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[joeygreco1985]

but a reviewer saying they don't know what's going on makes my blood boil. Because that is clearly not the case for me.

I find that this has become a common complaint for a lot of FPS campaigns like the Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Lots of reviewers say "Oh I didnt understand the story, haven no idea whats going on". Everything doesn't need to be spelled out all the time

 

[KeRaSh]

Yeah, my biggest concern about the game was content.
I loved the alpha and the beta, but I expected 8 planets/moons with 3-5 areas each about as big as old russia. That way I would have dozens of hours of fun just exploring the world and the grinding wouldn't feel grindy.
Then the news came out that there is only one area on each planet/moon and there is only earth, mars, venus and moon.

So not only do you want twice as many planets/moons but also with 3-5 times as many areas each? Bungie said Destiny was bigger than any Halo they've ever made so you're asking for a game the size of 6-10 Halos?
I know some people are disappointed by the amount of content that's in the full game but it seems your unrealistic expectations are the main thing to blame here. :/

 

[AHA-Lambda]

That Eurogamer impression only highlights the ADD cynicism I see in every review for nearly every game. I stopped taking it seriously when I read they didn't understand what was going on. Which is odd because I'm just now heading to Mars and I understand the story just fine.

I know everyone is in hurry to do a review on the game because of the embargo, but if they're flying through and not paying attention then I don't care to read the review.

Saying a game has a good or bad story is fine, but pretending you don't understand what's going on when the game is giving you that info is just plain silly. It's like everyone has ADD in a movie theater and can only pay attention to explosions.

I'm not to the end of the campaign yet, so I can't yet on comment how it turns out: but a reviewer saying they don't know what's going on makes my blood boil. Because that is clearly not the case for me.

I'm not as far as Mars yet but I'll be dammed if I know what's going on either. It's one of the the poorest examples of storytelling I've seen in a game in a long time.

So not only do you want twice as many planets/moons but also with 3-5 times as many areas each? Bungie said Destiny was bigger than any Halo they've ever made so you're asking for a game the size of 6-10 Halos?
I know some people are disappointed by the amount of content that's in the full game but it seems your unrealistic expectations are the main thing to blame here. :/

Not really, I agree with him cos that is essentially what Bungie promised at reveal of the game, and it's nowhere close to the sprawling explorable galaxy wewere told it would be.

 

[Varth]

I'm not as far as Mars yet but I'll be dammed if I know what's going on either. It's one of the the poorest examples of storytelling I've seen in a game in a long time.

Honestly, to me it's in the exact same league of Killzone. GREAT background, GREAT lore*, awful story.



*that no one will ever know, since it's basically buried in the official site.

 

[Xpliskin]

Hey at least the fans win this time.

The game sold and is selling like hotcakes.

Be happy peeps, expansions and sequels incoming.

off-topic: TEW will bomb and the fans will lose and I'll be salty.

 

[LastGamer84]

I'm not as far as Mars yet but I'll be dammed if I know what's going on either. It's one of the the poorest examples of storytelling I've seen in a game in a long time.

That doesn't seem possible given the fact that they tell you new info before, during, and at the end of each mission. What don't you understand?

Honestly, to me it's in the exact same league of Killzone. GREAT background, GREAT lore*, awful story.

Except that's not the complaint here, the complaint is no one can understand the story.

 

[Calabi]

Peter Dinklage's performance in this game is almost insulting. Bungie could have had fans audition for his role with the only compensation being to potentially hear your voice in the final product and they would gotten superior results.

As for the game itself, I like what I've played so far. I'm hoping they expand upon it and add new missions and events over time to keep things fresh.

His performance does sound weird its like a Wild life Documentary. It doesnt sound like its in the game talking to you.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I find that this has become a common complaint for a lot of FPS campaigns like the Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Lots of reviewers say "Oh I didnt understand the story, haven no idea whats going on". Everything doesn't need to be spelled out all the time

Or it could be that they are poorly written, cos both the examples you have given are!

 

[sk3tch]

I'm not as far as Mars yet but I'll be dammed if I know what's going on either. It's one of the the poorest examples of storytelling I've seen in a game in a long time.

