Yet more new territory to explore - and it's big!

(8:03) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. Using Warthog catapulting I get onto what I call the 'valley heights', where I've never been before. It's a huge area to explore, with lots to see and mess around with. In this first instalment I give a basic tour with a bit of covie slaying along the way.

Released September 29th 2019, gameplay recorded September 3rd-26th 2019.

00:02 (Reaching the target) Back in BCM375 I pointed out that getting across the valley was viable, showing footage of Stacker making it. I subsequently worked on getting myself there, and after a lot of failure, eventually made it as shown. Unfortunately though, the Warthog fell off before I could stop it, so my exploration has had to be on foot.

01:10 (Exploration begins) To start with I locate the rockslide area. Great to see it from above, but I decide to leave a proper look for later, because I fancy seeing dropship 2 spawn. Wasn't quite sure where it would be though. After coming to the edge of the visible ground, I stop because I want a checkpoint before risking stepping into nothingness. Wasn't sure if I'd fall off or what. Then the ship spawns close by and makes me jump, causing an involuntary zoom. I subsequently save the checkpoint (which didn't appear to be delayed by enemy threat, despite the ship's proximity).

01:51 (Ship 2 drop) The preceding footage was all from September 3rd, at which time I also did some exploring. The rest has been recorded more recently (24th-26th), specifically for this introductory tour. It's not all one play. Rather, these are clips from various plays but put together as a journey, which should give you a decent idea of the terrain. To begin with here's a look at ship 2 dropping its troops. The Marines haven't yet retreated to the plateau. That only happens when ship 3 drops its troops.

02:15 (Ship 2 vanishing and more) As you can see, there's actually solid footing beyond what's visible. There are no footstep sounds though. Out on this invisible ground I fire on the departing ship 2 and see it vanish. Other ships can likewise be seen vanishing if you wish.

02:41 (Skirting around) Near the edges, a lot of the normal ground is too steep for gripping, but you can use the invisible ground instead, which always seems ok. This enables you to reach the waterfall area and beyond. Some parts of the proper ground are ok though.

03:06 (Ships 3 and 4) While skirting around I catch ship 3 spawning. A subsequent clip shows me giving the newcomers a warm welcome with grenades. Obviously, there's a lot of fun you can have killing covies from up high - which is why it's good to have lots of ammo. Soon the final ship arrives and I snipe a Jackal through the gap in the doors.

04:00 (Waterfall) Moving on, here's a look at the waterfall. Very interesting. I especially like the view looking down the waterfall from just behind (at about 4:17), but the fast-flowing top section is fun to look at too. At the end I tag the Jackal, who spawned after the hillside survivor area was dealt with.

04:53 (Hillside survivor area) I continue on around and end up above the hillside survivor area, where there are lots of 2D trees which are visible only from one side. There's nobody down below: I handled this area earlier when getting Stacker.

05:34 (Top of the valley) Very nice view above the top of the valley. There's a ledge down below, and I wouldn't be surprised if that features in a later movie. I haven't got down there yet though. Back when I did the Warthog catapult, there was a dropship hovering near the entrance to the cliffside survivor area, but sadly it's absent from my save. It departed right after I landed on the valley heights, because I happened to look towards it (around 1:02). Dang!

05:50 (Onwards to the Banshee plateau) Continuing around, I eventually get onto the 'Banshee plateau' on which the Banshees spawn. They got destroyed earlier.

06:12 (Grunt dropper) There's still a valley dropship present but it starts to leave when I look at it. I fire on it and tag it twice for fun, then get the Grunt with an amusing tag. The grenade lands just behind him and bounces forward onto the tip of his backpack.

06:49 (Between the waterfall and hillside area) Here I'm on the dividing wall between the waterfall area and hillside survivor area. The music finally fades out. It lasts about six minutes (or until the rockslide area is dealt with).

07:07 (Back to the rockslide) Heading back towards the rockslide area, notice the wide brown stripe above the tunnel. That strip continues along the ground above, making an interesting and strange feature. Maybe I'll show it better in a later movie.

07:25 (Rockslide again) Back at the rockslide, you can see that the Marines are now up on the plateau. They're totally safe, as the covies don't close in on them. A lot of covies have been killed by the sniper but there are still quite a few up this far end, and I create a bit of bother to make for an ending to the movie.

Closing remarks Once the battle music started in the movie, I made an effort to get adjoining clips matched up musically (or pretty close anyway). That was actually a bit of a pain, and also meant that it would be hard to adjust that sequence later if I wanted. But I stuck with it, building up the movie progressively clip by clip, and it turned out ok. I was glad to eventually get the music finished though, so I didn't need to do musical matching any more.

Hopefully I'll get the hog across at a later date. I think it's going to be a lot of fun driving up there, including on the invisible ground!

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