MMaRsu
Member
Wow what did you say to them? I wouldnt mind getting a refund as well. I think my money ia better spent elsewhere.
Gonna have to try Sony's custoner service.
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Destiny - Review Thread
- Thread starter opticalmace
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Wow what did you say to them? I wouldnt mind getting a refund as well. I think my money ia better spent elsewhere.
Gonna have to try Sony's custoner service.
I was curious how the original Phantasy Star Online stacked up against this on Metacritic, but the lowest score that game was a 70. Everything else was 80+ with even a few 100's under its belt.
But then I remembered how amazing the graphics were for its time (fantastic lighting, etc), and how awesome the social features of that game were.
But then I remembered how amazing the graphics were for its time (fantastic lighting, etc), and how awesome the social features of that game were.
Literally nothing to talk about.
MMaRsu
Member
guysy, this is the review thread, plot analysis in the OT plz. Really hard to shift through all this hatoraid
Thats not he meant. There is also no plot to analyse.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
I was watching impression of Raid and looks like it isn't all that great. Anyone else feel bad for getting the Digital Guardian edition? lol this is the first and last time I paid for DLC upfront. Never again, never fucking again.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A6vF-ePDZP0
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A6vF-ePDZP0
Poodlestrike
Banned
Nah. There's a plot. There's no meaningful story, but there is a plot.
I don't think the issue is quantity, it's quality. When every mission devolves into "wait here and shoot dudes while your ghost scans something" it doesn't matter if you have 30 missions like this or 60. There needs to be variety. And the broken loot system needs fixing ASAP.
It also had a great story to discover...
There really isn't any aspect where I'd put Destiny over PSO other than pvp (and no, definitely not music, before any suggests). PSO was fucking incredible, and I don't think Destiny deserves the frequent comparisons.
TheCanisDirus
Member
Yes and Yes. I just can't understand how a dev like Bungie could think it ok to have every single mission be a repeat of the "scan and begin horde mode" mechanic. It honestly shocked me during the playthrough... i kinda felt bad for them... for some reason. Something major had to have happened during development that nobody knows about.
J
JoJo UK
Unconfirmed Member
I talked about how I knew it wasn’t normal practice (though dropping in the whole thing about BF4 premiums being refunded) and asked to be ‘downgraded’ to the vanguard edition (basically refund the expansion pack bit). They said they couldn’t do that so offered a full refund as a one off gesture of good will.
Wow really?
Nice way of setting up expectations for EPIC CINEMATIC SPACE OPERA...
You don't see people complain about Dark/Demon Souls or Metroid, because the game don't promise something else. I love the sparse setting in Souls.
Anyone who defends the story has to answer this simple question using just what is told, showed or otherwise described in the game:
What do the various enemy factions want and why? Why if they have a common cause have they not allied against us?
Also, in this far future with infra galactic conflict, how is there is no space combat? Are you telling me anyone with a jump ship can just get around freely without being attacked? Hell, even Halo showed how the covenant blockade a planet before glassing it.
What do the various enemy factions want and why? Why if they have a common cause have they not allied against us?
Also, in this far future with infra galactic conflict, how is there is no space combat? Are you telling me anyone with a jump ship can just get around freely without being attacked? Hell, even Halo showed how the covenant blockade a planet before glassing it.
You didn't like any of the missions? I guess I'm just weird because I found the missions enjoyable and doing the random daily heroic has been fun as well.
NemesisPrime
Banned
The big difference is that Halo has some kind of framework that gets you interested in the lore and the universe. The bad guys have "character" and the good guys have personality (yes even MC). The battles and locations also make more sense than anything in Destiny.
Why am I on the moon? Why am I on Venus? WTF am I doing on Mars and why am I shooting a pulsating Chtuloid creature that can turn rocks into robots by magic???? And why is the Traveler not active after all that or at least talking to me???????
PrivateWHudson
Member
Personally, I wouldn't say hate. I think this thread is so active because it's more of a tough love thing. It's so hard when I'm totally having fun with the game, but I just know that Bungie is capable of so much more. Story aside, you can see so much more bubbling under the surface. When I hover over an activity, it shows me that I have 3 friends playing here. You know at some point they have to add the option to see who it is and join them. Little things like that are everywhere, and just need to be fleshed out better. Leveling the Cryptarch is probably meant to actually do something, but it didn't make it.
