Trust me, I've been trying to get the stupid Bandana skull all fucking day long right now and it cost me having my xbox lead being taken away from me for God knows how long all because I was getting extremely frustrated/angry. True, it's a game but oh dear Lord, I'm ready to hit someone - preferably in the face...
I've been playing Halo CE on the xbox ever since Friday night and I've made progress. Good news is I'm halfway through the campaign on Heroic, but the catch is I'm not doing the missions in chronological order. Last night I finished off Two Betrayals and Guilty Spark missions - I really enjoyed them as the Two Betrayals mission was challenging in some areas but overall fun, and on the other hand I survived the other mission with no deaths. All the frustration could have been avoided altogether today and I could have had my xbox lead as well if it wasn't for the fact I decided to check the game's achievements online. Seriously, all of this ties in with the Bandana skull I was trying to get.
Alright, so I had my eye on the achievement where you have to get through the Library mission on Heroic with no deaths at all. Now two months ago I completed this level already, but I wanted to give it another go purely because of how fun this achievement sounded. From what I've read, other people recommended that in order to achieve this, it's best to have the Bandana skull activated and your main weapons should be a shotgun and a pistol. Fortunately I consider myself to be good with both guns, and when it comes to the rocket launcher Flood it's common sense to take them out from a distance with the pistol and move to the side if they fire a rocket my way.
When I loaded up the game I checked my skulls to realise I haven't got the Bandana skull. In total I've got 4 skulls and overall there are 13 skulls in the campaign to unlock. I know for a fact you get two achievements - one for unlocking half the skulls and the other for unlocking all of them. Personally I don't know how many skulls to get out of 13 to get the achievement for the former due to the fact 13 is an odd number. I mean, it would make sense if there were 14 skulls you had to collect and you had to find 7 before reaching the halfway point. I don't know how many skulls you have to get to get that achievement, so if anyone can enlighten me on that, then it would be most appreciated.
Back to the story, I thought it would be okay to retrieve the Bandana skull before attempting the no deaths achievement in the Library mission. I discovered that the Bandana skull is located in the Silent Cartographer mission. What I didn't know is it's actually very difficult to get that skull due to the fact it's in a very awkward/out of bounds place and you have to do a grenade jump to propel yourself on top of the ledge, which overlooks a fucking big-ass chasm that spells death with a capital D. For those of you who have managed to get the skull already, I'm confident you know what part I'm talking about. For those who don't, then look for it on youtube. I really can't be bothered explaining it in detail as it brings back so many painful failures that happened earlier on.
For the record I'm absolutely shit at grenade jumps. In fact I've never seen the point in them as they're very hard to pull off correctly and you got to get the timing right without blowing yourself up in the process. I've only done a grenade jump once last year to get the achievement where you can't set foot in a Warthog/vehicle in the second mission. And trust me, trying to grenade jump that mini chasm, the same one you jump in the Warthog to get out of the Forerunner cave to get to where the rest pf the lifeboats are spread out, was so frustrating even after repetitively watching a youtube video on how to do it. In the end I nailed it - what's more kickass was the fact I was attempting this level on Heroic so you can imagine how long it took to walk to every lifeboat and fight the Covenant in some places.
Because I didn't fancy dying most of the time and the chances of getting stuck in some places, I decided to play the Silent Cartographer mission on Easy. I have to admit I haven't played Easy in such a long, long time now due to the fact I prefer sticking to the other three difficulties to test out my skills and improving tactics in the long run.
Thanks to youtube I found out there were other methods in getting the Bandana skull without resorting to a grenade jump. Were the easy? No, of course not. God only knows why not one of them worked for me personally - all they done was got on my fucking tits, which added to my anger. I tried to do four methods in trying to obtain the skull (and yep, that also included the damned grenade jump) and they all failed me.
This is the 1st method I tried to implement:
I followed all of his instructions. I threw a plasma grenade which managed to overturn the Warthog fully and then I jump on top, look at the Warthog's wheels to the point the message comes up with "Press X to flip Warthog." Problem is when I press the X button I glitch through the ceiling for like half a second before landing back in the corridor. What makes me laugh and pisses me off in the process is the man who done this video says it's the easy way in getting the skull when I've tried his method at least 8 times and I can't fully glitch through the ceiling to get on top of the ledge to where the skull is. The skull is there because I seen it there with my own two eyes when I glitched through the ceiling and then came back down again. I mean, other people who has commented on the video said that they managed to do it on their first try. So what the fuck am I doing wrong then? I just don't understand it whatsoever!
This is the 2nd method I done (another one featuring the Warthog.) I suggest you skip to 7:40 and watch until the end to see his technique:
Twisting and turning and in general maneuvering the Warthog around in the Forerunner building isn't too bad. I mean, I managed to squeeze it through one of those tight doorways to reach the room where that control panel is. However I can't seem to back the Warthog so the rear end is protruding outwards the outer ledge like he does at 8:40. Every time I do it I can only touch the entrance when I'm reversing back - I can't get it through the spot and that's an important part due to the fact it will help me with a grenade jump from being on the back of the Warthog. The bloke said in his guide that you have to be persitent in wiggling the Warthog through that tight spot at the end, however I was giving it everything I got and I couldn't back it out fully. I tried hopping out, either using frag grenades at the front or simply hitting it with my gun and nothing would budge it. In the end I lost my patience - it's a bit like squeezing blood from a stone.
3rd and 4th methods - rocket launcher jump and grenade jump:
Not much to say other the fact with both methods I can't seem to get the timing right at all. Both are equally difficult as far as I'm concerned. I have no idea if geometry comes into the equation in order to nail the jumps because at times I was trying to figure out the best position to throw my grenade/jump and shoot my rocket. Believe me, I've used both frags and plasma grenades - I've even crouched down, throw the grenade at the floor and then try to time the jump right before it explodes. Hell, I've lined myself up and throw the grenade forward and then run towards it to gain height. After so many endless attempts I don't have enough boost so that my feet can touch the upper platform/ledge. When I'm not exploding to death, there have been times in which I have gained height but I find myself short off the ledge and I basically end up falling to my death.
And after using all these four methods, I am none the wiser. It's fucking impossible to get this damned skull and I'm close to calling it quits. I have no idea when my mum will decide to give me back my lead so I can't continue with my progress at all. Hell, I can't play any of my xbox games and what sucks is I haven't played the new game I bought on Saturday which is The Evil Within.
For those who have got the Bandana skull already, you have every right to be smug about it. Know this - I am so fucking envious of you right now for good reasons. But I do have a question: why is it you find it so very easy to obtain the skull while I've tried four different methods from youtube and every one of them ended miserably? Just tell me, what am I doing wrong? Better yet, I challenge you to come up with a method that I can easily pull off. Because guess what? These four methods I have tried is a fucking crock of shit.
So go on, tell me what I'm doing wrong. Advise me because apparently I suck giant balls at this part of the game.
