I think the main problem that people have with Destiny is not that it is a bad game per se, but that it falls so far behind what people were expecting. And who can blame them, when we consider what kind of promises were made by Bungie and Activision. Turning the FPS "on it's head", "revolutionary gameplay", "a never before seen experience" etc. But now having seen the story to it's conclusion, I ask: where is any of this revolutionary, never before seen stuff?
I mean, where is the innovation? In my view Destiny brings nothing new to the table. Sure, the gameplay is good, as has always been the case with Bungie games. But there is no revolution in it either - it's pretty much a carbon copy of Halo gameplay. And there isn't even something to spice it up like space battles in Halo Reach. I mean, why the hell do we have this cocktease spacecraft but there is absolutely nothing to do with it but to look at the same orbiting animations over and over again? Surely space battles would have fitted to Destiny perfectly...and with 500mil budget there is really no excuse for lack of content.
And even in the normal combat scenarios, couldn't there be something new, and by new I mean new to a Bungie game - not necessarily something done the first time. Ground deformation/destruction? Added particle and dust effects on next-gen at least (I hate that as beautiful as the world is it feels like a diorama)? New ways to move (like in Titanfall)? Asymmetric gameplay (like in Evolve)? Interesting, well developed NPCs who you want to interact with? Huge, explorable worlds full of loot, places to find (as we were promised btw...)...something? anything? But alas, Destiny doesn't bring any of this. It just plays it safe. And if somebody thinks I am asking too much, am I really? Aren't at least some of the features I mentioned above to be expected now, seeing as most of it was done already on last gen? The sad part is that I would have been happier even if Destiny was Halo, but everything done slightly better. But it is not.
Sure, sometimes playing it safe is good. Look at The Last of Us. One of the best games of last generation, but it doesn't really bring anything revolutionary. Why? It doesn't need to, because every single element is fine tuned to almost perfection. Immersive story, top notch gameplay, amazing voice acting talent, great production values and PvP, well build and explained believable gameworld, even exploration...etc. You can play it safe if everything you offer is absolutely top of the line stuff. And this is where Destiny fails. It gets the gameplay part, but is woefully lacking in world building, story, voice acting, exploration, world size. It plays so safe it makes itself boring and lackluster.
In my opinion it is totally unacceptable for a major production like Destiny be lacking in so many ways and bringing so little content. In an age where even indie titles like No Man's Sky are bringing game chancing innovation, it is ridiculous that with 500mil budget all we get is this play-it-safe cookie cutter FPS with little content, repetitive gameplay and almost no exploration whatsoever. How is this the space epic we have been promised for the last 12 months? It wouldn't even matter so much if we weren't promised so much more - like I said Destiny is not a bad game - it's just that it is not great either.
I can't really give Destiny more than 7/10. And it saddens me.