Me too. It has kind of turned into a hybrid of CoD/MMO/Borderlands - go here, shoot, collect loot, go here, talk to dude, repeat. That doesn't mean I don't like it. It's just not setting the world on fire in terms of that type of cohesiveness.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

That doesn't seem possible given the fact that they tell you new info before, during, and at the end of each mission. What don't you understand?

Well alot. I'm at the end of the earth section of the story and have no idea what is happening nor any investment to care.

I am aware I am a dead person (who by design makes the perfect audience surrogate to introduce players to the world) who asks no questions about the world he has found himself in.

I have a ghost. It's a robot. That's as far as that character development goes.

The traveller is good but it's inert right now cos the darkness stopped it. How? What is the darkness? Is that a literal or metaphorical thing?

Who is the speaker? I have no context or appreciation of the culture of this world or society.

Who exactly are the fallen and the hive? I can see the hive are rip offs of the flood but that's it.

What is the ultimate goal or quest of my character? So far my ghost just gives me little things to do that seemingly don't connect to each other in terms of a larger narrative.

Point is giving me a briefing of what to do before a mission isn't storytelling. There is in fact the barest elements of any story here at all.

 

[TheHall]

After playing through it for a day (basically an expert) i'm not feeling the "You need thousands of players for this game to shine" argument.

I have solo'd 90% of the game while doing 2 strikes with a bunch of Rando's.
Sure it would be better with friends, but they could have given reviewers a friend code or two to make up for it.

Considering i've witnessed 1 public event happening, not sure if the excuse holds up.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

game needs 2 reviews. solo and with friends review. exponetionally better with a group of friends using different classes-

 

[sk3tch]

After playing through it for a day (basically an expert) i'm not feeling the "You need thousands of players for this game to shine" argument.

I have solo'd 90% of the game while doing 2 strikes with a bunch of Rando's.
Sure it would be better with friends, but they could have given reviewers a friend code or two to make up for it.

Considering i've witnessed 1 public event happening, not sure if the excuse holds up.

Agreed...and I am going to go as far as state that this is one of the best single player games to come out in recent memory. That is, the multiplayer component is extremely unnecessary if you're "one of those people" that hates the trend that everything is going online MP and MMO/etc. - yes, online is required and there is that "cost" component, but gameplay-wise, this is most definitely a great single player game - if you want it to be.

So far, I've found no reason to push me join up with others, other than to dance with them.

 

[LastGamer84]

Well alot. I'm at the end of the earth section of the story and have no idea what is happening nor any investment to care.

I am aware I am a dead person (who by design makes the perfect audience surrogate to introduce players to the world) who asks no questions about the world he has found himself in.

I have a ghost. It's a robot. That's as far as that character development goes.

The traveller is good but it's inert right now cos the darkness stopped it. How? What is the darkness? Is that a literal or metaphorical thing?

Who is the speaker? I have no context or appreciation of the culture of this world or society.

Who exactly are the fallen and the hive? I can see the hive are rip offs of the flood but that's it.

What is the ultimate goal or quest of my character? So far my ghost just gives me little things to do that seemingly don't connect to each other in terms of a larger narrative.

Point is giving me a briefing of what to do before a mission isn't storytelling. There is in fact the barest elements of any story here at all.

I'll type up something in a bit to answer this. All of this is told or hinted at in game.

 

[LuchaShaq]

I'll type up something in a bit to answer this. All of this is told or hinted at in game.

It doesn't matter what's subtly told or hinted at when every bit of story you get in the first 5 hours is horrifically dumb and generic so you instinctively stop paying attention to it,

Honestly I'd turn off all cutscenes and dialog if I could after playing 5 hours, and I NEVER skip cutscenes in games.

 

[LastGamer84]

It doesn't matter what's subtly told or hinted at when every bit of story you get in the first 5 hours is horrifically dumb and generic so you instinctively stop paying attention to it,

Honestly I'd turn off all cutscenes and dialog if I could after playing 5 hours, and I NEVER skip cutscenes in games.

Okay...thanks for that opinion.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Yeah, my biggest concern about the game was content.
I loved the alpha and the beta, but I expected 8 planets/moons with 3-5 areas each about as big as old russia. That way I would have dozens of hours of fun just exploring the world and the grinding wouldn't feel grindy.
Then the news came out that there is only one area on each planet/moon and there is only earth, mars, venus and moon.

