I mainly brought it up because it also has a really aimless plot, with the lore being in books and other media instead of in the game.
Destiny - Review Thread
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I mainly brought it up because it also has a really aimless plot, with the lore being in books and other media instead of in the game.
I agree with this. The more I play it, the less I like it. I hit Level 18 and finished the story tonight and it just left me feeling empty inside. I was only having fun talking to my friend on the headset.
I really don't enjoy The Crucible, either.
ArkkAngel007
Member
Guys, can you take up the situation with a mod and just settle the matter there?
Being devil's advocate, but a lot of games have narrative outside of cutscenes, some vital to understanding relationships and situations like in The Last of Us and I think even Halo has done so with 2 and 3. ODST might have as well.
So just watching cutscenes isn't going to give Morma a real representation in a lot of titles. There isn't much there in regards to Destiny with what Ghost says, but that doesn't trump the point.
And then when it comes to mission design, that's coming from second hand. Maybe while playing it it wouldn't be an issue or maybe it would. But it's kind of hard to bring up mission design if it isn't what you've experienced (Beta aside), as that can be subjective depending on what supports that gameplay..
Being devil's advocate, but a lot of games have narrative outside of cutscenes, some vital to understanding relationships and situations like in The Last of Us and I think even Halo has done so with 2 and 3. ODST might have as well.
So just watching cutscenes isn't going to give Morma a real representation in a lot of titles. There isn't much there in regards to Destiny with what Ghost says, but that doesn't trump the point.
And then when it comes to mission design, that's coming from second hand. Maybe while playing it it wouldn't be an issue or maybe it would. But it's kind of hard to bring up mission design if it isn't what you've experienced (Beta aside), as that can be subjective depending on what supports that gameplay..
If you were to look at Destiny by only its story, it would do absolutely horrible. It's just so bad. I couldn't get myself to care at all for why I was killing countless bad guys. It's a bit unfortunate because they could have done something great with it.
The game however thrives in the Strikes. They are easily the best part of the game. Having a Fireteam with friends all with headsets though is pretty much a must to really enjoy them. The Raid that opens next week should be interesting. I hope they add more Strikes with updates outside of DLC/expansions because I really feel that there should be more.
In terms of content, I'm a little let down. Each planet has 1 area, and they all look different which is great but It sorta sucked being dumped right back into the same exact area on a couple occasions. It was kind of sad seeing all this cool concept art they had for areas but we didn't go to those places outside of some PVP maps.
As for the gunplay, it feels good. I've had fun shooting things.
PvP is something I've only lightly played as to complete bounties but now that I've beaten the story missions, I'll probably start playing it more to build reputation and get crucible marks for better gear. That brings me to my next point,
I have no idea what to do now that I have hit level 20 and beat the story missions and each strike. I've done a few of the strikes a few times and I know I'll being doing them more and more because of the weekly stuff and Vanguard playlist but I am nervous I'll get burnt out pretty quick on the same handful of strikes regardless of how they attempt to alter them with different difficulties and stuff.
So anyways, I'be enjoyed the game and will play it pretty heavily moving forward (at least until more games start coming out) but by no means is the game perfect or close to it. I'm sure they'll do some significant work with how the story stuff is handled moving forward as the game is large in scope yet seemingly feels small and I doubt the story was important when you look at all the different things they have up and running in the first few days and everything they have already announced.
If I had to give it a score, it would be a 7.4 for right now which could change for the better depending on how they support the game moving forward, which I already know they have some very extensive plans.
The game however thrives in the Strikes. They are easily the best part of the game. Having a Fireteam with friends all with headsets though is pretty much a must to really enjoy them. The Raid that opens next week should be interesting. I hope they add more Strikes with updates outside of DLC/expansions because I really feel that there should be more.
In terms of content, I'm a little let down. Each planet has 1 area, and they all look different which is great but It sorta sucked being dumped right back into the same exact area on a couple occasions. It was kind of sad seeing all this cool concept art they had for areas but we didn't go to those places outside of some PVP maps.
As for the gunplay, it feels good. I've had fun shooting things.
PvP is something I've only lightly played as to complete bounties but now that I've beaten the story missions, I'll probably start playing it more to build reputation and get crucible marks for better gear. That brings me to my next point,
I have no idea what to do now that I have hit level 20 and beat the story missions and each strike. I've done a few of the strikes a few times and I know I'll being doing them more and more because of the weekly stuff and Vanguard playlist but I am nervous I'll get burnt out pretty quick on the same handful of strikes regardless of how they attempt to alter them with different difficulties and stuff.
