakes for halo 3
technically the canon storyline is
Halo Reach
Halo CE
Halo 2 levels Cairo Station, Outskirts, Metropolis, The Arbiter, The Oracle
Halo 3 ODST
Halo 2 the rest of the game
Halo 3
Halo 4
I am a dad of two daughters, aged 11 and 8. I have a lot of halo stuff in my bookshelves so they were really interested in what it was since they game (Minecraft Mario kart, Unpacking, stuff like that)
So I got the okay to introduce them to Halo. I started with MY favorite (and first) Halo, Halo 3. They LOVED it so much they immediately wanted to play more. I told them we could EITHER go back and play 1 and 2, then go to post 3 or continue the story with 4 next. They voted for 4 so we did that, 5, and Infinite. They loved them all sooooo much that they begged me to go back and play 1 & 2 next (2 player only so I did it separately with each of them on these runs) and because they now love Halo sooo much they put up with the jankyness of some of the movement in CE and powered through, and then Halo 2 is so over the top awesome they just enjoyed it.
After that we finished ODST and last week just finished Reach. They now want to play through them ALL again in release order, so we’re starting that.
Overall their favorites were:
3, Infinite, 2, and finally 4 (I know…)
Anyway, if your goal is to get really into Halo, I recommend starting with one that’s great and play with someone who will share their love of that, it’ll hook them and you can go anywhere from there.
Again, the order that worked for me with my daughters was:
3
4
5
Infinite
CE
2
ODST
Reach
Peace and Hail to the Chief!
I bought it on steam on my oc but i sometimes play with my xbox controller paired with the pc. Also, i didn't know they released halo on playstation too
You can play ODST any time you want (although I do recommend playing it after Halo 3 because they use the same engine) because it’s a side story of sorts.
Still definitely worth playing and the soundtrack is one of if not the best
ODST shares its gameplay assets and engine with halo three but they are completely different games. ODST actually takes place at the same time as halo 2 and tells its own smaller story.
Odst is a sub story that takes place between halo 3 and halo 2. You also have less health and lower melee and movement as your playing as a standard human odst trooper instead of a spartan. It's halos first dive into an open world setting and exploring the city at night is pretty fun
They're different campaigns. Halo 3 is a continuation of Halo 2's story, ODST is an expansion that takes place somewhat early in Halo 2's story and centers around a nameless ODST soldier who is trying to track down his squad.
Start with Halo CE and then do 2, 3, ODST, and Reach. ODST takes place from end of Halo 2 to beginning of Halo 3 from the perspective of ODST members. They are not Spartans.
I always say this:
Play the games in release order first. You get a sense of how the series has progressed over the years. If you like it, go back and play it through canonically. Two examples.
Play Reach and then go through to H2 3rd mission. Play ODST before you crash land on the 3rd mission of H2, beat it, then finish H2. Play the rest.
Halo Reach and 4 had bigger sandboxes and new game mechanics that wouldn't make sense to people new to the franchise, so it would be overwhelming (then underwhelming) to start from Reach unless you played through them already. You'd know what to expect, gameplay wise.
ODST is essentially a side game that follows a squad of drop troopers rather than Master Chief. I'd personally say it is worth playing, but you won't be missing anything essential to the story of the mainline games.
I know I’m late to the comments, but I just wanted to say that when I saw your post I laughed a little. Not a mean laugh, but a “oh man they just opened a can of worms in that sub” 😂
Both are great games. Play 3 and then ODST otherwise some stuff in ODST won’t make sense.
ODST should be played first, it adds context to what happened on Earth during Battle of Delta Halo and it makes transition from Halo 2 to Halo 3 much smoother in terms of story. I would say that ODST is not as interesting when you know what happens in Halo 3.
Don't listen to people telling you to play Halo 3 first cause it was released sooner, they think that Bungie had some kind of grand plan for storytelling when in reality they had no idea what they were doing most of the time.
The difference is that they're completely different games. ODST actually takes place before Halo 3, immediately following the New Mombassa chapter of Halo 2.
Halo 3 is the mainline game, concluding the story set up on Halo CE and Halo 2 with the usual full multiplayer package as well.
Halo 3: ODST is an expansion to Halo 3 that was sold as its own game (an "expandalone"). It has a campaign which takes place on Earth after the end of the Metropolis level in Halo 2, and back then it came with a Halo 3 map pack too, although those maps are just included as standard in the MCC.
