VideoGame Destiny: Enjoy game at own risk
Maybe it's just me, but I didn't go into the game expecting some super duper amazing MMO that would put Guild Wars to shame. This is Bungie's first foray into the genre, after all. I was expecting a solid FPS experience that I could play with almost any number of my buddies, and that's what Bungie delivered. Maybe that's why I've enjoyed the game so much. Maybe it's just because I'm the sort that would enjoy it. Maybe I'm just a Bungie fanboy and I don't know it. Whatever the reason, I've had fun with it.
Now, let's be straight here: When it comes to story, Destiny is extremely lacking. When it comes to being a grindfest, it's apparently just fine. When it comes to patches, Bungie really seems to know exactly how to irk the players- fixing bugs that allow the fight to go easier while leaving in the ones that make it more difficult (looking at you, raid bosses). Fun, right?
Surprisingly, yes. In spite of all it's flaws, I can't seem to stop playing the game except to get up and go to elsewhere in the morning. If it can draw you in at all, it does so with zeal and simply does not let go. It's not hard to find somebody on Bungie's own forums who's played over a thousand hours since launch day, and those who've played hundreds of hours are not few in number.
However, this may be something of a double edged sword. While this is certainly indicative of people having an awful lot of fun with the game, it may also be the reason why so many people complain about so much- namely things getting repetitive, the lack of exposition and character development, the lackluster loot mechanics ("Why haven't I gotten Gjallarhorn/Vex Mythoclast/Ice Breaker/[insert exotic here] yet?! I've played for [X] hours, but my buddy has only played [Y] hours and got [Z] of them!" being an exceedingly common complaint), etc.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my experience, and I would urge anybody who reads this to pick up the game, but IF and ONLY IF you have a lot of free time (or if you have oodles more self control than I do). If you don't, it'll start eating into other activities- perhaps the most glaring flaw is that it takes up so much of my day before I get to playing or doing something else. Once again, enjoy the game at your own risk.
Videogame EDIT: A cynical swindle and an alarming precedent
"And thus we are left with a strange jack of all trades that is at once fun and boring. "
This is how I concluded my previous review of this video game. I was disappointed with Destiny but still believed that the crux of the gameplay had merit and in general the game had unrealized potential. Well, it's been a about half a year now, Destiny is long since off my shelf, and I've come to view Destiny as an unholy abomination that is an insult to every damn self-respecting gamer.
Don't get me wrong, Destiny is functional. It's not an awful game because of its gameplay or mechanics; those work, and we're not dealing with a Ride To Hell Retribution here. No, Destiny has garnered my wrath on pure principle alone. The entire purpose of Destiny was to surgically separate its victims from their cash through the most cynical means possible. The entire game was constructed to withhold just enough from the player - to lock out just enough content - that the only way players could get a COMPLETE experience (in other words, what you reasonably expect out of a AAA, $60 game) is through DLC. It should come as no surprise that the first two D.L.C.s were announced before the game was even released. From my experience with The Dark Below by the way, these D.L.C.s suck even more than the base game, with even less story and effort thrown into them somehow.
The marketing says all that needs to be said about this game. The only justification for the fact that Activision (no surprise they're behind this corporate BS) spent the GDP of a small country on this IP is because they did everything from slap their damn posters and cut outs over every game store in the developed world to making live action trailers that look like something from Guardians of the Galaxy to getting PAUL FUCKING MCCARTNEY to compose their credits song. They simply created a cult of hype and then greedily soaked up the money from the tricked fools like me who bought the game on day one plus season pass. And they're just going to keep on milking this cow, ladies and gentlemen, you can guarantee it.
This
video puts it into better terms than this review.
AVOID LIKE PLAGUE
VideoGame Squandered Potential
This game makes me sad.
I don't care which company, whether it was Bungie or Activision, caused the game to end up in this state.
I don't play Destiny anymore, as I got tired of the boring grind, playing the same missions over and over. That's my review of the content: Gunplay is fun, but there's not nearly enough content to play it on.
Storytelling, though, is where this game REALLY fails. The biggest problems here are, IMO, as follows:
1) The lack of focus on any one faction. 2) That the game assumes we already know everything about this universe, which we're seeing for the first time.
I'll only elaborate on point #1, since why #2 is a problem should be self-evident.
Without any real focus on any of the factions in the base game, I have no idea who any of these factions are, or why I should give a shit about any of them. The game has you fight Fallen in the Cosmodrome, then that mostly stops when we go to the Moon as the Hive take center stage, who are then dethroned by the Vex, who are then kicked out by the Cabal, then we go kill a trio of giant robots in "The Black Garden". Why?
I haven't a clue.
I have no idea what these three bosses are or what threat they present. When I don't know anything about the threats I'm supposed to defeat, any satisfaction of defeating them is wiped away.
Since none of the factions get any decent amount of screentime, they're poorly established and lack much background. Why are the Fallen attacking us? Why do the Hive want us dead? What's the Vex's beef with us? Why did the Cabal invade our solar system?
I haven't a clue.
If Bungie had just created one alien faction to fight, and told the story of humanity's struggle against them, I personally think it would have been far, far more compelling than what we have now. Hell, as disjointed as the base game's narrative was, it seemed to want to focus on the Vex, which, given their time traveling, apparently reality-warping powers, would've been very interesting.
As it is now, though, given Bungie's apparent apathy to its community, the lackluster weapons of Year 2, the obsoletion of all previous content, and the piss-poor storytelling of any non-Year 2 missions, I can't recommend Destiny.
Maybe Destiny will be great one day. I won't be there to see it.