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[Audible Phonetics]

I guess the overflow of people in ALL the Destiny threads saying the same bloody things over and over again may need to have a single point of negative contact to converge and become something of a greater Hive mind. The problem I run into is that we run into so much negativity in almost every single thread that it becomes overbearing and draining. We shouldn't go the other direction and be all happy and rainbows and waving how great everything is always, but this Destiny backlash is to a level that is just murdering.

Really the only solution is for me to stop reading these threads at all. Which sucks when you hope to find information on the game that people want to share but is hard to do so as it is mired in what has been happening since release.

The problem is in reality, the voice of the minority in this case is very loud. It's like an agenda where they hit each thread, to throw their negative drivel all over the place.

If you want a good idea of what the populous thinks of the game, go visit the consensus thread.

You'll soon come to realize the majority of GAF is enjoying the game.

 

[Conezays]

These types of blanket posts crack me up.

The "I'm glad I didn't fall into hype machine post" let me proceed to bash a game I never played.

This opinion holds NO water when scrutinized under the fact..You've never played it yet.

I have played it, but feel free to tell me what I'm missing. I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I feel the game is a poor prospect at the asking price.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

There is a consensus thread, and the early reviews all fall in line with that thinking.

There is a very loud vocal minority that is far outshining the vast majority who are enjoying the game thus far.

I haven't spent a ton of time in the Destiny thread. But, I've seen mostly "it's good, but has a lot of problems" type of posts. I've actually probably seen more "I love it, what the fuck is wrong with you people?" posts than people flat out saying it sucks.

 

[Nimby]

My roommate loves this game, he loves the mechanics and loves the world design. I can see where the game has flaws, but it seems like a lot of people are treating this game a bit unfairly.

 

[nib95]

Yeah thats certainly part of it. The problem is, it works both ways.
People are giving what sound like valid critiques, or voicing dissapointment, which leads to others claiming the Destiny is being unfairly attacked.
You could make a good claim that some are unfairly attacking Destiny, but it has become difficult for some to voice dissatisfaction with this game without it being told it is their own fault for expecting it to be better.

I agree to an extent, but are people really rebutting the valid criticisms, or the one's they feel are invalid? For example, has anyone actually claimed that matchmaking shouldn't be in the game? Or that the mission structure isn't somewhat monotonous?

The complaints I've seen contented are one's such as the AI is poor, or the combat encounters aren't diverse, that there isn't enough loot, that the game is unbalanced etc. The latter are things that very much fall in to areas of contention.

 

[Audible Phonetics]

My roommate loves this game, he loves the mechanics and loves the world design. I can see where the game has flaws, but it seems like a lot of people are treating this game a bit unfairly.

THIS.

I keep repeating it. But it is the people who are treating the game as a traditional MMO.

They then stubbornly say things like.

"Bungie can't redefine genres. "

If anything Destiny may be trying to be too many things at once, but it most def. is nothing like a traditional MMO.

Bungie refused to call it an MMO for that reason.

 

[NervousXtian]

That doesn't change that all games structurally rely on repeating content but okay. Having played all games I listed in my post, I can confidently say that while Destiny doesn't require as much "strategy" as Monster Hunter, it's still there. Hub size, communication and item trading are irrelevant to my argument. Sucks that they're not there but again, irrelevant.

It's not just strategy with MH, but you are grinding very specific things. Also, when you get really good you can take down some of the monsters in incredibly quick times.. same with Soul Sacrifice...

Destiny was never sold as a Hunting kind of game, so it's kind of odd to even bring it up.. but you can say look how MH has evolved from the start... well yes.. but it's not like Bungie hasn't had all those games and other games to look at to find what would make Destiny that much better.

Destiny so far to me just feels insipid. Which is sad.. because of what these guys have done in the past. I mean the shooting is solid, the graphics are pretty nice, the art direction is pretty good... but it's just overall bland.

 

[Audible Phonetics]

I have played it, but feel free to tell me what I'm missing. I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I feel the game is a poor prospect at the asking price.

Didn't you say you held off from picking it up?

Playing the Beta doesn't mean you played the game.