So anyways, I'be enjoyed the game and will play it pretty heavily moving forward (at least until more games start coming out) but by no means is the game perfect or close to it. I'm sure they'll do some significant work with how the story stuff is handled moving forward as the game is large in scope yet seemingly feels small and I doubt the story was important when you look at all the different things they have up and running in the first few days and everything they have already announced.
If I had to give it a score, it would be a 7.4 for right now which could change for the better depending on how they support the game moving forward, which I already know they have some very extensive plans.
I found this interesting reading the GamesRadar review-in-progress.
It's a multi-page clickfest, but it's fascinating to see the opinion go from "pretty fun, mechanics are good, might get boring" to "Now I see what this game is about, having a blast!" The fact that this thread was started on 10Sep just shows how much people are rushing to beat a deadline, and I seriously doubt most of them are giving anything close to a fair shake.
I've been level 20 since yesterday. I'm not seeing this clicking you're speaking of. The pvp is fun, not fantastic, but fun.
Edit:
Well, in general I agree with what you're saying. For most games this is true. For Destiny, it really isn't, beyond the mission design. But as far as the mission design goes, as you mentioned the beta pretty much covers it. The real game has you going to prettier locales, but it's still fundamentally the same.
A review by its very nature is an opinion,
basing your opinion off of someone else's and claiming to have some authority over those who actually own the game and beat the game could be seen as irritating.
Though I agree no one here should be in the business of suppressing the opinion of others.
ArkkAngel007
Member
I mean, the gear that starts coming in to you and stuff is great, and there's more depth in the harder levels than I had initially realized with ammo types being a huge factor with what you're up against shield-wise. From the core gameplay loop of clear mission>get loot, it does refresh itself and get better.
But that doesn't change the issues stated in a lot of these reviews, many of which I would agree were pushing themselves out there for the sake of it.
Firstly, you can't say one game is better than another game you've never even played. That's just nonsensical, though the other game being Halo 4 and his persistence in trying to drive home the fact that Halo 4 is the better game, despite having not played Destiny, should pretty much tell everyone what they need to know about his stance.
Regarding the narrative, I actually think the story itself is ok. Decent premise, good lore, nice degree of intrigue and allure. The problem is with the delivery. It's ropey, disjointed and doesn't explain itself very clearly. You have to pay a great deal of attention to know what the hell is going on, as often important story titbits are thrown in at in-opportune times, not concise enough audio wise, or simply not fleshed out properly. But there's just enough there to keep things engaging and have me wanting to find out more.
About the mission structure, I agree it's pretty repetitive (hopefully something they work on in future). But the mission structure being repetitive doesn't necessarily mean the gameplay is. In-fact, in some ways it's less repetitive than your average shooter (COD, Halo etc included), because not only do you get gameplay and encounters diversified by the vast range of different enemies, level and arena designs, weapons, stats, classes, powers, vehicles, co-op options, AI, random events and all the rest, but you also have the whole dynamic real time menu, upgrades, RPG esque progression, item and loot collecting, Tower hub and everything else, that breaks up the gunplay in more meaningful ways than in your average shooter, which usually just break away to a cut scene to switch up the momentum, pacing or level of engagement.
MeBecomingI
Member
You basically said what I was going to say, but I'll throw in a few things.
I've been playing constantly with my brother and had a few randoms join our fireteam so I find the game really clicks when you are playing with someone. It just feels more alive. That said, it is surprising to me how quiet the game world feels. I feel like it would be much better served having some chat boxes or something above players so they could communicate openly rather than simply through fireteams and voice. But it is so fun to play. I would like to see some more difficulty added in though. My brother and I can get through hard difficulty missions with relative ease, so I'd like to see something tougher.
I do like it. But there are certainly disappointing aspects to it. The story having so much potential and then having it just kind-of-sort-of be there without much substance is the biggest one for me though. The potential for it is great and it makes is that much tougher to swallow knowing that it just really isn't taken advantage of. But I like a lot of what they are doing and the game is very, very fun to play.
I can without any apprehension say Halo 2 is a better game than E.T. on Atari. Of course a modern shooter versus another modern shooter is harder to gauge, but I've stated in the past I prefer linear FPS games over more open ones, and that Borderlands game design isn't really my thing.
And the context behind the Halo 4 talk was the constant barrage of "Destiny is going to wipe Halo 4 off the face of the earth" comments after Halo 4's release and during Destiny being revealed. That reception stuck with me, because now it isn't as clear if Destiny has a better foundation and better design versus a non Bungie created Halo title.
Auto-Reply
Member
We all judge games we haven't played by the dozen, or else we'd have to buy/rent every game there is to form an opinion.