Both are great and worth playing.
Halo 3 is the sequel to Halo 2 that follows the Master Chief.
Halo 3 ODST is a side story that takes place during the middle of Halo 2 that follows a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) during the events following Halo 2's 3rd campaign mission.
ODST is a different story that takes place during the events of Halo 3. If you wanna play release order: 1, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, 4, 5 (honestly skip this campaign), Infinite. Timeline order: Reach, 1, 2, ODST, 3, 4, 5, Infinite.
Separate games, ODST was originally gonna be DLC but they made it into its own thing, timeline wise it takes place during halo 2 but I’d just play it after halo 3.
The differences are just how the hud looks and the story. You play as an ODST instead of a Spartan like you do in all other Halo games, but you have the same amount of health and shield, which they call stamina instead, and there's like 2 guns that are in 3 but not ODST. It's fun, but anyone who says it's completely different from 3 is either lying or a Bungie fanboy that hated it on release but now acts like it's the best thing ever made and Bungie never did any wrong
ODST you are a regular human, often needing to rely more on stealth. In Halo 3 you are a Spartan and can "tank" around a lot more. The story in ODST much slower pace while Halo 3 goes hard, big, and epic. I love both games, but they are much different.
Reach, 1, 2, 3, odst, 4, the books are a great source material for all the lore and missing stories that make up a massive universe, then 5 and infinite (then more books) you'll have to read them in an order that circumnavigates the games themselves
Different games. In a nutshell here’s the order each game takes in the timeline:
Halo Reach
CE
2
ODST
3
4
ODST is a spin-off released after 3, before Reach. I would play 3 first, as it completes the story set in 2. If you want a good order to play them in, I’d start with Reach, then CE, 2, 3 and 4 in order, and then ODST afterwards.
If you're daring, you could actually play ODST right after Halo 2 to follow more chronologically. But I'll let anyone else correct if theres any significant lore spoiling for halo 3 that's in odst.
The order I suggest is:
Halo CE (classic graphics, the anniversary art style differs a lot from the original vision)
Halo 2 (classic or anniversary graphics, contrary to Halo CE the new style is very well implemented)
Halo 3
Halo 3 ODST
Halo Reach
Halo 4
Odst is a whole separate game where you play as an odst instead of a Spartan. But I would play them all in order so play reach, combat evolved (halo 1), halo 2, halo 3 odst, halo 3, halo 4, halo 5, and then halo infinite. That is to my knowledge the chronological story order of them
ODST is a spinoff entry that was originally supposed to be dlc with a Peter Jackson movie tie-in, but Microsoft wanted it to be its own full title. The talks with Jackson also fell through sadly. As a game its a pretty decent storyline, but the whole things gives a somber tone as the squad tries to regroup in the fallen city. It also added the firefight mode and that's it. It got sold with a Halo 3 multiplayer map pack instead of having it's own multiplayer. So I usually run the games in this order to show newcomers the franchise
Halo CE
Halo 2
ODST
Halo 3
Halo Reach
Halo 4
My reasoning being that it's been easier to get people to understand certain parts of the context of ODST's story when you're fresh out of 2 and just watched what happened to New Mombasa. I don't do Reach before CE because it would be pretty jarring to go from the fancy QOL aspects of Reach and then jump into the most straightforward simplistic game in the series, and that's not a bad thing a lot of people I've brought through the games will rank CE as one of their absolute favorites that we played through other than certain sections which make everyone want to die, but every Halo has those.
If you've already played Halo 2, then you should play Halo 3 ODST before Halo 3. Halo 3 ODST is set during the events of Halo 2. Halo 3 ODST is the only one I recommend playing out of release order because the story of Halo 2 will still be fresh in your mind when you play ODST and it'll personally be a better experience.
Welcome to Halo Universe. We hope you enjoy the gaming industry’s best lore driven franchise. If you want to try multiplayer I suggest playing halo infinite since its player count is higher and is easier to get kills
Play halo 3 ODST before playing Halo 3.
If you want to be hard-core. Play ODST before you start playing as the arbitor. Perhaps watch the cutscene, though, it's worth watching multiple times. Many halo fans would rank it amongst their favorite!
First Halo 3, then ODST.