Just means you played the beta.

 

[cleveridea]

I think this game is a victim of the Beta, since you are basically playing the same game again. In the beta, you got to experience all the classes and moves, and all the gun types in the games. I had a blast trying out all the classes and all the cool guns (loved the fusion rifles).

Fast forward a month, and I am bored of the game already since I basically saw everything gun selection wise and class wise (having tried all 3 classes and levelled them up in the beta).

The game is gorgeous, and technically excellent, but boring due to these reasons. Had I not played the beta, I would love this game.

 

[Boogdud]

The problem is in reality, the voice of the minority in this case is very loud. It's like an agenda where they hit each thread, to throw their negative drivel all over the place.

If you want a good idea of what the populous thinks of the game, go visit the consensus thread.

You'll soon come to realize the majority of GAF is enjoying the game.

To be fair, GAF itself is quite literally, the vocal minority... (not saying with Destiny opinions or whatever, but just gaming in general)

 

[WrenchNinja]

Didn't you say you held off from picking it up?

Playing the Beta doesn't mean you played the game.

Just means you played the beta.

Right, because as we've seen with the release of the retail version, the beta was SO DIFFERENT.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

Very glad I decided to hold off on picking this up at launch. With the myriad of cheaper and/or free possibilities for gaming these days, the idea that people are picking up a bare-bones shooter/MMO hybrid at $60/90 speaks to how powerful advertising is. No idea how these games have years in development to release with such features and content.

It's amusing lots of the defense for the game rests on "well I'm having fun with my friends." You can apply that same logic to near any game experience if you like. Bungie and Activision promised far more than a watered-down Halo and Borderlands and should be criticised as such.

You are so smart dude.

 

[Alx]

My roommate loves this game, he loves the mechanics and loves the world design. I can see where the game has flaws, but it seems like a lot of people are treating this game a bit unfairly.

I don't know if it's unfair, but I think it's mostly backlash because of the excessive marketing overselling it. Maybe it's unfair for devs, but I don't think it's a bad thing for publishers to realize they can't just throw big words without having enough to show on release.
Anyway it's not like the game will suffer from it, I think the sales are already high enough to guarantee a decent success.

By the way, do we know when the reviews from the major sites will be available ?

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Didn't you say you held off from picking it up?

Playing the Beta doesn't mean you played the game.

Just means you played the beta.

Playing the beta means you've played the first section of the game.

I can see where the game has flaws, but it seems like a lot of people are treating this game a bit unfairly.

I really don't feel like the consensus on here is as negative as some of you are making it seem. Most people are disappointed, but enjoying it. Just because everyone isn't saying they absolutely love it, doesn't mean it's being judged unfairly.

 

[rac]

Absolutely. There are also several people in this thread criticising the game whilst not even actually owning it, including lots of questionable comparisons to Halo, which I simply disagree with. Eg the differences in quality of the AI, gunplay, encounters, arena or world design etc.

Maybe people liked the AI, gunplay and encounters better in halo because the game didn't just throw waves of respawning enemies at you. It probably makes the AI seem worse when there's tons of enemies that just keep coming at you, not to mention the bullet sponge bossfights with their only pattern being shoot the last person that shot you.

 

[nib95]

Honestly, I'd like someone to tell me what Destiny has gained by adding its MMO elements that is worth it losing so much due to adding those same elements.

- A much greater sense of depth and scope
- More of a community feel. Eg heading back to the Tower amongst so many others and having a nice break away from the missions or crucible, and being able to do so many other tertiary tasks.
- More items, weapons, equipment, abilities, options, tasks and so on.
- Having hubs or options to meet or join up with random players in a more organic manner.
- More overall content, and dynamic updates to it (e.g. future raids, events, missions, items etc).

If they'd stuck with your opinion of keeping it more traditional, it'd just be like every other shooter. Right now Destiny is actually pretty unique. It's essentially a simplified, more accessible mix of MMO/RPG elements infused in to a FPS. They just need to add a bit more variety to the content (though I'm not post level 20 yet, so I can't say this for sure) and mission structure. And improve the narrative delivery.

