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[Bizazedo]

I know, I know, yet another Destiny thread.

This thread is to discuss the lore / spoilers. I know, I know, "Biz, you think there's a storyline? Hahahahaha…!”. Well, no, I don’t, and that’s a problem admittedly. That being said, I do think there are nuggets of great stuff and the environment does tell at least a slight story. Or hint at things. Or are maybe just the odd choices of level designers that can be interpreted incorrectly. Quick example are the level 18 Celebrants of Oryx Hive at the bottom of the ship where the second beacon is. One is examining some electronic device that doesn’t look Hive made. Quite frankly, they’re very out of place as there is no Hive infection to speak of and Fallen are on the ship above them.

Either way, it’s at least fun to BS about.

So those of us who’ve played, we know that the story starts with you being dead in a rusted out hulk of a car in the Russian Cosmodrome. Or maybe next to it. Hard to say. Ghost brings us back and is all “Hey, welcome back, but I just rez’d you in an area where we’re in deep shit. Let’s move so you don’t die again.”

If the Traveler / Ghosts have an army of almost impossible to keep dead soldiers, they should probably travel around in groups (of more than 3…at least 4, amirite? ) more often since the only way for an enemy to keep them dead would be to get the body and destroy it seemingly.

We also don’t know why some humans have light and others don’t. How does Ghost know I was qualified to be a Titan? Maybe I was a pacifist toll booth attendant for all he knows? He could have found that old assault weapon and I could not have known how to use it? Yeah, the whole set-up has a lot of issues.

We successfully make it to The City, which apparently took a long time to build under the damaged / dead God that could fall out of the sky at any moment. As it is dead / dying. Or maybe not. Notice the Tower is nowhere near directly under the damn thing. I’m sure it would be caught in the shockwave, anyways, but it’s fun to think about. Either way, the fact that it’s dead/dying and may not stay up forever hasn’t really been considered. The indefatigable human spirit I guess. Additionally, exactly how it protects the City or protected it long enough for the remaining humans to return to power is also unexplained. The Speaker talks to us, says we have many questions, but answers none. At least he gives a kickass speech about how “Now…the children are frightened anyways”. I love that line.

He tells us to go out to Earth and beyond where Guardians are already fighting and join them. Huh. So Guardians are already out there kicking ass? And random banter from NPC’s seems to indicate that? That’s odd, considering the end of the Earth based missions where we find an Array and places in the solar system that we thought were lost. I'd imagine a quick sensor sweep could clear that up?

At best, this is confusing, as the very first mission is to find a Guardian who captured a spot on the Moon and then went missing. The player is obviously not the tip of the spear here. Later on, we have to go find the Awoken. Ghost knows where these people are and, hell, there are Awoken in the Tower. If they’re from the edge of the ‘Verse, as it were, what the hell is going on with the storytelling? It’s like it doesn’t recognize its own timeline.

Speaking of, the Time Traveler (imo), the Exo Stranger, cues us in on the Vex. We go fight them because the stranger said to and, more importantly, the assholes tried to kill us. Ghost translates part of their communications where it mentions space and time and considers it ludicrous that the Vex can time travel. He later seems to halfway come around to it once we find the Black Garden and kill…something….so that the Traveler can heal? I guess? Through no proof besides the Exo Stranger, but the Speaker holds a party regardless.

I dunno. I’m at a loss at this point. The only thing I do know is I like fighting the Cabal best and I actually only feel for the Fallen. They seem shit out of luck and are only trying to survive. Every single other faction beats up on them. Poor guys.

I just re-read the post....yep, that's the story.

 

[Mesoian]

I was worried that the story and world building of Destiny would be limp and that I wasn't sure if the mission structure would be enough to keep the game interesting for longer than a week.

Seems I was right. And that's a real bummer.

 

[Tunesmith]

The fact that you died in a traffic jam is the best thing about the story.

Do we know what Joseph Staten's involvement extent was in the story writing before he departed? Did he write the lore/grimoires but left the in-game stuff to others after he left? Would explain a lot.

 

[sflufan]

I think you just put more thought into your post about Destiny's "story" than the actual writers of Destiny's "story" themselves.