Why did you expect this?

 

[BigDug13]

I find that this has become a common complaint for a lot of FPS campaigns like the Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Lots of reviewers say "Oh I didnt understand the story, haven no idea whats going on". Everything doesn't need to be spelled out all the time

I find game stories to be too convoluted most of the time. Usually because they have to give you mini-bosses and so there's this whole convoluted storyline to make you care about these mini-bosses which detracts from the main antagonist.

Or maybe I'm just not capable of really following a storyline that is happening in a game when I'm perfectly capable of following movies and TV shows for some reason.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Why did you expect this?

Because Bungie originally promised a game of much larger scope than what we received.

 

[sk3tch]

I'll type up something in a bit to answer this. All of this is told or hinted at in game.

That's the inherent problem with the storytelling if it requires you to "type something up" haha. Call me stupid - but I just stopped paying attention after a while. It wasn't interesting, or it's too complicated...whatever. I even played the intro twice (once on X1 and once on PS4 - to try out different classes). Maybe I'm a dudebro gamer or something...but either way, their message is not getting across in my case.

 

[Jarmel]

I'll type up something in a bit to answer this. All of this is told or hinted at in game.

I haven't finished the game so maybe there is some twist later on but just in how your character reacts to events, is poor writing. You came back from the dead and yet you never demand an explanation or ask why.

 

[PBY]

That Eurogamer impression only highlights the ADD cynicism I see in every review for nearly every game. I stopped taking it seriously when I read they didn't understand what was going on. Which is odd because I'm just now heading to Mars and I understand the story just fine.

I know everyone is in hurry to do a review on the game because of the embargo, but if they're flying through and not paying attention then I don't care to read the review.

Saying a game has a good or bad story is fine, but pretending you don't understand what's going on when the game is giving you that info is just plain silly. It's like everyone has ADD in a movie theater and can only pay attention to explosions.

I'm not to the end of the campaign yet, so I can't yet on comment how it turns out: but a reviewer saying they don't know what's going on makes my blood boil. Because that is clearly not the case for me.

I've watched like 6 hours of the game.

Story is convoluted nonsense. And there's barely any of it.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

I imagine it will be firmly in the 8 out of 10 score range... GAF implode, doom will be proclaimed, millions will still buy, Destiny 2 will get made.

I think we have ourselves a 3 outta 5 game that's probably going to get 4/5s because the production and presentation is excellent. But really, it's just a terrific looking 3/5 game.

 

[LastGamer84]

I have a ghost. It's a robot. That's as far as that character development goes.

The ghost is a remnant of the traveler's light - sent out after the traveler went to sleep to recruit guardians to fend off the darkness.

The traveller is good but it's inert right now cos the darkness stopped it. How? What is the darkness? Is that a literal or metaphorical thing?

The traveler is inert due to the last battle it fought. The speaker tells you that the traveler made a final stand at earth and was crippled severely. Rather than loose, it unleashed its power to push back the darkness (but not its minions). Then it went to sleep because it was weakened.

The darkness appears to be a literal force that works through its minions. The same way guardians use the travelers light, its minions use its power in different ways (the sword in the temple of Crota for instance). What its true form is we don't know yet.

Who is the speaker? I have no context or appreciation of the culture of this world or society.

The speaker is part lore-keeper, part high priest for whatever cult worships the traveler. (There's also a cult that worships the darkness). He speaks for the traveler in the same way the pope would speak for God. Whether or not he is genuine remains to be seen.

Who exactly are the fallen and the hive? I can see the hive are rip offs of the flood but that's it.

Both are minions of the darkness, but to varying degrees.

The fallen appear to be mostly scavengers who came to earth in the wake of the darkness. They more or less do what they want though, to the point of fighting other minions of the darkness. Less minions of evil and more opportunistic jackals really.

The hive are not the flood - they don't infect you to turn you into one of them. They're not insects either. They appear to be more connected to the darkness - to the point of using its power in varying ways. They mostly live on the moon, tunneling away in preparation for an invasion of earth.