There were so many seemingly easy and great suggestions just from GAF alone during the Beta, and none of them were introduced in the retail version. You just know when Activision said they were happy with the Beta and felt they could release it as is, they weren't kidding, and did just that.
The framework is there, it just needs some tweaking and NOT as DLC.
I learned from Halo 4 to never buy a Season Pass until I've put a significant amount of time into a game, or even until after the first DLC is out. The only one I've bought that I consider worth it was the Gears 3 Season Pass.
My plot summary is as follows:
the end
Traveler arrives on earth, humans flourish. Darkness (?) arrives and something goes wrong (?) somehow humans only have 1 city left.
I'm a guardian who is revived by a part of the traveler (ghost) and I walk around and meet some factions that want to kill us but also all battle each other (?)
In the end I kill some orb that belongs to one of the factions because its sapping the travellers energy or something
I'm a guardian who is revived by a part of the traveler (ghost) and I walk around and meet some factions that want to kill us but also all battle each other (?)
In the end I kill some orb that belongs to one of the factions because its sapping the travellers energy or something
the end
No, that was the IGN reviewer on Twitter explaining why not all games need story or something.
The mission design is very flat, but more environment variety would greatly benefit the game, even if the encounters were still all very similar. The core combat mechanics are really strong, but the same four areas over and over just gets old too fast.
An in-game clan system, and optional matchmaking for everything would also have helped a great deal.
Primethius
Banned
A bit off-topic, but a friend made this in response to some conversations we had and I loved it:
TheCanisDirus
Member
See, you did that better than Bungie did.
It's amazing how little flak the game's gotten from the lack of maps, actually. It's basically Dragon Age 2 the Shooter, after all.
gutterboy44
Member
"20 is where the game begins!" Ok cool, can't wait to get to 20. I get to 20.. now what. Oh, wow, that is a crazy fucking grind to get marks and rep. Ok, guess I can do that. But what about doing things at a higher challenge, lets check out those strikes... oh wow really really shitty rewards at even the highest level difficulty, that take a shit load of grinding to get to. Some rocket yard chest runs and loot cave later.. I have enough light for 23. Now what? Those strikes are still pathetic in their rewards, when I have a fireteam of 2 we often get matched with no one and it puts us in a strike with 2 players, fuck that, with the bullet sponge bosses.
20 isn't where this game begins, 20 is where this game completely falls apart. The ending was just hilariously bad. Everyone should be embarrassed at Bungie who tried to hype up the story and variety of this game. How is it possible that they are repeating the exact same mistakes vanilla Diablo 3 made!? They don't even have the Auction House to use as an excuse either. Fuck them for pretending the end game content was where things really take off. It is where the horrible flaws are exposed under a spot light in my opinion. I really want to do strikes and heroics, etc. But I am not going to drop 1+ hour on single missions when you get fuck all for loot, marks, and rep. 30 min of chests, caves or public farming is way better but tedious as all hell.
Ugh, sorry. I had a weekend to myself to really binge on this game with friends and it was so disappointing. The lame PvE campaign, the huge wall we all hit at 20, the complete lack of incentive to try anything challenging. We played for hours and hours with nothing to show for it. The vanguard rep and mark grind is way slower than I expected. Not a single leg drop for my entire fireteam all weekend. Chest runs and loot cave was the only time we had a glimmer of hope of getting something interesting. The Angry Joe review video is so dead on. After this weekend, I think the current meta critic rating is incredibly generous. The Bungie name is the only thing keeping it alive, but imo should be a bigger reason to shave off more points. They should know better than this half assed shit they put out.
20 isn't where this game begins, 20 is where this game completely falls apart. The ending was just hilariously bad. Everyone should be embarrassed at Bungie who tried to hype up the story and variety of this game. How is it possible that they are repeating the exact same mistakes vanilla Diablo 3 made!? They don't even have the Auction House to use as an excuse either. Fuck them for pretending the end game content was where things really take off. It is where the horrible flaws are exposed under a spot light in my opinion. I really want to do strikes and heroics, etc. But I am not going to drop 1+ hour on single missions when you get fuck all for loot, marks, and rep. 30 min of chests, caves or public farming is way better but tedious as all hell.