 

[DesertFox]

I was just searching for a thread like this earlier this morning. After finishing the story mode, I'm left with more questions than before September 9th. What is the darkness? Where did it come from?

The final fight with the darkness controlling the Vex was interesting, but will we ever get to see a physical manifestation of the darkness itself? Does it even have a physical form, or does it just possess the other enemy types we've already seen?

So confused, hoping I missed something that other players have found.

 

[WrenchNinja]

My favourite part of the story was the part where I was an awoken and the awoken don't acknowledge this at all in the reef

 

[Darklord]

It was a poorly structured story but I think the universe seems really cool and I'd definitely be interesting in going back to that universe again.

 

[Brakke]

So... what the hell is an Awoken anyway? I have not even a single clue who that edge-of-the-Light lady was. Do the Awoken lead the Fallen? Are the Fallen Awoken under their masks? Why is my create-a-character Awoken but that queen lady didn't recognize any kinship? Are there three factions of Awoken: the bad Fallen, this queen lady's Fallen, and some Guardians?

More importantly: who cares?

Destiny doesn't even answer the most basic questions. What the hell even is The Darkness? Are all the enemy factions "members" of the Darkness? No, they all fight each other... Do they all worship that heart thing? Does Darkness just mean "things that aren't from Earth?".

 

[foxtrot3d]

The Speaker talks to us, says we have many questions, but answers none. At least he gives a kickass speech about how “Now…the children are frightened anyways”. I love that line.

GODDAMMIT! I'm at work and damn near bursted out laughing aloud when I read that. So true.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

The lore and its implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but I did come across a piece I actually really enjoyed yesterday:

I am Pujari. These are the visions I have had of the Black Garden.
The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason.
The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday. The red flowers bloom forever.
There are gardeners now. They came into the garden in vessels of bronze and they move through the groves in rivers of thought.
This is the vision I had when I leapt from the Shores of Time and let myself sink:
I walked beneath the blossoms. The light came from ahead and the shadows of the flowers were words. They said things but I will not write them here.
At the end of the path grew a flower in the shape of a Ghost. I reached out to pluck it and it cut me with a thorn. I bled and the blood was Light.
The Ghost said to me: You are a dead thing made by a dead power in the shape of the dead. All you will ever do is kill. You do not belong here. This is a place of life.
The Traveler is life, I said. You are a creature of Darkness. You seek to deceive me.
But I looked behind me, down the long slope where the blossoms tumbled in the warm wind and the great trees wept sap like blood or wine, and I felt doubt.
When my Ghost raised me from the sea there was a thorn-cut in my left hand and it has not healed since.

This is the kind of thing I was hoping we'd see - vague but evocative quasi-spiritual lore, not lists of what The Noun did to The Noun, which is unfortunately what most of the Grimoire is.

 

[oti]

There should be a Destiny fanfiction thread.

 

[Altima]

I feel like they leave us with a lot of doubt and they really know that we are in doubt.

I hope I will know more in the expansions. Do not want to wait for Destiny 2 for that.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

That being said, I quite like what is there already. Having the companion app ready when you unlock grimoire's is very handy too, as they provide quite a bit of information.

 

[DocSeuss]

I have a huge, HUGE essay I'll be sticking on my tumblr later. If it's cool, I'll link it here.

The Speaker talks to us, says we have many questions, but answers none. At least he gives a kickass speech about how “Now…the children are frightened anyways”. I love that line.

Except he literally uses this line

to tell you

why he won't tell you things.

Like... WHAT? "I could tell you this. I could tell you that. But the children are frightened anyways."

I like how the random lady shows up in the story all of three times, basically just to get you to Venus. Then she never, ever shows up again.

Bungie should hire me to write their games. If this is what they have to show for it, I'm better than everyone in their employ.

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

That being said, I quite like what is there already. Having the companion app ready when you unlock grimoire's is very handy too, as they provide quite a bit of information.

What is there already is horrible. And, uh, it's important for a $60 game to actually have a complete story? Sure, it can end on a sequel bait note, but a story should always feel like a complete story. Even the giant, three-part Lord of the Rings story feels like a complete story.