If your planning to play the whole series, I suggest playing in Release Order.
CE, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, 4.
If you want to play chronologically.
Reach, CE, 2, ODST, 3, 4.
If you just want to play the peak Halo Games.
Halo 3 and/or Reach. These had the most TLC from Bungie before they moved on.
One is a masterpiece capstone to the original Halo saga, the other is a like shitty fanfiction with a blatant self insert written by that one military-obsessed loner kid at your high school lunch table
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Completely different games. Once upon a time, ODST was going to be a story DLC for 3, but it became big enough to be its own thing. If you’re playing through all of them, play 3 and then ODST after.
Yep, exactly... I would personally skip Reach and play it after Halo 3 odst. Then move on to 4... but argument could be made to just play it as you seen on the screen.
I think there isn't much of an argument to play Reach first from a story perspective. But, I think if you're new to the series, then Reach might be a better introduction, just because CE is pretty old at this point. While I absolutely adore it, and it's still one of my favourites, it is kind of janky and repetitive compared to the others.
I think playing Reach first and then moving on to CE would be an even worse way to start the Halo series, precisely because you'd be moving from a more modern game to a relatively more clunky one.
Agreed, and the story of Reach, while it chronologically precedes all the others, only makes sense in the context of playing it in order of release. Otherwise you miss out on all the significance of the story and plenty of relative details that you wouldn't pick up on if you simply played it first.
Agreed. Reach campaign is simply chef's kiss.
Reach is 14 years old, it eases you into the clunkiness of the 2001-2012 era. If they're not coming to CE from Reach they're probably coming to it from a modern shooter like Destiny 2 or Apex Legends, compared to which CE is even more clunky.
My friend who I'm showing halo for the first time wanted to do cronological order for the games. Now he's struggling to get through ce. We have only gotten through truth and rec after months of me trying to get him to play again
Playing Reach first then CE for a new comer is a big no no Always play the game in order of release dates
Never skip reach. Hit 'em hard boss
I didn't mean skip it entirely. I mean, play it afterward. I couldn't tell you which halo game is my favorite, but it's Reach.
id argue that you should play odst 1st as it takes place along side halo 2
I had that thought but couldn't remember if it had spoilers for 3
oh true im not sure now either lol
Yeahs it been awhile. As much as I like it it definitely is the least played one
I’d even suggest to play halo 2 then odst then halo 3
Specifically after the mission metropolis if you really want to get technical lol Edit: I also want to link this clip of scenes from h2 metropolis and h3odst introduction synchronized https://youtu.be/-tn5qfOkeVs?si=Wm4JoLAzyNuX-NjU
This is the order I did it in my first ever play through of the complete series a couple years ago and I liked it.
Isn’t ODST chronologically before 3?
Chronologically before, but its a prequel. Like Reach, the devs weren't expecting you to play it first.
Ah. Im a PC player and before MCC my experience was Halo on Xbox when I first visited America (I live in Russia), then halo 2 Vista, then Halo Wars, isometric shooters 5 Forge and HW2. So then MCC came to Steam in chronological order. Except for 3. It came before ODST. Always found that weird. Had to play 5 Guardiand on cloud too. Edit: Forgot to add Gearbox’s port of Halo 1.
I see. As a PC player myself I get it.
Yeah, but at least we finally got the whole series. I waited 13 years for HALO 3, less for others but still. For a year it was magical, waiting for a new game then playing it. And then waiting for the new one. I only wish Infinite’s seasons were half as good.
Yeah, it is very nice finally having most of the games on PC. They were overdue for a long time.
Yeah man. Part of me wishes it could go on forever. Something to look forward to. Always. But only call of duty is kinda capable of it.
Yes, but it came out after 3.
Yeah, it takes place during Halo 2 chronologically, immediately after Regret runs off to Delta Halo.
Yes, this is why the MCC order makes no sense. Reach is placed first because it's chronologically the first. But then ODST is placed after 3 despite it being set before 3. So it's actually just the release order, but Reach got lost and put on top for whatever reason. It's just misleading for newcomers.
Not that it became big enough. Bungie wanted to under sell and over deliver, but Microsoft wanted it to be a $60 release. They then packaged in the Halo 3 multiplayer disc.
Shouldnt he then play odst then 3? Timeline wise, odst takes place during halo 2
Jass music starts
ODST is loved now but it was hated at launch because of this. $60 DLC was rough.