Ugh, sorry. I had a weekend to myself to really binge on this game with friends and it was so disappointing. The lame PvE campaign, the huge wall we all hit at 20, the complete lack of incentive to try anything challenging. We played for hours and hours with nothing to show for it. The vanguard rep and mark grind is way slower than I expected. Not a single leg drop for my entire fireteam all weekend. Chest runs and loot cave was the only time we had a glimmer of hope of getting something interesting. The Angry Joe review video is so dead on. After this weekend, I think the current meta critic rating is incredibly generous. The Bungie name is the only thing keeping it alive, but imo should be a bigger reason to shave off more points. They should know better than this half assed shit they put out.
So,
I'm up to level 8 (nearly to 9) after about 2 hours of playing this weekend.
I'm actually back to give Bungie some credit. It's the one thing from the beta that stuck out to me that they got right. The random events that take place in the hub world are very nice. I got hit with 2 of the "random spikey thing drops from the sky" events on Old Russia and they were pretty fun.
It's really the only instance that I had a "oh hey, there are other people here and we are working together" feeling I've had in the game. Hopefully they can refine the base game and move it more in that direction. I would like if they did some of what NFS Rivals did and find ways to coax players into the same areas through little random events and then bring in a big group event.
Still, the lack of proximity chat really took away from it. So it was more or less an uncoordinated effort to pop enemies.
I also had a random event where I was the only player around and couldn't do a thing on my own, and that was pretty disappointing. I don't know if the moon has random events or not, but that world was a barren wasteland with no other human characters when I moved to it.
I'm still disappointed in the game, but wanted to give them props for a well designed element to the game even if it still has some issues.
I'm up to level 8 (nearly to 9) after about 2 hours of playing this weekend.
I'm actually back to give Bungie some credit. It's the one thing from the beta that stuck out to me that they got right. The random events that take place in the hub world are very nice. I got hit with 2 of the "random spikey thing drops from the sky" events on Old Russia and they were pretty fun.
It's really the only instance that I had a "oh hey, there are other people here and we are working together" feeling I've had in the game. Hopefully they can refine the base game and move it more in that direction. I would like if they did some of what NFS Rivals did and find ways to coax players into the same areas through little random events and then bring in a big group event.
Still, the lack of proximity chat really took away from it. So it was more or less an uncoordinated effort to pop enemies.
I also had a random event where I was the only player around and couldn't do a thing on my own, and that was pretty disappointing. I don't know if the moon has random events or not, but that world was a barren wasteland with no other human characters when I moved to it.
I'm still disappointed in the game, but wanted to give them props for a well designed element to the game even if it still has some issues.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I actually wrote up a summary earlier:
-You are awoken by a Ghost, a fragment of the Traveler given sentience and tasked with supporting the Guardians, those capable of wielding the Traveler's light against those that would threaten the solar system (sorta).
-As you travel through Old Russia, you become aware that a Warmind (a powerful AI that coordinated the Solar System's military forces during the Golden Age) survived, and apparently the Hive have a) set up shop on Earth and b) are trying to kill it.
-Looking to understand the new Hive presence on Earth, you go to the moon, where you discover that they're massing an invasion.
-You successfully defuse the upcoming invasion by destroying a Shrine of Oryx, which the Hive use to communicate with their god/king/godking. At some point (memory's a bit cloudy), you also receive a message warning you of a much worse threat brewing on Venus, so you head there to check it out.
-When you reach Venus, you begin clashing with a mysterious race of robots known as the Vex. A mysterious Exo Hunter (who isn't a Guardian, interestingly enough) tells you that these Vex are the absolute worst of the worst out there, and you should really put some effort into stopping them. Apparently they're headquarted in something called the Black Garden, and the Queen of the Reef can help you get there. So you set out for the Reef.
-The Reef is a very strange place. The Queen and her Brother seem to rule there, and they're not terribly fond of outsiders (especially the brother). Still, she thinks it might be useful to have a Guardian owe her a favor, so she tells you that to get into the Black Garden you need to get her the head of a Vex Gate Lord. Having done so, she makes her brother give you the component you need. Unfortunately, it's dead. In the further interest of a) stopping the Vex and b) making absolutely certain both you and the rest of the Guardians would owe her, she makes you aware that you need to go to Mars to recharge the thing. So you do.