 

[Bizazedo]

The lore and its implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but I did come across a piece I actually really enjoyed yesterday:
This is the kind of thing I was hoping we'd see - vague but evocative quasi-spiritual lore, not lists of what The Noun did to The Noun, which is unfortunately what most of the Grimoire is.

Yeah, I got that one. That and a few other Grimoire cards are great. I borderline consider it extended universe style fiction, though, as it's not technically in the game? I dunno. It's good and interesting, especially the Vex stuff, but it's just small nuggets of quality that don't really do anything.

There should be a Destiny fanfiction thread.

Honestly, I don't even know how you'd do it. We don't know enough about what the Darkness and the Light and the Traveler actually are to write anything, do we? That and it's horribly inconsistent about how far we've recovered. That's ignoring the fact that resurrection is built into the game's mythos....kind of takes tension out of too many scenarios.

"Goddamnit, the Speaker fell off the ladder again. Get his Ghost, we need a revive."

 

[Inferno313]

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

That being said, I quite like what is there already. Having the companion app ready when you unlock grimoire's is very handy too, as they provide quite a bit of information.

It's not that we're expecting an end. We're expecting a satisfying narrative.

"The story isn't complete" is not an excuse for a weak narrative. Star Wars: A New Hope, Harry Potter and the Sorcerrer's Stone, Fellowship of the Ring... These are all entries into huge series. Yet they function on their own as satisfying and compelling narratives.

Destiny plays like an outline of a first draft of a story. Neither compelling or satisfying

 

[Brakke]

There should be a Destiny fanfiction thread.

The People came together and built a Thread. In this Thread were created The Posts through space and time. Until one day did the Mods come and begin The Banning for The Posts by The People in The Thread were of The Bad.

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

That being said, I quite like what is there already. Having the companion app ready when you unlock grimoire's is very handy too, as they provide quite a bit of information.

Ok but neither has it a beginning. Or a middle. How could you possibly like "what's there" when there's nothing there at all?

 

[oti]

Guardians of Light.
The Darkness.

Destiny is a mixture of Digimon and Kingdom Hearts.

 

[Bizazedo]

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

I'm sure it will, but what's there now makes no sense. An expansion doesn't fix the inconsistencies that have already been created. At least one expansion, the House of Wolves....aren't the Fallen who serve the Awoken Queen the House of Wolves? So that, already, seems like a tangent to the main storyline.

The specific parts of the lore are great, though. The overall puzzle they fit into, though, is a mess. Or broken.

 

[Korten]

There should be a Destiny fanfiction thread.

I feel like a Destiny FanFic would have more story than the game will little effort...

I will say as the host of the Halo Lore Thread... Going from Halo lore to Destiny's lore... Feels in many ways like a major downgrade.

 

[explodet]

Guardians of Light.
The Darkness.

Destiny is a mixture of Digimon and Kingdom Hearts.

I was watching a friend play through Destiny's story, and asked the following:

"So right now you're fighting hobgoblins, harpies and a minotaur? And before you were fighting knights and wizards? So this is 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons with rocket launchers?"

My question wasn't dignified with a response.

 

[GolazoDan]

Still can't believe the Ghost is a Ghost and his name is Ghost.

This is the worst thing Bungie have ever done.

 

[Brakke]

Guardians of Light.
The Darkness.

Destiny is a mixture of Digimon and Kingdom Hearts.

Also:

 

[MrCompletely]

My favourite part of the story was the part where I was an awoken and the awoken don't acknowledge this at all in the reef

That really confused me, glad I'm not the only one.

 

[Baliis]

Too much of the lore is in the grimoire cards for them to not be readable in game. Pretty much all of your questions about the awoken are answered in them, where they are, why there are awoken guardians, why she controls some of the falleb, etc.

 

[MattXIII]

I like how everything is 'The' something

The Traveler
The Speaker
The Darkness
The Black Garden
The Tower
The Worlds Grave
...