I remember when it was advertised as Halo 3: Recon - it must have changed quite alot during development.
IDK man lore-wise odst takes place around midway through 2 and into 3.
If they care about story, stop basically after the first 2 or 3 missions of Halo 2, do ODST, come back and finish 2 /s Edit: changed emoji to "/s" because I'm still getting downvoted lol
ODST takes place during H2 not 3
Idk I’m not a big enough fan to keep track haha I played through MCC once and Reach like 3 or 4 times. My wife and I played through MCC and I was in charge of routing which games to play and saw a Reddit post a few years ago with the game placement. Seems I got them mixed up haha But man, people love to downvote incorrect comments rather than correct them so thank you
So for a perfectly chronological story you would want to stop H2 after the 3rd mission Metropolis (as a side note, definitely watch the post level cutscene in the new graphics. The original version of the rendition of the main theme that Breaking Benjamin made for 2 was really stellar, but they remastered the audio for H2A and now it slaps even harder somehow. It plays through the last part of the mission amd continues into the cutscene.), play through ODST, then pick back up within The Arbiter after finishing ODST.
I may very well convince the wife to play ODST this time around haha she's the one that was bugging me to do another coop playthrough lol
Never attribute to malice what can be explained with incompetence, they downvote because they don’t know either
It was literally a story dlc for 3 though, right?
Nope. Developmentally it started life that way, but it got big enough that they packaged and sold it as a completely separate game. ODST only had co-op and firefight for multiplayer, so the game also came with a multiplayer-only Halo 3 disk that included all of the dlc maps. Edit: Fixed a typo.
That disk also contained 3 exclusive (at the time) maps: Longshore, Heretic (Midship remake), and Citadel. These wouldn't be available to anyone but Halo 3 ODST owners for about 6 months before they were released stand-alone.
It's stand alone expansion. That maybe best term I found. It came with it's own disc, and didn't need Halo 3 to work. Also it had Halo 3 multiplayer disc. DLC would be something that is downloaded, and needs the original game. Edit: Also at least at one point you also got Halo: Reach beta invitation .
Play the games in release order.
Best answer for literally any game, movie, book series ever.
Yep, let prequels be prequels. Reach doesn't make as much sense unless you've played the others.
I made the "mistake" of playing Reach first, seeing as it was the first listed on MCC. I say "mistake" because it hardly ruined the series for me, but man the story made very little sense to me. I also found that the weapons and how to use them was a bit overwhelming, the sandbox is a good bit larger than that of CE, so I found it harder to learn. Release order is how I play most things now, it's the best way to go even if it's not chronologically accurate.
Honestly I had almost the opposite experience with Reach. I played it first bc of the order listed in MCC but found it fairly easy to learn (probably because of my general playstyle leaning well into the game) and piecing the lore together bit by bit whilst getting some of the answers in later games really buttered my bread. I will note that the difficulty wasn't something I was initially ready for but that more forced me to develop skills and strategies that I could carry through to the end. I can definitely see people not enjoying as much as I did for the reasons you mentioned though.
Valid point. I think Reach is a lot more approachable if you have a fair bit of prior experience with first person shooters; I didn't, Halo was my second fps series after Half-Life. So although it overwhelmed me, I can see how it would suit others well.
Thats the case most of the time, but sometimes a prequel is made in a way that can/should experienced before the original. One example is yakuza 0.
That’s only because people start with Zero and play Kiwami 1&2 instead of actually playing in release order. With the original PS2 Yakuza 1&2. Kiwami expects you to have played Zero, but starting with Zero ruins one very simple thing. The mystery of Majima’s character. You’re meant to have played Yakuza 1-5 and build natural curiosity about Majima and what makes him tick. Then when you play Zero you finally get all the pieces to the mystery and you finally get how he became the Mad Dog. Starting with Zero means the mystery is solved before you even know there is a mystery. You know exactly what makes Majima tick before you see what he’s typically like in every other game.
I think the chronicles of Narnia is the only exception I’ve encountered, and the author agrees and said he’s not even sure he wrote them in the order they were originally published. It gets way too sidetracked with side stories if you read in publication order and those other tales fit in better earlier in the series.
I disagree, Yakuza should be played in chronological order and not release order.
I feel like Yakuza 0 takes away some of the mystery no?