For the first, you make a good point, though having played both I would say that I'd prefer Halo 4's single player(And I did not like Halo 4's campaign). That's an opinion.
To the second, I just completely disagree(opinions, I know). The story is an inch deep, maybe the grimoire cards are writing genius, but that doesn't change the fact that the in game story is just a juxtaposition of a floating eyebot, a sexy-looking queen and her brother, a random robot chick, and some guy in a mask talking to the guardian for a few cutscenes in nonsensical, unexplained, sci-fantasy drivel.
To the third, I specifically mentioned I was talking about the mission design separate from the gameplay. Though I have to scratch my head when you say Destiny is less repetitive then Halo.
The OT wasn't hostile to criticism at all. It has been exactly like this thread, ie: people discussing and arguing.
So your comments were fuelled by long held fanboy resentment and salt? Excellent.
Who the hell made comments like that anyway? I've certainly never read any such comments on GAF. I actually thought Destiny was revealed after the release of Halo 4.
Anyway, just take it to the PM's now, I find your posts, rebuttals and stance on this ridiculous enough that I don't think anything further needs to be said.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
I didnt think about it until Morma brought it up, but I probably agree. Encounters are fun in Destiny, but I really hope Venus and Mars enemies feel different enough from the Fallen and Hive, cause those two are way too similar so far. Do you ever get vehicles in the Destiny campaign other than the bikes?
GrizzleBoy
Banned
Just having a list to roll off your tongue like:
-Loot
-rpg
-Tower hub
-Upgrades
Etc matters not a jot if the implementation is poor.
Its not what's in the game, it'd how what's in the game works and how well it's presented.
COD and Halo have their presentation and game mechanics locked down and you can see a huge difference between the level of care in their implementation compared to destiny.
If you're going to make a game a soulless as Destiny, then you at least need to have measures that allow the community to bring life to the game, but that element is missing too and so it just doesn't work imo.
There are factions, but what for?
There are open worlds, but little variety on them tonnes of loading screens.
There is a safe community hub area, but pretty much no provision for any kind of community to flourish or exist.
/Rant
for now
Uh, Halo Community threads? Like, multiple Halo community threads.
And salty over what? Its better this ends here and now, I'm not going to PM you based on how you treated me in this thread.
Destiny info leaked a month or two after Halo 4's release, might be closer.
mgs2master2
Banned
Polygon's review is scheduled to go up today, if not up already by now.
No other vehicles, other than the ones you steal and have temporarily.
The other enemies look different enough to be interesting. They have a bit different tactics than the hive and fallen so it does change things a bit.
the ones on Mars do.
The Vex on venus are actually much easier than the Hive because they're so damn slow.
Derpcrawler
Member
Destiny is Watch_Dogs times 10. It's overhyped and average at everything, except for gunplay and polish. I don't know, I kinda expected this to be a thing from beta, but I had a hope it will be better in final game.
I expected epic journey to become the "legend", but got stupid story that doesn't make any sense. Almost everything is so mediocre at best. All mission are exactly the same, like literally it's go to point A, kill mobs, go to point B, scan something, then kill mobs, finally get to point C and defend Ghost while it's scanning some crap. And it's same crap for the whole game.
Amount of story content is laughable, you can easily play through everything in 6 hours, 8 hours with all strikes. Strikes themselves are mostly boring as hell, it's same mind set as missions - put ghost to scan something while defending against 3 waves of enemies, get to bullet sponge boss with exact same mechanics and fight it as well as respawning adds. The only mechanics for bosses - they shoot slow projectiles with huge splash damage that is always 2 hit kill.
Nothing changes at level 20, it's just more health for mobs and more elite mobs like Wizards or Captains, so it's pretty much gear check, as soon as you get level 22 through gear, this shit will become as easy as before. Since raids are closed, I can't talk anything on that regard, but from what I saw it's just more bullet sponge bosses in same instance.
Honestly, I can't wrap my head around, on how Borderlands 1 and 2 had more content, variety and story than Destiny, and people still say that Destiny is better, just because of PvP? Which by the way is horrible and unbalanced. I don't see myself ever ever trying it again unless they fix it or just for achievements.
I expected it to not live up to the hype, but not this bad. I thought I am gonna play at least till October where TEW, Alien and Shadow of Mordor will be released, but I don't think I will play more than a week or two at best. I think most of the fun I got was from the fact of talking to my buddies in co-op, I tried to play alone when they were offline and just turned off the game after half a mission of same old crap I did so many times already.
I would give game 6/10, or above average, just because of really good gunplay, atmosphere and music.