What is the ultimate goal or quest of my character? So far my ghost just gives me little things to do that seemingly don't connect to each other in terms of a larger narrative.

To drive back the darkness again. It's coming back and this time humanity is nowhere near as strong as during the golden age. The traveler is asleep, so you're looking for some way to stop the darkness.

As far as connection goes...well I'll have to do this in spoilers.

Spoiler

The initial quests on earth are to bring your character up to speed and help clear out the fallen. Along the way you discover the fallen are searching for something - this leads you to the warmind Rasputin - an A.I. who fought against the darkness who is still protecting a sensor network that links to the other colonies. Of particular interest to the warmind was the Hive, who are tooling away on the moon and are up to something. This leads you to the moon, where you discover they are making weapons/creatures to invade earth again. Along the way you are shadowed by a mystery figure. Once you finish off the Hive, she contacts you and asks you to meet her on Venus.

Once there you encounter the Vex - machine minions of the darkness who are very powerful. The mystery figure comes to you after you discover the Vex were using a shard of the traveler to drain its life force. She tells you of a growing threat in a place called the black garden, and that you'll need help to reach it. She also reveals that she is not a guardian, but serves something else. Your ghost then instructs you to head to the Reef, where the Awoken live. The awoken are neutral in the conflict, but aren't above helping you for a favor. They tell you to bring them the eye of a Vex gatelord - and then they'll tell you where the Black Garden is.

And that's as far in as I am. The overall mission of fighting the darkness keeps leading you to these smaller sub-plots.

Point is giving me a briefing of what to do before a mission isn't storytelling. There is in fact the barest elements of any story here at all.

They also give you dialogue in mission to explain things through your ghost. As I just showed the story is there - whether or not it's good or not is up to you.

 

[IISANDERII]

I don't even want to play with my friends because they're all way above my level so either I'd be under-leveled joining them, or they'd blaze through missions joining me.

 

[domlolz]

Everything doesn't need to be spelled out all the time

I agree but these games have poorly told and poorly implemented plots even if you did manage to hear every single bit dialogue and exposition you will still have no idea what is going on because they are badly done. halo 4 was another example, fuck knows whats going on but you just keep getting plopped into another area and you keep going forward until the next pretty and shallow bit of exposition full of nonsense.

the plot has never been the strong point of the halo games and thinking about it, not having any idea whats going on is a familiar feeling in a halo game. its extremely convoluted and i'm not surprised it's the same with destiny.

its not about having everything spelt out for you it's just lots of developers aren't very good at story telling

 

[partyphone]

*stuff*

I understand why some people love this kind of storytelling but holy shit do I find it unappealing. especially with destiny's ultra-solemn tone.

where's my revelation space game. >:I

 

[EVIL]

Because Bungie originally promised a game of much larger scope than what we received.

Actually, not really, they outlined the scope for the IP, Destiny, but not for the first game. That scope has never been revealed until release.

 

[LastGamer84]

I understand why some people love this kind of storytelling but holy shit do I find it unappealing. especially with destiny's ultra-solemn tone.

where's my revelation space game. >:I

I'm sorry I guess we have to wait for Star Citizen.

 

[syko de4d]

How do mmo creators with less budget and same amount of time create 10x the content, 10x the world size, 10x the enemy variety, and 10x the loot than destiny??? I'd have even been OK with fetch quests and kill x number of space ducks...

maybe this is the reason for no PC version? On PC people would compare destiny even more with MMOs and it would fail pretty hard. Imagine destinys social and matchmaking features on PC, people would rage alot.

 

[Neuromancer]

I've watched like 6 hours of the game.

Story is convoluted nonsense. And there's barely any of it.

"This food is terrible! And it comes in such small portions!"

 

[sk3tch]

maybe this is the reason for no PC version? On PC people would compare destiny even more with MMOs and it would fail pretty hard. Imagine destinys social and matchmaking features on PC, people would rage alot.

Word. It is not as compelling when you think about it on PC versus what else is out there. It will be interesting to see how PlanetSide 2 does on PS4. Should blow people away that like Destiny-esque gameplay. Won't get the marketing push...so it may be missed by a lot of the dudebros - who will likely enjoy PlanetSide 2 better.