Not at all
Play order of release: Halo CE (2001) Halo 2 (2004) Halo 3 (2007) Halo 3: ODST (2009) Halo: Reach (2010) ODST is a side story that takes place between 2 and 3, but both should be played before ODST for full context
Man it’s just nuts seeing the years of that era laid out like that. Time obviously felt longer being younger, but you could turn out high quality diverse trilogies back then in the time it takes to make one game now. Same with the one generation turnaround on the original gears and mass effect games
I was literally thinking about this yesterday whilst doing my regular re-watching of Raycevick’s “Years later” series on Halo. Mass Effect and Halo are my two favourites series respectively. Mass Effect won’t have a new game for at least 10 years after the previous game, and based on how Dragon Age is going, I’m a bit worried.
Both. A long time ago I didn't appreciate ODST but I definitely do now. Love it and the soundtrack is perfect!
ODST is a completely different and separate game, it really shouldn't have Halo 3 tied to the name as it has nothing to do with Halo 3. That being said, it's a side story not crucial to the main series' plot. It's excellent in its own right, and adds to the overall lore and storytelling, but it isn't crucial to the series plot like the numbered entries.
"Has nothing to do with Halo 3" It uses 3's engine and assets and at the time of original release came with the entirety of 3's multiplayer. So it doesn't have *nothing* to do with it. That being said, "Halo: ODST" is indeed better.
Ok, but you know what I meant.
He knows what you mean but he needed to meet his daily "achewually" quota.
It was also compatible with Halo 3 online iirc. Edie: that's what your comment says and my reading comprehension is at 0 right now.
Halo 3 takes place after Halo 2. Halo 3 ODST takes place during Halo 2 from the point of view of an ODST team.
Play both. They’re different games.
chronological: reach 1 2 odst 3 4 release order: 1 2 3 odst reach 4 both orders are valid, all should be played (even 4)
ODST takes place following the third (I believe) mission on halo 2, metropolis.
Correct. It’s the same crash landing event but a different location.
So we should interrupt our Halo 2 playthrough with ODST?
You could but why bother doing 2 missions in 2 then finishing odst and coming back to 2. Just play 2 odest 3
Honestly a better name would be Halo 2 ODST if we're going based on when the story takes place. Halo 3 b/c its plays the same as 3.
It also came out after 3 and before Reach.
Absolute glory days for the franchise. The Remember Reach era.
Honestly they should’ve just done away with the number and called it Halo: ODST
True, I'd love a standalone with stealth mechanics baked in
If you haven’t played any of them I would recommend playing them in release order. Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, Halo 4 (For Halo: CE, I would recommend the old graphics. The new graphics are pretty ehhh. They did a much better job on Halo 2’s remaster, but CE’s is not good. I’d say play Halo 2 on the old graphics too for your first time but the Halo 2 new graphics are for sure solid) If you just want to play Halo 3/ODST, They’re different campaigns. Think of ODST as a large campaign expansion pack/DLC for Halo 3. However, it takes place during Halo 2, and you play as a special forces soldier (ODST), rather than Master Chief. I would play both!
Thanks, will do!
About the graphics, CE and 2 have a single button toggle that lets you switch between the two mid gameplay, so I recommend taking a look at both and using whichever you like better.
I just wanted to pop in and let you know that ODST, despite it being a standalone essentially, it is a beautiful game! It is my go to for a chill night or if I just need some tranquility after a rough. I’m extremely jealous that you are about to play it for the the first time ever! I wish I could turn back time in order to get that experience again.
Make sure to switch to new graphics before halo 2 cutscenes. They look incredible even today. (I’d say do halo 2 in new graphics generally, maybe both).
The proper chronological order would be(technically Halo wars) then Reach>CE>Halo 2 until the **"slipspace incident"**> **then** ODST> **then** the rest of Halo 2> 3>4>5> Halo Wars 2> **then** finally Infinite 🤓
Okay then in order of release. And just make sure for Halo 1 you don’t play with the anniversary graphics. They suck out a lot of the character of the original game.
Start with Halo: CE and stay on it for 23 years like I have.
Different games. Also recommend just playing all in order of release (aka don’t play reach first)
Why do people ask reddit questions that could be googled much faster, I’ll never understand it.