Spoiler

urrgh

 

[foxtrot3d]

Too much of the lore is in the grimoire cards for them to not be readable in game. Pretty much all of your questions about the awoken are answered in them, where they are, why there are awoken guardians, why she controls some of the falleb, etc.

If you can't explain your story in game then it's not a story, Bungie was already guilty of this crap with Halo and now they've multiplied that by 1000.

 

[ultron87]

I love the idea that the Vex turned Mercury into a machine in a single day during the Collapse before the Traveler could stop them. It suggests tech and combat on a scale that is infinitely beyond what you do as a Guardian. Of course this also makes a single Guardian ransacking whatever the Black Garden is pretty absurd.

 

[explodet]

This is the worst thing Bungie have ever done.

I dunno, Oni made me way more irrationally angry than this game ever could.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

Ok but neither has it a beginning. Or a middle. How could you possibly like "what's there" when there's nothing there at all?

You're supposed to be out of the loop. The story is from the perspective of your character, who has been dead for centuries. To expect them to know almost everything about a situation they were forced into is quite asinine, in my opinion. The beginning of your story starts when your Ghost revives you.

Also, read the grimoire cards and a lot of the questions in the OP are addressed through them. It isn't hard to read them as you earn them. Just keep your phone next to you.

 

[antitrop]

I was watching a friend play through Destiny's story, and asked the following:

"So right now you're fighting hobgoblins, harpies and a minotaur? And before you were fighting knights and wizards? So this is 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons with rocket launchers?"

My question wasn't dignified with a response.

Some people just want mindless, routine fun. Some expect more.

 

[Eusis]

For what it's worth, the story isn't complete yet. The expansions will only elaborate further. Don't understand why people were expecting a game that Bungie plans on supporting for a very long time, through several expansions, would have a definitive 'end' before any content is released.

This is what you would say to someone complaining about story content in the beta. The full game should have had more properly woven into it, and not what there is mostly shoved into an online resource. And as stated it's not about having an ending so much as having a satisfying story period.

Fuck, it sounds like .hack had more meat per installment and that was like a single game cut up into 4 parts.

 

[atr0cious]

Here's a question I have left over from the beta. Why does it matter if the earth is destroyed, when there is only one habitable city, and apparently we've already figured out space travel? The end of the moon mission has Dinklebot spouting it and it was really jarring as they give no reason to care other than you're supposed to.

 

[Inferno313]

You're supposed to be out of the loop. The story is from the perspective of your character, who has been dead for centuries. To expect them to know almost everything about a situation they were forced into is quite asinine, in my opinion. The beginning of your story begins when your Ghost revives you.

We're not asking for more bullshit exposition about what happened before we came along all that much, it'd just be nice to have some of the basics of a story. You know, logic, character development, a sound structure.... Just one of those things would've made the story much better.

The only arc any character has in the game is a hunter's arcblade.

 

[Oersted]

Here's a question I have left over from the beta. Why does it matter if the earth is destroyed, when there is only one habitable city, and apparently we've already figured out space travel?

I do think that and many more things can be explained by the years of development.

 

[Messofanego]

Guardians of Light.
The Darkness.

Destiny is a mixture of Digimon and Kingdom Hearts.

I would actually buy this game if it was that mix.

 

[foxtrot3d]

I just love how nothing about the world of Destiny makes a lick of sense, things are just put in because they look cool not because they serve a purpose. I mean do ships travel at light speed? If so why does it take like minutes to get to the Moon?

Oh and anyone points me to some Grimoire I'll throw my Space Ghost right at your Coast.

 

[ethomaz]

I liked the story.

I was asking me who is this powerful mage called Traveler that changed the life of everybody and now all the guardians are trying to find him.

There are a good end that give you a taste of the universe with more races, planets, etc that I believe Bungie have plans to fill up at least this generation.

 

[BouncyFrag]

So at some point will the traveler pop open and we find out what is inside it?

 

[ultron87]

Here's a question I have left over from the beta. Why does it matter if the earth is destroyed, when there is only one habitable city, and apparently we've already figured out space travel?

It isn't that there is only one habitable city. It's that the city is the only safe place for humans in the whole solar system (and possibly the galaxy) due to the various encroaching alien species. And those aliens are apparently all part of the Darkness except they fight each other? I dunno.