 

[Conezays]

Didn't you say you held off from picking it up?

Playing the Beta doesn't mean you played the game.

Just means you played the beta.

Played alpha and beta, and have watched friend go through his game while playing a bit myself. I'm totally fine with the gunplay mechanics, it's just *feature-wise* I think the game falls short for the player. For what its worth, the reviews all seem quite positive-I'm not sure why people are freaking out over 8's

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

it would have been nice if race effected stats a little, just like other games usually do.

Personally I'll even suggest having different stats for different genders, but that might be too 'controversial' =p

It's because of the whole "we don't want people to cry unfair" mentally so they just made them all the same and as a result, it's a meaningless choice.

 

[barneystuta83]

I wonder which of the mainstream big sites will be first to run with their review (EuroGamer, IGN, GameSpot, etc)

 

[Spades]

2. No communication in the tower
-Really, Bungie? Really??? I might as well be walking into a ghost town of dancing ghosts. Seriously, whats the point? No text chat? Would be a great place to pick up fireteam members or just shoot the shit. No mics either? Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK. I posted this TWICE on their forums. Once in the Alpha and once in the Beta. Whatever.

This is such a dumb thing for Bungie to miss out.

 

[Jonboy]

Are we looking at the same OT?

Here are the reviews scores it shows:

7/10
4.5/5
8.5/10
4/5
8/10
4.5/5
7.4/10:
9/10
9.5/10
9/10

No scores less than 7. Only 2 less than 8.

Early reviews are really positive.

Sorry. Should have been more specific when I said "reviews." Not just the ones in the OP, but some of the negative opinions I'm seeing from folks here and around the net.

This is the first time I've really read into what people are saying about the game (because I've been enjoying it too much to be on GAF, haha). Could just be one of those "vocal minority" situations.

The game absolutely has its flaws, but I've been so impressed at the scope of it all so far. Really feel like I could play this game for a long, long time.

 

[Nimby]

I really don't feel like the consensus on here is as negative as some of you are making it seem. Most people are disappointed, but enjoying it. Just because everyone isn't saying they absolutely love it, doesn't mean it's being judged unfairly.

I'm talking about the user scores on Metacritic, "Overhyped. Boring. 2/10." There's a lot of room for improvement with this game, which they will surely take advantage of I hope.

 

[Audible Phonetics]

Played alpha and beta, and have watched friend go through his game while playing a bit myself. I'm totally fine with the gunplay mechanics, it's just *feature-wise* I think the game falls short for the player. For what its worth, the reviews all seem quite positive-I'm not sure why people are freaking out over 8's

Ahh I see. Makes sense.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I'm talking about the user scores on Metacritic.

Oh, well, ignore that bullshit.

 

[ANDS]

Personally I'll even suggest having different stats for different genders, but that might be too 'controversial' =p

It's because of the whole "we don't want people to cry unfair" mentally so they just made them all the same and ays a result, it's a meaningless choice.

It's a cosmetic choice, which isn't necessarily the same (to some) as a meaningless one. I personally restarted twice to get the right look.

 

[Dr_LucienSanchez]

The problem is in reality, the voice of the minority in this case is very loud. It's like an agenda where they hit each thread, to throw their negative drivel all over the place.

If you want a good idea of what the populous thinks of the game, go visit the consensus thread.

You'll soon come to realize the majority of GAF is enjoying the game.

It is extremely odd that it seems like some users (you start to recognize which ones) feel the need to enter each destiny thread to post their super-important thoughts, even if they haven't played the game. I don't know why they feel it's so important to inform people who are enjoying the game, but it'd be nice if they had just one circlejerky hate thread where they could stay in and keep it contained.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

Oh, well, ignore that bullshit.

Usually I'd trust that more than games media. But with big games that people love to shit on it's tough. Best to just pay attention to friend's and maybe even GAF but it's difficult to let your opinion get diluted one way or another because of the marketing and hype.

 

[Storm Raider]

16 hours in, and still having so much fun.

The story could have been a lot better, but I see it as more of a tutorial for everything else.

Level 21, still haven't found any legendary items, or exotics.