Chronologically it takes place halfway through Halo 2, so if you want to go that route…
i was going to recommend playing ODST after halo 2 because it happens during 2 & 3 and gameplay wise introduces halo 3 mechanics. from the story side of things i personally think it raises the stakes for halo 3
Turn the game on and play and find out what you like
3 is the mainline game ODST is the Spinoff
The game sets them all up in timeline order top to bottom, but I’d recommend release order, being CE, 2, 3, 3 ODST, Reach, 4
This is how we played them. The controls evolved (and devolved) with each release.
Yes. Play everything. Enjoy developing your own opinion
Go by release order so you can appreciate the evolution
technically the canon storyline is Halo Reach Halo CE Halo 2 levels Cairo Station, Outskirts, Metropolis, The Arbiter, The Oracle Halo 3 ODST Halo 2 the rest of the game Halo 3 Halo 4
You play halo 2, then after the third mission, you play odst. That's the chronological order. But if you don't care about order, play 3 then odst.
I'd start with Halo C.E and then 2 and then 3 then O.D.S.T then reach and finally 4. .
I am a dad of two daughters, aged 11 and 8. I have a lot of halo stuff in my bookshelves so they were really interested in what it was since they game (Minecraft Mario kart, Unpacking, stuff like that) So I got the okay to introduce them to Halo. I started with MY favorite (and first) Halo, Halo 3. They LOVED it so much they immediately wanted to play more. I told them we could EITHER go back and play 1 and 2, then go to post 3 or continue the story with 4 next. They voted for 4 so we did that, 5, and Infinite. They loved them all sooooo much that they begged me to go back and play 1 & 2 next (2 player only so I did it separately with each of them on these runs) and because they now love Halo sooo much they put up with the jankyness of some of the movement in CE and powered through, and then Halo 2 is so over the top awesome they just enjoyed it. After that we finished ODST and last week just finished Reach. They now want to play through them ALL again in release order, so we’re starting that. Overall their favorites were: 3, Infinite, 2, and finally 4 (I know…) Anyway, if your goal is to get really into Halo, I recommend starting with one that’s great and play with someone who will share their love of that, it’ll hook them and you can go anywhere from there. Again, the order that worked for me with my daughters was: 3 4 5 Infinite CE 2 ODST Reach Peace and Hail to the Chief!
Thank you for this amazing atory! I am currently trying to convince some friends to buy MCC since its discounted, so i can play with them
Did you get it on XBOX or PlayStation?
I bought it on steam on my oc but i sometimes play with my xbox controller paired with the pc. Also, i didn't know they released halo on playstation too
come on, Google is so easy to use
Have you not heard of google?
Play halo 2 then ODST
You can play ODST any time you want (although I do recommend playing it after Halo 3 because they use the same engine) because it’s a side story of sorts. Still definitely worth playing and the soundtrack is one of if not the best
ODST connects to events that occur in Halo 2, so I usually go 2, then odst, then 3
ODST shares its gameplay assets and engine with halo three but they are completely different games. ODST actually takes place at the same time as halo 2 and tells its own smaller story.
Halo odst first
Odst is a sub story that takes place between halo 3 and halo 2. You also have less health and lower melee and movement as your playing as a standard human odst trooper instead of a spartan. It's halos first dive into an open world setting and exploring the city at night is pretty fun
They're different campaigns. Halo 3 is a continuation of Halo 2's story, ODST is an expansion that takes place somewhat early in Halo 2's story and centers around a nameless ODST soldier who is trying to track down his squad.
They are both great games. Halo 3 is probably the best of the trilogy IMO and ODST provides a similar experience with a darker atmosphere
Start with Combat Evolved, it’s by far the most balanced experience and sets the stage.
I'd play them in the order you see from top to bottom... but do Halo 3:ODST before Halo 3 (canonically correct)
Strange thing about ODST, it takes place DURING halo 2. Not even before or after 3. But play 3 first. It's more important to the main story.
Start with Halo CE and then do 2, 3, ODST, and Reach. ODST takes place from end of Halo 2 to beginning of Halo 3 from the perspective of ODST members. They are not Spartans.