I expected epic journey to become the "legend", but got stupid story that doesn't make any sense. Almost everything is so mediocre at best. All mission are exactly the same, like literally it's go to point A, kill mobs, go to point B, scan something, then kill mobs, finally get to point C and defend Ghost while it's scanning some crap. And it's same crap for the whole game.
Amount of story content is laughable, you can easily play through everything in 6 hours, 8 hours with all strikes. Strikes themselves are mostly boring as hell, it's same mind set as missions - put ghost to scan something while defending against 3 waves of enemies, get to bullet sponge boss with exact same mechanics and fight it as well as respawning adds. The only mechanics for bosses - they shoot slow projectiles with huge splash damage that is always 2 hit kill.
Nothing changes at level 20, it's just more health for mobs and more elite mobs like Wizards or Captains, so it's pretty much gear check, as soon as you get level 22 through gear, this shit will become as easy as before. Since raids are closed, I can't talk anything on that regard, but from what I saw it's just more bullet sponge bosses in same instance.
Honestly, I can't wrap my head around, on how Borderlands 1 and 2 had more content, variety and story than Destiny, and people still say that Destiny is better, just because of PvP? Which by the way is horrible and unbalanced. I don't see myself ever ever trying it again unless they fix it or just for achievements.
I expected it to not live up to the hype, but not this bad. I thought I am gonna play at least till October where TEW, Alien and Shadow of Mordor will be released, but I don't think I will play more than a week or two at best. I think most of the fun I got was from the fact of talking to my buddies in co-op, I tried to play alone when they were offline and just turned off the game after half a mission of same old crap I did so many times already.
I would give game 6/10, or above average, just because of really good gunplay, atmosphere and music.
The article (it's 20 pages) not the game.
Minotaurs teleporting in your face does change things up a bit.
My bad, then.
I actually laughed out loud when I saw goblins,hobgoblins,and minotaurs.
Just waiting to see if they've added hobbits, orcs,or skaven in later planets. Laughable naming in this game
A lot of people really feel burned by Bungie which I can understand if you bought into the hype. But boy I'm having a blast! Played for 5/6 hours mostly in co-op, we just tried the strike on the moon and failed miserably at lvl 11.
Also did some crucible matches and some grinding for bounty's. During the free roaming even met some strangers and teamed up in a fire team and chat. I like how the social aspect is not ''to much'' not seeing to much guardians adds a more unique feeling to teaming up(although it could have been a bit easier).
I went into Destiny knowing I was going to get what I played in the beta and I have not been disappointed. Gameplay is solid and I have no problem with the ''grind'' feeling, the sound/music is above average and the graphics/art direction is polished. On the other hand the social aspects could be deeper implemented and the story is nonexistent or as far as I can recall "hurrdurr darkness and you unlocked a new grimoire card".
So all in all I think this game is a solid 7 which it scores mainly on the gameplay.
Also did some crucible matches and some grinding for bounty's. During the free roaming even met some strangers and teamed up in a fire team and chat. I like how the social aspect is not ''to much'' not seeing to much guardians adds a more unique feeling to teaming up(although it could have been a bit easier).
I went into Destiny knowing I was going to get what I played in the beta and I have not been disappointed. Gameplay is solid and I have no problem with the ''grind'' feeling, the sound/music is above average and the graphics/art direction is polished. On the other hand the social aspects could be deeper implemented and the story is nonexistent or as far as I can recall "hurrdurr darkness and you unlocked a new grimoire card".
So all in all I think this game is a solid 7 which it scores mainly on the gameplay.
Borderlands knows exactly what it wants to be and and executes on its concept extremely well.
Destiny ain't got shit on that.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I don't know if anyone has posted about it yet, but I'm listening to Videogamer.com's podcast on Youtube, and Steven Burns is talking about writing the review, and says if he was not obligated to play through it for the review he would have stopped playing it and taken it back to the shop by now.
Doesn't bode especially well for their review.
Doesn't bode especially well for their review.
ChawlieTheFair
pip pip cheerio you slags!
K hit level 20. Most fun parts of the game is doing random strikes on hardest difficulty. PvP is broken, both from lag and balance issues. Get a party of friends and do strikes.
Yu Narukami
Member
NVM.
Yeah. You'd think between myth, Abuse, marathon, and halo bungie would at least be able to find suitable names for their enemies.
PARTYNEXTDOOR
Banned
Its almost as if you didn't read the OP
The Xtortionist
Member
edit - wrong thread
AngryPuppy
Banned
Halo 4 was terrible, pretty much just as bad as Halo 2. The writing in both games still beats Destiny, though. Even Diablo 3's writing beats Destiny, which is something I never thought I'd say.
