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Destiny Alpha Thread: Impressions from the wild [Code Begging=ban]

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I just played it for a while and I really like it so far. I played with one other person in a party so we at least had some decent teamwork going on. We beat the Strike mission. The walker was hard at first but we persisted until it was dead. The sphere wasn't actually too bad in comparison.

I like the way progression works so far. It's cool to go back to the tower and turn things in, get new bounties, get new gear, and then go back out into the warzone.

I like the feel of the controls for the most part but I think the magnetism is way too strong. It's on the Console Babby's First FPS setting or something. With the number of enemies on screen and all the movement they are doing, it's a little frustrating to have the crosshairs jerked around to "help" you.

It looks pretty good but it's not the best looking new generation game for sure. The first time it boots up it even looks a little rough. Once you play for a bit and things adjust, the better looking aspects shine through. It's just that the IQ seems cruddy somehow.
 
I disagree, when loot is that plentiful it becomes a chore the handle. If they give you items every cave and every named mob you will delete 90% of it. Having it rare w/non crap stats is the better way to go imo.

agreed with this, i hate having to go through plenty of loot that does absolutely shit.
 
I disagree, when loot is that plentiful it becomes a chore the handle. If they give you items every cave and every named mob you will delete 90% of it. Having it rare w/non crap stats is the better way to go imo.
There's hardly any loot in the alpha. There needs to be more.

Beating the Walker is so unsatisfying. No loot what so ever. Just drops dead. It makes the game a chore without rewards.

It gets worse when you reach the lvl cap. Wooo got 3000exp that I can't use, but no loot.
 
So all that fun stuff aside, did you notice all the interesting effects they did with the hand controller? It getting bright when the flashlight in the game turns on? Changing color to show that you are super charged?

That's kinda neat. At least I liked it. Don't piss on me :(

PS: Game is awesome. 10/10, would buy multiple copies.
 
Well... This game must be amazing. Sat down to play with some friends. 5 hours past like it was nothing. This game is so much fun. The competitive multiplayer is so good. Like a fast paced halo. Controls are tight, visuals amazing. Can't wait for September.
 
I have to sleep and all I can do is think about getting back to exploring.

This is the easiest Game of the Year nod I've ever made. And it's just the Alpha. It's like they made a game for me.
 
Will the final release supports area destruction of any kind?
A shame if not, could add some great aspect of covers being destroyed making you move around more.
 
Are people talking online? That's always been a downfall of PS4 online experience for me. No-one ever talked in Battlefield 4.

That's actually a plus side for me, as I like to concentrate on gaming instead of chatting, particularly with strangers and teens. If I use the PS3's wireless headset, I always keep it muted both ways.
 
Been playing for the better part of the day, and I'm in love. It's a shame that this alpha will end after the weekend and that the full game is still months away. I cannot wait to start playing this everyday and exploring all it has to offer. This game is going to huge, and everything about it clicks with me. It's clear that Bungie has a winner on their hands.

It sucks that the level cap is 8, because I've got a bunch of great gear that are level 9 or above. I guess I'm gonna try messing around with the other two classes next.
 
Sorry, I have a ton of noob questions, but this is the first shooter I've paid much attention to. :p

1) "High Attack allows your weapons to damage higher level opponents." So does that mean Attack just determines armor penetration? And Impact is what determines damage, if you're able to penetrate their armor at all with your Attack? So if I shot myself (Def 106) with my pulse rifle (Atk 43), it wouldn't hurt? Maybe that's why people were only shooting that "??" boss for 1 damage? Insufficient Attack? What happens if your Atk "greatly exceeds" their Def? Does that matter?
Maybe Atk and Def are compared per-location, so my rifle really would hurt me, but I'd bounce chest shots (Def 46)?

2) I kinda like my pulse rifle. Should I go ahead and spend the $300 to upgrade my scout rifle and shotgun to the higher Atk versions? All of the other stats are identical. I guess this largely depends on the answer to Question 1. lol

3) Is the Galahad or the Cydonia the better machine gun for me? I'm not a very good shot, if you hadn't guessed.
 
I'm really torn on this game. The combat is tight and very bungie that's a plus. The art is ok but better than bungies past efforts. But I'm really struggling to see where I'm going to actually want to spend time playing this game. The grind is there, the PvP is standard stuff, but why grind and why pvp? So far I'm not feeling much why. It feels like a nice f2p game or a borderlands game. It's not grabbing me yet. I think I just need more story or something. Played for 3 hours and it's just not grabbing me which sucks I'd really like to like this game.

Peter Dinklage is great. The difficulty is great.
 
Played the game for a good hour, and I'm really enjoying it. So far I only have 1 con. They need to find some way to balance the difficulty of a mission/event depending on how many players are currently doing it. Did they really expect me by myself to fight
a wizard, elder, (I forgot who the 3rd guy was but he was strong as well), and over 10 henchmen? I died the second they spawned
. Everyone that was in the area left, so it's not like anyone would come for my aid anyways. It's kinda like the game expects you to have 3 people with you during an event, when that almost never happens. I know this is an alpha, but just giving input just in case.