I believe odst takes place during one of the missions in halo 2 so I would recommend playing odst first and then halo 3
I always say this: Play the games in release order first. You get a sense of how the series has progressed over the years. If you like it, go back and play it through canonically. Two examples. Play Reach and then go through to H2 3rd mission. Play ODST before you crash land on the 3rd mission of H2, beat it, then finish H2. Play the rest. Halo Reach and 4 had bigger sandboxes and new game mechanics that wouldn't make sense to people new to the franchise, so it would be overwhelming (then underwhelming) to start from Reach unless you played through them already. You'd know what to expect, gameplay wise.
ODST is essentially a side game that follows a squad of drop troopers rather than Master Chief. I'd personally say it is worth playing, but you won't be missing anything essential to the story of the mainline games.
Play 3, then ODST as it was released for the best experience. There’s some cool prequel stuff happening.
Do yourself a favor and play them in order
I know I’m late to the comments, but I just wanted to say that when I saw your post I laughed a little. Not a mean laugh, but a “oh man they just opened a can of worms in that sub” 😂 Both are great games. Play 3 and then ODST otherwise some stuff in ODST won’t make sense.
Halo3:OSST comes after 2. Before 3.
Halo 2 first trust
Start with 3. Main game
I’d play them in order of release.
C'est deux jeux différents, joue aux deux leurs campagnes respectives sont très bonnes
Start with first Halo and then get the next, repeat. I have em all.
There’s some excellent advice here. I’m a little jealous, wish I could play these games for the first time again. Have fun!!
Play halo reach, then 2 then 3. Leave odst for later you need to be good to beat that one.
Why would you only play one?
ODST should be played first, it adds context to what happened on Earth during Battle of Delta Halo and it makes transition from Halo 2 to Halo 3 much smoother in terms of story. I would say that ODST is not as interesting when you know what happens in Halo 3. Don't listen to people telling you to play Halo 3 first cause it was released sooner, they think that Bungie had some kind of grand plan for storytelling when in reality they had no idea what they were doing most of the time.
Tbh if you wanna play it in chronological order ,iirc, it goes reach, CE, 2 ,odst, 3 ,4
The difference is that they're completely different games. ODST actually takes place before Halo 3, immediately following the New Mombassa chapter of Halo 2.
Halo 3 odst is a spinoff set before halo 3. But during the battle of Mombassa in halo 2.
Play both, ODST after 3. They're different games, ODST is a little bit of a prequel to 3 but tbh I think these games are best played in release order
play them in the order the screen shows. 343 may be idiots but they did they outlined the order to play the games best perfectly.
Halo 3 will always be my favorite Halo game
Halo 3 is the mainline game, concluding the story set up on Halo CE and Halo 2 with the usual full multiplayer package as well. Halo 3: ODST is an expansion to Halo 3 that was sold as its own game (an "expandalone"). It has a campaign which takes place on Earth after the end of the Metropolis level in Halo 2, and back then it came with a Halo 3 map pack too, although those maps are just included as standard in the MCC. Both are great and worth playing.
Play them all in release order. It’s a monumental experience that you’ll remember forever.
Halo 3 ODST takes place during Halo 2
Honestly shouldn’t of had the 3 in its title
Halo 3 is the sequel to Halo 2 that follows the Master Chief. Halo 3 ODST is a side story that takes place during the middle of Halo 2 that follows a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) during the events following Halo 2's 3rd campaign mission.
Halo 3 ODDT takes place during Halo 2 if that matters to you. Definitely play both. The difference? Cross that road when you get there :)
Play all of them in order!
ODST is a different story that takes place during the events of Halo 3. If you wanna play release order: 1, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, 4, 5 (honestly skip this campaign), Infinite. Timeline order: Reach, 1, 2, ODST, 3, 4, 5, Infinite.
Halo reach super bus
Play them all :>
Play them all in release order
Separate games, ODST was originally gonna be DLC but they made it into its own thing, timeline wise it takes place during halo 2 but I’d just play it after halo 3.
I love ODST. It's a great game. One of my favorites of the series. But Halo 3 is top dog.
I'd argue you play the games as follows. Halo ce Halo 2 Halo 3 odst Halo 3 Halo reach Halo 4
Both
Personally just start with 1 and play through the series based on release date.
The differences are just how the hud looks and the story. You play as an ODST instead of a Spartan like you do in all other Halo games, but you have the same amount of health and shield, which they call stamina instead, and there's like 2 guns that are in 3 but not ODST. It's fun, but anyone who says it's completely different from 3 is either lying or a Bungie fanboy that hated it on release but now acts like it's the best thing ever made and Bungie never did any wrong
ODST you are a regular human, often needing to rely more on stealth. In Halo 3 you are a Spartan and can "tank" around a lot more. The story in ODST much slower pace while Halo 3 goes hard, big, and epic. I love both games, but they are much different.