 

[TetraGenesis]

The ghost is a remnant of the traveler's light - sent out after the traveler went to sleep to recruit guardians to fend off the darkness.

Oh. Well that explains it.

Spoiler

lolwut

 

[Liferebooted]

I actually love the game but it isn't very social at all....

 

[PooBone]

I was upset I didn't get to play the Destiny beta. Turns out it was about 25% of the content in the full game. Bad storytelling, uninteresting AI, large play spaces (exactly four of them) with repetitive objectives to slog through, TERRIBLE dialogue..... it's a good thing these guys know how to make a shooter. For someone who doesn't care about competitive multiplayer (The Crucible) I don't see myself sticking with this game for very long. Lots of good titles coming out in October.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

I've been saying this since the beta, what the fuck made Activision think this was worth a half billion dollars and a 10 year deal?

They hoped it would be worth a 10 year deal at first, what with it being Bungie's new IP, but then they realized that it won't be. Hence the insane marketing budget.

 

[twobear]

I've been saying this since the beta, what the fuck made Activision think this was worth a half billion dollars and a 10 year deal?

When the game design revolves around doing the same thing over and over again in slightly different environments it's both cheap to make and easy to sell, because people will fall over themselves to buy more things to do.

 

[FlyinJ]

How common are chests? Is it worth totally scouring areas looking for them?

Also, is there any reason to not deconstruct non-needed equipment into glimmer?

 

[Ingueferroque]

When the game design revolves around doing the same thing over and over again in slightly different environments it's both cheap to make and easy to sell, because people will fall over themselves to buy more things to do.

Alright, I need to stop coming here. This post signals it.

 

[gruenel]

Yeah, and you only had to pay $60 to find out about those problems. Sure would've been nice if a review had told you about those things... Whoops!

But by all means, continue to support this repressive bullshit.

Nobody is forcing you to buy games on day 1.

 

[PooBone]

Well alot. I'm at the end of the earth section of the story and have no idea what is happening nor any investment to care.

I am aware I am a dead person (who by design makes the perfect audience surrogate to introduce players to the world) who asks no questions about the world he has found himself in.

I have a ghost. It's a robot. That's as far as that character development goes.

The traveller is good but it's inert right now cos the darkness stopped it. How? What is the darkness? Is that a literal or metaphorical thing?

Who is the speaker? I have no context or appreciation of the culture of this world or society.

Who exactly are the fallen and the hive? I can see the hive are rip offs of the flood but that's it.

What is the ultimate goal or quest of my character? So far my ghost just gives me little things to do that seemingly don't connect to each other in terms of a larger narrative.

Point is giving me a briefing of what to do before a mission isn't storytelling. There is in fact the barest elements of any story here at all.

Ditto.

 

[sk3tch]

Alright, I need to stop coming here. This post signals it.

Indeed - especially if your wish is to post this type of response versus actually engaging in dialogue about our hobby.

 

[twobear]

Alright, I need to stop coming here. This post signals it.

Eh. I'm just being snarky. I realise that a lot of care and effort has gone into Destiny. It's Activision that an issue with, not Bungie.

 

[ViviOggi]

Nobody is forcing you to buy games on day 1.

That's the point

 

[Duane Cunningham]

I think the story is pretty straightforward:

1. Earth was visited by a giant alien robot ball called the Traveler, which was friendly, diplomatic and shared a bunch of alien tech with us.

2. We used that tech to seriously level up everything over the next couple hundred years, increase our lifespan 3x over, colonize Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Moon, feed everyone, etc.

3. Turns out some crazy cult/god/misty space power entity called the Darkness exists too, and its purpose is that it HATES the Traveler and wants to kill it. And it lost track of the Traveler for a couple hundred years while it was here being nice to us, but once the Darkness figured it out, it came here, and fucked everybody up; party over.

4. Now the Earth is damn near extinct, there's only one city left. The Traveler got almost completely destroyed; it's still in orbit, but it's all smashed open, can't talk and can't do anything. Although in the one particularly nasty battle where it really got demolished and put into that state, it sent out a bunch of little robot drones called Ghosts that can go around and sift through all the corpses on Earth and resurrect one each... hopefully ones with some military value that can fight the Darkness aliens (even though things ain't looking so hot).