Still haven't been in a raid. (Obviously)

Still haven't played all Crucible game modes.

Still didn't play all story missions.

Still haven't played all raids.

So much to do in this game, it's amazing! I just 'joined' up with the FWC faction, starting to get some reputation in there to get their gear. They look cool, love their gear and colors.

Multiplayer is amazing, very well balanced and requires a decent amount of skill, which is great! Although you don't need as much skill as say, Halo or Counter-Strike, it's still a lot better than Call of Duty.

Anyways, so far this game has a lot of content, and the gameplay is a ridiculous amount of fun.

8.5/10 so far, only because the story was so bad and there are still no audio options.

 

[Fbh]

Seem about what I expected
Hopefully this is the star of a gen where 9's and 10's arent handed out every other week

I wonder how it is selling despite any reviews. My guess is COD levels or better.

A lot of hype, a lot of media coverage, a lot of money put in marketing and a beta that most people really liked.

It's not hard to guess why it's selling

 

[Alx]

Usually I'd trust that more than games media. But with big games that people love to shit on it's tough. Best to just pay attention to friend's and maybe even GAF but it's difficult to let your opinion get diluted one way or another because of the marketing and hype.

User reviews can be very useful, but for unmoderated ones, you should always disregard the extreme ones (ie all the 0-2 scores, and sometimes the 10s too). I think the mean value of user reviews isn't a good indicator, they should display an histogram of the scores.

 

[gamechanger87]

Seem about what I expected

A lot of hype, a lot of media coverage, a lot of money put in marketing and a beta that most people really liked.

It's not hard to guess why it's selling

From another thread I posted this:

I think one of the reasons this is selling so well is that it received a massive marketing blitz and is releasing at such a weird time. The first week or so after Labor Day is not usually a happening time. Activision looked at the calendar and said most games are coming out in October/November 2014. There is a dearth of new games over the summer outside of the sports games. Let's pump a ton of money into marketing and release the game when there is no competition. This way we get to ride the drought and don't have to compete with the plethora of other games coming out including our own COD.

Does anyone think this game would be selling like it is without the following:

1. Massive marketing campaign
2. Molyneux style promises
3. "$500M budget" which isn't $500M
4. Lack of early reviews
5. Product release timing

Can someone look up major AAA game releases during the first two weeks of September? GTA V is the only one I can think of but that is its own beast and could have released later and been fine.

 

[Bluemercury]

So this is the type of games that will sell 500m $ in the first days...

 

[Poodlestrike]

From another thread I posted this:

I think one of the reasons this is selling so well is that it received a massive marketing blitz and is releasing at such a weird time. The first week or so after Labor Day is not usually a happening time. Activision looked at the calendar and said most games are coming out in October/November 2014. There is a dearth of new games over the summer outside of the sports games. Let's pump a ton of money into marketing and release the game when there is no competition. This way we get to ride the drought and don't have to compete with the plethora of other games coming out including our own COD.

Does anyone think this game would be selling like it is without the following:

1. Massive marketing campaign
2. Molyneux style promises
3. "$500M budget" which isn't $500M
4. Lack of early reviews
5. Product release timing

Can someone look up major AAA game releases during the first two weeks of September? GTA V is the only one I can think of but that is its own beast and could have released later and been fine.

Whoa, let's not get crazy now. Bungie may have overpromised, but they're still a far cry from Molyneuxing the game.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

I think it's stupid that a few of these reviews are saying it isn't a great game and there are lots of problems but they are giving it high review scores. The game has many problems such as it's a repetitive, unbalanced game with a bland world, poor storytelling, almost no actual characters and a complete lack of variety but some of those reviews don't take those into account for the scores, even though they mention them.

 

[Kade]

It is extremely odd that it seems like some users (you start to recognize which ones) feel the need to enter each destiny thread to post their super-important thoughts, even if they haven't played the game. I don't know why they feel it's so important to inform people who are enjoying the game, but it'd be nice if they had just one circlejerky hate thread where they could stay in and keep it contained.