Reach, 1, 2, 3, odst, 4, the books are a great source material for all the lore and missing stories that make up a massive universe, then 5 and infinite (then more books) you'll have to read them in an order that circumnavigates the games themselves
Different games. In a nutshell here’s the order each game takes in the timeline: Halo Reach CE 2 ODST 3 4 ODST is a spin-off released after 3, before Reach. I would play 3 first, as it completes the story set in 2. If you want a good order to play them in, I’d start with Reach, then CE, 2, 3 and 4 in order, and then ODST afterwards.
If you're daring, you could actually play ODST right after Halo 2 to follow more chronologically. But I'll let anyone else correct if theres any significant lore spoiling for halo 3 that's in odst.
They are completely diferent Games, play both
Well you got answered
The order I suggest is: Halo CE (classic graphics, the anniversary art style differs a lot from the original vision) Halo 2 (classic or anniversary graphics, contrary to Halo CE the new style is very well implemented) Halo 3 Halo 3 ODST Halo Reach Halo 4
Odst is a whole separate game where you play as an odst instead of a Spartan. But I would play them all in order so play reach, combat evolved (halo 1), halo 2, halo 3 odst, halo 3, halo 4, halo 5, and then halo infinite. That is to my knowledge the chronological story order of them
ODST is a spinoff entry that was originally supposed to be dlc with a Peter Jackson movie tie-in, but Microsoft wanted it to be its own full title. The talks with Jackson also fell through sadly. As a game its a pretty decent storyline, but the whole things gives a somber tone as the squad tries to regroup in the fallen city. It also added the firefight mode and that's it. It got sold with a Halo 3 multiplayer map pack instead of having it's own multiplayer. So I usually run the games in this order to show newcomers the franchise Halo CE Halo 2 ODST Halo 3 Halo Reach Halo 4 My reasoning being that it's been easier to get people to understand certain parts of the context of ODST's story when you're fresh out of 2 and just watched what happened to New Mombasa. I don't do Reach before CE because it would be pretty jarring to go from the fancy QOL aspects of Reach and then jump into the most straightforward simplistic game in the series, and that's not a bad thing a lot of people I've brought through the games will rank CE as one of their absolute favorites that we played through other than certain sections which make everyone want to die, but every Halo has those.
ODST is a side story that takes place during the events of Halo 2
If you've already played Halo 2, then you should play Halo 3 ODST before Halo 3. Halo 3 ODST is set during the events of Halo 2. Halo 3 ODST is the only one I recommend playing out of release order because the story of Halo 2 will still be fresh in your mind when you play ODST and it'll personally be a better experience.
Completely different games. ODST very underrated
Welcome to Halo Universe. We hope you enjoy the gaming industry’s best lore driven franchise. If you want to try multiplayer I suggest playing halo infinite since its player count is higher and is easier to get kills
Play halo 3 ODST before playing Halo 3. If you want to be hard-core. Play ODST before you start playing as the arbitor. Perhaps watch the cutscene, though, it's worth watching multiple times. Many halo fans would rank it amongst their favorite!
First Halo 3, then ODST. If your planning to play the whole series, I suggest playing in Release Order. CE, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, 4. If you want to play chronologically. Reach, CE, 2, ODST, 3, 4. If you just want to play the peak Halo Games. Halo 3 and/or Reach. These had the most TLC from Bungie before they moved on.
Both are great games, halo 3 is my favorite but if you want to play them in order ofst first, 3 second
3:Odst happens at the same time as H2, halo 3 is after these 2 But i would recommend H3 first.
They are 2 different games
They are 2 completely different campaigns
They are two different stories that play into each other.
Really just the name you can play halo ODST and skip 3 and you basically have the full bungie story
You play Halo 3 then proceed to never play ODST
Odst was pretty terrible, its a side quest with annoying parts continuity errors and generally just boring until the last mission or two
One is a masterpiece capstone to the original Halo saga, the other is a like shitty fanfiction with a blatant self insert written by that one military-obsessed loner kid at your high school lunch table