That's the only con I have so far. The graphics, and atmosphere is really impressing me. I was actually a bit uneasy when
I went into that dark room with the hive in it. If it wasn't for my radar, I would have been scared in that situation lol.

I beat that mission alone. It was challenging, but not that hard. I didn't die even once.
 
I love the structure of the campaign/co-op. It results in back tracking, but the vehicle makes it pretty quick, and you'll come across other players and the public event (only seen the one with the Devil Walker) incidentally. Scope of the environment is pretty impressive. I stumbled upon the area with all the discarded cars which doesn't have any missions or items but shows how much you can wander around.

Not sure what to make of the multiplayer, but there isn't a whole lot to go by anyway. Not running around to weapon spawn points is a big improvement to me, I've never liked the 90's style weapon pickups since Counter-Strike blew up. Not sure about yet another game that lets people level up so fast without doing a whole lot in regards to the objective.

This will be definite purchase for me, mostly for the single player & co-op content.
 
I'm really torn on this game. The combat is tight and very bungie that's a plus. The art is ok but better than bungies past efforts. But I'm really struggling to see where I'm going to actually want to spend time playing this game. The grind is there, the PvP is standard stuff, but why grind and why pvp? So far I'm not feeling much why. It feels like a nice f2p game or a borderlands game. It's not grabbing me yet. I think I just need more story or something. Played for 3 hours and it's just not grabbing me which sucks I'd really like to like this game.

Peter Dinklage is great. The difficulty is great.

Grind? I've seen some people hit max level in less than two hours, just by exploring new stuff.
 
Love that melee is on R1. When it's on a face button (or worse, L2/L3) I find myself loathe to use it. Knifing those mofos is nice and satisfying. ^_^

after awhile I just started running for my life as if it were the old Resident Evil games... it gets pretty creepy in those dark areas.

I'm stuck right now though trying to defeat
Gotra and the Hive thingy. (floating enemy)...there's too many enemies, I'm doing something wrong.
I had to get in close (even though I'm going to gear for ranged) and use the shotgun to take his shield down. Taking pot shots from cover seemed to do no obvious damage to the shield (which could be communicated better), which forced my hand.

the fov is killing me. I feel claustrophobic
Probably my only issue so far. Wanted to take in one of the beautiful vistas and it seemed so constricting.

Grind? I've seen some people hit max level in less than two hours, just by exploring new stuff.
If the gameplay is fun (and this is), then I don't see how a grind is a problem unless you're more interested in hitting the next level than playing the game. I'm guilty of that in some MMOs, but as this doesn't play like a traditional MMO I didn't see that as a problem. Playing last night was fun in itself, and the extra loot and levels a bonus meta-game (that's also fun).

^_^

I'm in day one, and might even spring for the PSN version.
£55... *shudder*
 
Had a crack at this last night. The hours FLEW by. This game wasn't really on my radar as I didn't really know what it was all about but it was super fun. I was taking screenshots everywhere and spending most my time in the Tower chilling with my buddies.

Was great fun and the game ran perfectly considering this is alpha. So this is a day 1 for me I think. Scratches that Sci-fi itch that I've longed since Mass Effect. In some ways it made me think of a FPS Mass Effect actually.
 
I believe the beacon missions are randomized and endlessly generated, but I am not sure.

Oh wow I would of spent all day doing them haha.

So when on th. Map there are 3 missions. 1 story 2 firestorm. How do you activate the firestorm missions. I assumed it was just the beacons.
 
Enjoying it a lot so far. Weapons feel good and combat is fun. AI needs to be better though, at times it feels they are a being a bit stupid until the 'AI' routines kick in. There's definitely flashes of Bungie AI genius in there but it needs to be ramped up a bit and tightened up. I hope we get more loot in the beta though.

Peter Dinklages voice acting is a bit shit though, I find him to be a bit of a mood killer tbh. I'd rather the Ghost was silent or just make a few noises than have to listen to him.
 
Playing the game is not grinding.

The game is just pvp and level exploration with re spawning mobs and bosses. It's not really dynamic at all. How will it last? It just seems very grindy to me. That's my impression. When a game lacks the why factor to me it gets grindy and I usually stop playing unless the mechanics or team elements are just amazing. For example resistance 2 coop was pretty awesome.
 
Peter Dinklages voice acting is a bit shit though, I find him to be a bit of a mood killer tbh. I'd rather the Ghost was silent or just make a few noises than have to listen to him.
He sounds like he doesn't care. Now that might be intentional, being a machine and all (though it says he came from the traveller, so I assume he doesn't have to follow conventional wisdom for robots), but there's no personality to it. The equipment screen says he's your companion, so I would hope for more from that relationship.

If he's going to be miserable and moody, channel HK47 pls.
 
Looting is so addictive. I want all the top armor. Shame you can't customize your colors though. I don't want to look like every adam and eve out there but of course it's an Alpha and there will no doubt be a far more extensive (I hope) customization system in the final product.