 

[Bizazedo]

Also, read the grimoire cards and a lot of the questions in the OP are addressed through them. It isn't hard to read them as you earn them. Just keep your phone next to you.

I highly disagree with that. Ghost thinks Vex being able to time travel is ridiculous, yet the grimoire / details of the Vex on the website tell us immediately that the Vex can time travel. That in and of itself means the grimoire is for the player, but the characters in the game and the story we're playing obviously don't have access to this info.

Which, again, makes the story incoherent and confused. The story itself doesn't understand what's going on.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

You're supposed to be out of the loop. The story is from the perspective of your character, who has been dead for centuries. To expect them to know almost everything about a situation they were forced into is quite asinine, in my opinion. The beginning of your story begins when your Ghost revives you.

Also, read the grimoire cards and a lot of the questions in the OP are addressed through them. It isn't hard to read them as you earn them. Just keep your phone next to you.

I agree with this. It's basically Dark Souls, back from the dead introduction and all. The story comes from the environments and the bits of info you can piece together from item descriptions and other places.

It's certainly better than the typical Battlefield/CoD style campaign where you are ramrodded through typical extreme disaster scenario cutscenes (you survive a direct assault helicopter attack and an entire building collapse in BF4...) and Transformers movie level exposition from characters.

 

[Inferno313]

So at some point will the traveler pop open and we find out what is inside it?

This guy!

 

[MattXIII]

Calling it now. The Speaker will be the final antagonist down the road.

 

[atr0cious]

It isn't that there is only one habitable city. It's that the city is the only safe place for humans in the whole solar system (and possibly the galaxy) due to the various encroaching alien species. And those aliens are apparently all part of the Darkness except they fight each other? I dunno.

But the game clearly shows we have figured out lightspeed, so humanity stuck in one spot is pretty much the opposite of human instinct via self preservation. This doesn't take in to account We've already found celestial beings similar to earth, and bungie was even bragging about their scientific "accuracy."

 

[Cybit]

Today's PA comic pretty much hits it on the head, sadly.

 

[udiie]

I think I understand the story better now that I've read op's post.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

My favourite part of the story was the part where I was an awoken and the awoken don't acknowledge this at all in the reef

The Awoken represent the majority in the Reef, but they are not the only race there. They don't care about outsiders, regardless of race.

It would have been cool to have a line of dialogue or something to at least acknowledge that, though.

 

[foxtrot3d]

I agree with this. It's basically Dark Souls, back from the dead introduction and all. The story comes from the environments and the bits of info you can piece together from item descriptions and other places.

It's certainly better than the typical Battlefield/CoD style campaign where you are ramrodded through typical extreme disaster scenario cutscenes (you survive a direct assault helicopter attack and an entire building collapse in BF4...) and Transformers movie level exposition from characters.

That's a lazy excuse, and even still you're character is not "completely out of the loop," as a Guardian he would know what the The Traveler is and how Space Travel and all that works. Also, funny how a character "out of the loop" for centuries immediately knows how to operate all machinery and structures from the future.

The story is beyond crap, don't try and give them praise as some Dark Souls inspiration when they most definietly were not going for that. The fact that there are even actual cutscenes trying to tell a traditional story disproves that entire theory.

 

[Asbear]

I don't know how it works when developers hire writers, like how do they find them and how they know if they're good enough, but I could imagine sort of a "writer's audition" and they probably hired Destiny's lead because he wrote a paragraph that sounded very deep or something.

But like just about every single line in the game it's more like 2deep4u than it's anything substantial.

I shaked my head so many times. At first I was confused but towards the end of the campaign it was pretty obvious the writing was completely clueless. A very basic principle for writing is that when you tell a story you need to make it clear what's going on, who are the characters, and who wants to do what and such. In Destiny nothing was clear. The intro left me with questions and the ending left even more of the initial questions left unanswered.


At least Destiny having awful writing makes me more optimistic about 343's efforts with Halo 5. Halo 4 was kinda eh, but it was at least better executed than Destiny, and I think Halo 5 being about as good would make sense.