It happened with Titanfall and a few other higher profile games too. It kind of sucks but if you're looking for discussion of a game with other people who enjoy it and without its detractors, the OTs are to go. Going into threads related to things that you're not interested in or don't like is something you have to catch yourself doing before it's too late and you click "Submit Reply". I used to do it in the Killzone threads but I realized that my time and effort is better spent on things that I don't have negative feelings towards. Sharing my opinions and thoughts on things I don't like isn't beneficial or worthy of attention to anyone but myself.

What can you do, though. If something was to be done about this behaviour it would have been done years ago.

 

[WoolyNinja]

After the beta I wasn't sold on this game but my friends grabbed the game so I figured it'd be fun to join them.

The one major thing they got right is the game play. I can go around shooting the same 3 groups of enemies for over an hour and still have fun because the shooting is fun. They nailed the shooting.

I also love the enemy AI. I'm playing on normal and even then the AI does some fantastic stuff. One time I shot and the enemy actually leaned to the left to avoid it.

 

[Kitoro]

This game has seriously felt like a combination of Borderlands + The Old Republic + Phantasy Star Online to me. That's not entirely a good thing, either. The planets just feel like theme park settings to ride around and do the same things in different settings. None of the gameplay has evolved from Story Levels 1 through 11 yet, and I'm getting bored.

I don't feel like I'm in a galaxy full of players, either. Despite the touting of being an MMO, I only see a character here or there every now and then; feels pretty desolate.

Beyond that, my major problem with it is that it's severely lacking in personality.

Overall, this game feels like a tech demo of what an MMO would be like, if MMOs did not yet exist. It feels more like Phantasy Star Online more than it feels like an MMO so far to me.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

It happened with Titanfall and a few other higher profile games too. It kind of sucks but if you're looking for discussion of a game with other people who enjoy it and without its detractors, the OTs are to go. Going into threads related to things that you're not interested in or don't like is something you have to catch yourself doing before it's too late and you click "Submit Reply". I used to do it in the Killzone threads but I realized that my time and effort is better spent on things that I don't have negative feelings towards. Sharing my opinions and thoughts on things I don't like isn't beneficial or worthy of attention to anyone but myself.

What can you do, though. If something was to be done about this behaviour it would have been done years ago.

But wouldn't people want to read opinions on both sides of the board? Obviously some people take it a bit far and hate on the game for the wrong reasons but if it's just an echo chamber singing the game's praises then it's totally useless.

 

[rakkadakka]

Whoa, let's not get crazy now. Bungie may have overpromised, but they're still a far cry from Molyneuxing the game.

Maybe I'm not up on molyneux quotes.. but there was some serious blue sky bullshit flying around for Destiny.

Game looks fun.. but what Bungie was slinging does not look like what we ended up with.

 

[codhand]

Whoa, let's not get crazy now. Bungie may have overpromised, but they're still a far cry from Molyneuxing the game.

nope, disagree, they molynuexed the fuck out of it.

 

[Darklord]

I don't understand the "ripoff" complaints.

Even if the game isn't your cup of tea, there is a lot of content in here.

10-15 single player campaign
Post-game raid content
Full multiplayer mode

How is that, in any sense, a "ripoff"?

That is a lot more content than most full price AAA shooters.

Even if you don't particularly like the game itself, it definitely has a decent amount of content.

I think it's Bungie's fault for making the game feel tiny with repeating areas over and over, sometimes going to the exact location. Even if they're big the way you start at the same spot and go through the same places makes it feel artificially tiny.

 

[gamechanger87]

Whoa, let's not get crazy now. Bungie may have overpromised, but they're still a far cry from Molyneuxing the game.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-08-23-bungie-destiny-can-surpass-halo-sit-alongside-star-wars

Pete Parsons talks to us about future-proofing Bungie and how the studio believes next-gen gaming is “no longer just about the hardware”

"We like to tell big stories and we want people to put the Destiny universe on the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Star Wars; we've already seen they do that with Halo. We were extremely proud of what we achieved with Halo... I'm pretty convinced we are going to do it again with Destiny in a way that maybe even Halo never achieved before," Parsons said.