Randomly explored some underground area on a whim, got to the end and boom I arrived at that highway littered with rusted cars. That's when I said to myself "awww yisss I will love this game".
 
from what I have seen so far on streams and videos, game is gonna perfectly suit my needs. i see a bit of grind, i see cool places to explore etc. also the pvp looks fun, there's a bit of halo there, even the reload animations, walking, crouching etc. reminds it a bit. good spiritual successor.

have fun in alpha!
 
"Peter Dinklages voice acting is a bit shit though, I find him to be a bit of a mood killer tbh. I'd rather the Ghost was silent or just make a few noises than have to listen to him.


My only gripe with this so far. He really does sound rubbish. Like he was forced into the room to voice act and is just making the least effort possible so he can go back home lol.
 
That's actually a plus side for me, as I like to concentrate on gaming instead of chatting, particularly with strangers and teens. If I use the PS3's wireless headset, I always keep it muted both ways.

Normally i would be agreeing with you but the strikes difficulty, especially if 1 or more people are either undergeared, underlevelled or have no sense to stay behind cover (or all of the above) at least require to you listening to someone, if not communicating. Raids i imagine for at least the first year would almost require a mic and i can very easily see after a few months people being booted if they don't, especially if it is a difficult as bungie is claiming.
 
Enjoying it a lot so far. Weapons feel good and combat is fun. AI needs to be better though, at times it feels they are a being a bit stupid until the 'AI' routines kick in. There's definitely flashes of Bungie AI genius in there but it needs to be ramped up a bit and tightened up. I hope we get more loot in the beta though.

Peter Dinklages voice acting is a bit shit though, I find him to be a bit of a mood killer tbh. I'd rather the Ghost was silent or just make a few noises than have to listen to him.

Yeah, the AI is dumb but i will let it slide cause its the alpha. loot is also too scarce. I find the loading to the hub or to a mission take quite a bit. The ghosts voice either need to be more robotic to match the monotone voice Dinklege uses or he needs to sound cheerier.
 
Looting is so addictive. I want all the top armor. Shame you can't customize your colors though. I don't want to look like every adam and eve out there but of course it's an Alpha and there will no doubt be a far more extensive (I hope) customization system in the final product.

Randomly explored some underground area on a whim, got to the end and boom I arrived at that highway littered with rusted cars. That's when I said to myself "awww yisss I will love this game".
Pretty sure there was a dye option somewhere in the equipment screens.
 
The grind is the entire design. Points for PvP get more gear. Run missions get xp abilities and gear. That's grind.

Grind to me is repeating the same activity to obnoxious levels just to progress to the next stage of the game or to acquire powerful upgrades. Getting XP and points for activities is not grind per se, in my opinion.

Since we've only been shown a small portion of the game I think it's hard to judge these things yet. But it would really surprise me if there's a lot of grinding involved if you just want to progress through the game. There's not many levels after all and there are lot of varying environments to explore in order to get experience and loot. I imagine most people will just move through the game naturally not even thinking about starting a grind just to catch up.
 
Peter Dinklages voice acting is a bit shit though, I find him to be a bit of a mood killer tbh. I'd rather the Ghost was silent or just make a few noises than have to listen to him.

Yup.
Peter Dinklags is probably one of the worst VA I have heard.
I've played A LOT of shitty JRPG with bad VA, and he is probably in the top 5.

Chaos Wars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pD83hmKjr0

These people are the devs+family/friends, not pros, and some of them are better than Dinklags, but they were doing the voices for free.
Could have saved a few grands by having a Halo fan do the voice acting instead of Dinklags.
 
Looting is so addictive. I want all the top armor. Shame you can't customize your colors though. I don't want to look like every adam and eve out there but of course it's an Alpha and there will no doubt be a far more extensive (I hope) customization system in the final product.

Randomly explored some underground area on a whim, got to the end and boom I arrived at that highway littered with rusted cars. That's when I said to myself "awww yisss I will love this game".

You can customize your colors. Just not at the levels allowed in the Alpha, but the dies are at the merchants.
 
The Old Russia explore zone is actually really huge. There's a couple areas with super-mobs that are level ??? and will kill you in like 1-2 hits. But if you run fast past them you can go to cool areas. There's a ton of attention to detail that went into making this zone. It makes me think a lot of Half-Life 2 combined with STALKER.

The Refinery you fight your way through in the Strike mission is actually in the open world Explore zone too, and there's a cave underneath it with some ??? mobs you can run past which puts you in an area by the ocean. There I found The Lost Coast The Forgotten Shore which connected back to the Skywatch area.

There's a ton of little hidden areas too, some of which might not be open for the Alpha. I found the Jovian Complex but it was a just a room underground with a locked door. Maybe there's a dungeon there like the Strike mission, who knows.
 
Yup.
Peter Dinklags is probably one of the worst VA I have heard.
I've played A LOT of shitty JRPG with bad VA, and he is probably in the top 5.

Chaos Wars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pD83hmKjr0

These people are the devs+family/friends, not pros, and some of them are better than Dinklags, but they were doing the voices for free.
Could have saved a few grands by having a Halo fan do the voice acting instead of Dinklags.

Agreed. Would actually like an option to mute his voice. Proper brings a downer to the entire situation when he talks!

Other than Peter Dinklage the game really is great though :)
 
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