5. All those fighters the Ghosts resurrected are called Guardians, and they live in a big tower in Last City, while everyone else (civilians, families, etc) live downstairs in the city proper.

6. Hey, YOU'RE the newest guardian that one of the Ghosts resurrected. He'll hang out with you like Navi, but you can call him Dinklage-Bot if you prefer. Good luck, sucker!

 

[Neuromancer]

I think the story is pretty straightforward:

1. Earth was visited my a giant alien robot ball called the Traveler, which was friendly, diplomatic and shared a bunch of alien tech with us.

2. We used that tech to seriously level up everything over the next couple hundred years, increase our lifespan 3x over, colonize Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Moon, feed everyone, etc.

3. Turns out some crazy cult/god/misty space power entity called the Darkness exists too, and its purpose is that it HATES the Traveler and wants to kill it. And it lost track of the Traveler for a couple hundred years while it was here being nice to us, but once the Darkness figured it out, it came here, and fucked everybody up; party over.

4. Now the Earth is damn near extinct, there's only one city left and in it. The Traveler got almost completely destroyed; it's still in orbit, but it's all smashed open, can't talk and can't do anything. Although in the one particularly nasty battle where it really got demolished and put into that state, it sent out a bunch of little robot drones called Ghosts that can go around and sift through all the corpses on Earth and resurrect one each... hopefully one with some military value that can fight the Darkness aliens (even though things ain't looking so hot).

5. All those fighters the Ghosts resurrected are called Guardians, and they live in a big tower in Last City, while everyone else (civilians, families, etc) live downstairs in the city proper.

6. Hey, YOU'RE the newest guardian that one of the Ghosts resurrected. He'll hang out with you like Navi, but you can call him Dinklage-Bot if you prefer. Good luck, sucker!

Nice summary. Yeah it's as good as setup for a scifi action game as any as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Tiktaalik]

edit: lol wrong thread?

 

[Kouriozan]

They don't need reviews anyway.
This game's audience are hardcore gamers and they already know everything about this game.

 

[SmoothRunningGun]

game needs 2 reviews. solo and with friends review. exponetionally better with a group of friends using different classes-

Almost anything is fun with a group of friends. Who needs a $60 game for that? If it sucks solo then it sucks.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Nice summary. Yeah it's as good as setup for a scifi action game as any as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, I mean, it ain't Shakespeare, but it's fine. I'm sure it'll turn out after a few pieces of DLC and sequels that the Traveler comes back to life because YOU found some crucial thing that brings it back or something. And the Speaker turns out to be a jerk or something, maybe. Who knows.

EDIT: As long as I typed all that out, I might as well quote it for the new page:

I think the story is pretty straightforward:

1. Earth was visited my a giant alien robot ball called the Traveler, which was friendly, diplomatic and shared a bunch of alien tech with us.

2. We used that tech to seriously level up everything over the next couple hundred years, increase our lifespan 3x over, colonize Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Moon, feed everyone, etc.

3. Turns out some crazy cult/god/misty space power entity called the Darkness exists too, and its purpose is that it HATES the Traveler and wants to kill it. And it lost track of the Traveler for a couple hundred years while it was here being nice to us, but once the Darkness figured it out, it came here, and fucked everybody up; party over.

4. Now the Earth is damn near extinct, there's only one city left. The Traveler got almost completely destroyed; it's still in orbit, but it's all smashed open, can't talk and can't do anything. Although in the one particularly nasty battle where it really got demolished and put into that state, it sent out a bunch of little robot drones called Ghosts that can go around and sift through all the corpses on Earth and resurrect one each... hopefully one with some military value that can fight the Darkness aliens (even though things ain't looking so hot).

5. All those fighters the Ghosts resurrected are called Guardians, and they live in a big tower in Last City, while everyone else (civilians, families, etc) live downstairs in the city proper.

6. Hey, YOU'RE the newest guardian that one of the Ghosts resurrected. He'll hang out with you like Navi, but you can call him Dinklage-Bot if you prefer. Good luck, sucker!