"We've always admired people like Pixar, and we are finally in that moment where we have this raw, amazing talent that I think rivals entertainment creators anywhere across any entertainment ever"
Part of that future planning involved developing a new, proprietary engine for the Destiny universe. Parsons noted that the investment in technology is already paying off, making development much smoother for the team.

"This is an enormous universe that we are building and that we will continue to build over time, so yes the engine helps us gain a lot of efficiency. The Halo set of tools was really powerful but really at times unwieldy, and we knew that we would need to be able to make content at a rate that was much faster and achieve much more collaboration between designers and artists. Now we can have designers and artists working in the same space. Really improving our workflows in our content pipeline was job number one. Also, every time we build a new object it goes into a library to be used or referenced at a later date, which is exciting for us," he said.

In the end, Parsons is just eager to let Destiny do the talking for Bungie. It's being released at a time when there's more interest in games than ever before, and the medium is able to stand toe-to-toe with just about any other entertainment out there. "We've always admired people like Pixar, and we are finally in that moment where we have this raw, amazing talent that I think rivals entertainment creators anywhere across any entertainment ever, and Activision is helping us bring that reality to life," he said.

More at the link

 

[Biggie]

This game really should have coppied Dark Souls', multiplayer. Put down a token to say you want to party for a dungeon or quest and then it match makes you with some one else.

 

[BattleMonkey]

The problem is in reality, the voice of the minority in this case is very loud. It's like an agenda where they hit each thread, to throw their negative drivel all over the place.

If you want a good idea of what the populous thinks of the game, go visit the consensus thread.

You'll soon come to realize the majority of GAF is enjoying the game.

Where is this magical consensus thread?

 

[pantsmith]

I think it's stupid that a few of these reviews are saying it isn't a great game and there are lots of problems but they are giving it an 8 or higher anyway. I don't think a repetitive, unbalanced game with a bland world, poor storytelling, almost no actual characters and a complete lack of variety should get higher than a 7. Those problems don't mean it isn't fun but they shouldn't ignore all those things because of that.

If its satisfying to play (which it is- mechanically it is spandex tight!), incredibly polished and full of enough content to last you a good long while... isnt that more than enough to warrant an 8?

I'm all for Bungie getting chewed out because I know theyll take it personally and work harder to set things right, but Destiny is, to me, good enough that some of its flaws (chat, "repetitive" gameplay) are offset to some degree. Its no more repetitive than Borderlands 2, for instance, and it also has the advantage of being way more fun to play.

 

[Alx]

Where is this magical consensus thread?

It's a census thread actually. A consensus one would defeat its own purpose.

 

[Kiant]

Why do people keep saying "It's not an MMO, don't treat it like one it's unfair!"

If you have all the trappings and tropes of an MMO then you are going to be treated like one, it has Strikes which are dungeons, it has crafting which involves grinding mats, it has a raid, it has a social hub, it has bounties which are basically daily quests or weekly quests...

The list goes on. It's not like Destiny is the worse game ever, but it's certainly not a good one.

 

[Riedinizzo]

I wish joining up with someone you meet in the world was more seamless. It was super disappointing when I got an invite to join up with someone's fireteam, and I got booted out to orbit then brought back into the game I was just playing in. Kills the magic.

It should be one button press, and bam you're in a party.

 

[Kade]

But wouldn't people want to read opinions on both sides of the board? Obviously some people take it a bit far and hate on the game for the wrong reasons but if it's just an echo chamber singing the game's praises then it's totally useless.

If they're well articulated AND based in experience, of course. However, that combination seems to be rare in threads like this and you only get one or the other.

 

[BattleMonkey]

THIS.

I keep repeating it. But it is the people who are treating the game as a traditional MMO.

They then stubbornly say things like.

"Bungie can't redefine genres. "

If anything Destiny may be trying to be too many things at once, but it most def. is nothing like a traditional MMO.

Bungie refused to call it an MMO for that reason.

It's not unfair at all, the game essentially copies everything from decade old MMO forumula. The game design follows all the trappings of a traditional MMO, even the story telling aspect of the campaign is same style being used by most MMOs nowadays too. The whole set up and systems in the game are taking MMO game design and sticking it in a smaller scale halo like gameplay.