Why the fuck do all these huge budgeted games have to be written by stupid children?
ChawlieTheFair
pip pip cheerio you slags!
I think it's less the writing and more the acting. A good actor can make any bullshit sound good.
Yu Narukami
Member
Sorry, my bad.
The Xtortionist
Member
The story and writing in Destiny baffles me.
It honestly makes no sense. I think this is a petty thing to say in many situations..but what were they thinking? The story has no clear flow. Plot points and objectives are poorly presented. Dialogue is boring and the characters don't show any personality until a good 50% through the game, and even then it ends up being merely a few unearned quips. The ending is hugely unsatisfying to me. It's just rubbish.
What I can't wrap my head around is how much time Bungie spend on telling us how there's going to be a huge story unfolding and you becoming a legendary guardian part of it all etc - and then the whole story in the way it's presented feels like an afterthought. Seriously, in a way this is Brink all over again and I did not expect that.
ChawlieTheFair
pip pip cheerio you slags!
Same, I thought it was gonna be like a huge 30 hour sweeping thing.
I'm digging it so far but i'm not your hardcore critic but a dude with a very busy job and likes to game when i get home without having too much thought about it.
For me this plays like a simple shoot them up game with class mechanics, loot and fancy effects (and reminds me of those golden halo days).
I can see how it gets old fast, not much diversity in mobs and weapons (this is done poorly in my eye.. why would you just put new skins on the same guns? don't be lazy make a few cool looking ones).
What i do find complete shit and i hope i'm not the only one on that is how easy the "harder"enemys are in terms of bullet spunges and easy movement pattern. Take the wizards.. they strafe > shoot balls > strafe > shoot balls. Why didn't they give the mobs more actions to throw on you?
i still like the game and in my simple gamer eyes worth the 60 euro's! if it provides me with fun the couple of weeks or maybe even months with my buddy's its a 8/10 for me.
For me this plays like a simple shoot them up game with class mechanics, loot and fancy effects (and reminds me of those golden halo days).
I can see how it gets old fast, not much diversity in mobs and weapons (this is done poorly in my eye.. why would you just put new skins on the same guns? don't be lazy make a few cool looking ones).
What i do find complete shit and i hope i'm not the only one on that is how easy the "harder"enemys are in terms of bullet spunges and easy movement pattern. Take the wizards.. they strafe > shoot balls > strafe > shoot balls. Why didn't they give the mobs more actions to throw on you?
i still like the game and in my simple gamer eyes worth the 60 euro's! if it provides me with fun the couple of weeks or maybe even months with my buddy's its a 8/10 for me.
Not that I really care, but Destiny is the first time in a while I feel like we've been blatantly lied to during the build up.
I haven't even tried the PVP and have no interest from the comments people have made, but if I had to give you one reason alone why I prefer Destiny to either of the Borderlands games, it's the gunplay. I just didn't ever find it to be that great in those games, it's not bad it just didn't click with me. Destiny just feels more fun to play in that aspect.
AngryPuppy
Banned
It truly is baffling, yeah. It's just so bad. Every voice actor knows it's garbage, you can hear it through their performances, especially Dinklage. There's nothing any of them could have done to save the dialogue in this script. There's no soul, no humor, no character, nothing. It would have gotten laughed out of a college creative writing class.
GrizzleBoy
Banned
IMO Destiny is an unfinished game.
The reason it was hyped was because they knew itt wasn't finished. Next gen had started, somebody needed a big title to launch in fall and it wasn't finished.
The reason being able to pre order and preload it was made such a big deal out of is because the game is actually an empty shell vs what they actually said it would be.
The reason there are almost zero reviews is because they knew that reviewers who had the game too early would have to let people know how much of an empty shell the game was or face backlash and 100 threads about "gaming journalism".
My theory.
There's no way in he'll bungee stepped back and thought "yep we've made something truly awesome here" before they signed off on destiny.
Since they're bungie they got shooting guns at aliens down nicely, but nothing else about the game is polished. Literally nothing.
Not the rpg element.
Not the community aspect.
Nothing.
Alx
Member
While it seems to be a reasonable feeling that I do share from my short experience with the game, I also think that the game isn't meant to stay in that state forever. It's a long term project, and maybe Activision and Bungie hyped it on content, knowing everything that is on the roadmap. That may have made them overlook how the first impression may be dissapointing.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if two years from now, we'll all be looking back at this launch and say "hey remember how everybody felt Destiny was barren and hollow back then ? How things have changed...". It doesn't really excuse an experience that some are finding disappointing, though.
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