-On Mars, you successfully recharge the Gate Lord thingy, though you have to kick the ass of quite a few members of the Cabal (a race of interstellar conquerers using Roman legionare tactics, more or less) to do it. After that, you raid the Black Garden. Once there, you discover something peculiar: the Vex do inded exist in the past, present, and future, and they coordinate across all three. They have begun worshipping an entity they discovered... somewhere, and are conquering reality for it. Apparently, it's vulnerable to something the Guardians are able to bring to the table, so after a quick boss fight it flees. Queue self-congratulatory "this is only the beginning" cutscene.
-As you travel through Old Russia, you become aware that a Warmind (a powerful AI that coordinated the Solar System's military forces during the Golden Age) survived, and apparently the Hive have a) set up shop on Earth and b) are trying to kill it.
-Looking to understand the new Hive presence on Earth, you go to the moon, where you discover that they're massing an invasion.
-You successfully defuse the upcoming invasion by destroying a Shrine of Oryx, which the Hive use to communicate with their god/king/godking. At some point (memory's a bit cloudy), you also receive a message warning you of a much worse threat brewing on Venus, so you head there to check it out.
-When you reach Venus, you begin clashing with a mysterious race of robots known as the Vex. A mysterious Exo Hunter (who isn't a Guardian, interestingly enough) tells you that these Vex are the absolute worst of the worst out there, and you should really put some effort into stopping them. Apparently they're headquarted in something called the Black Garden, and the Queen of the Reef can help you get there. So you set out for the Reef.
-The Reef is a very strange place. The Queen and her Brother seem to rule there, and they're not terribly fond of outsiders (especially the brother). Still, she thinks it might be useful to have a Guardian owe her a favor, so she tells you that to get into the Black Garden you need to get her the head of a Vex Gate Lord. Having done so, she makes her brother give you the component you need. Unfortunately, it's dead. In the further interest of a) stopping the Vex and b) making absolutely certain both you and the rest of the Guardians would owe her, she makes you aware that you need to go to Mars to recharge the thing. So you do.
-On Mars, you successfully recharge the Gate Lord thingy, though you have to kick the ass of quite a few members of the Cabal (a race of interstellar conquerers using Roman legionare tactics, more or less) to do it. After that, you raid the Black Garden. Once there, you discover something peculiar: the Vex do inded exist in the past, present, and future, and they coordinate across all three. They have begun worshipping an entity they discovered... somewhere, and are conquering reality for it. Apparently, it's vulnerable to something the Guardians are able to bring to the table, so after a quick boss fight it flees. Queue self-congratulatory "this is only the beginning" cutscene.
The plot's not the problem here. It's actually borderline interesting.
The problem is everything else, the stuff that makes a story worthwhile, like characters.
Right, right. Wasn't sure. Still a flawed comparison, since Destiny has a story, but it's awful.
A bit off-topic, but a friend made this in response to some conversations we had and I loved it:
10/10
I dunno where you got all that from, none of it was communicated in any way that made sense to me (maybe the cutscene with the queen?)
I was just planet hopping without any real understanding what was happening, sure the ghost kept yapping but who can make sense of all that while shooting at shit
And yeah some characters would have made the plot better
I liked the angry joe review, and he really channeled my thoughts when I was playing -- the promises, implied and literal, made by the dev before the game came out and what we actually got. they really talked about this being a world you lived and adventured in and felt a connection to, and nothing could be further from the truth. you can't even name your damn fucking god damn fuck characters. it's so underbaked.
I think a 6/10 is generous. That's the high end of what I'd give it if I were reviewing it now, after having played it for over 30 hours (which is mostly just because other people I know play it and I get sucked in). The nice core mechanics -- the shooting mechanics -- and polished graphics are all that's propping it up.
I think a 6/10 is generous. That's the high end of what I'd give it if I were reviewing it now, after having played it for over 30 hours (which is mostly just because other people I know play it and I get sucked in). The nice core mechanics -- the shooting mechanics -- and polished graphics are all that's propping it up.
J
JoJo UK
Unconfirmed Member
Phew! I can really see what The Stranger didn't have time to explain all that!
DarknessTear
Banned
Never really seen any Angry Joe reviews before but the Destiny one is definitely spot on. It really is a shame, and I hope that Bungie realizes how much they fucked up... but it's kinda hard to feel backlash when you have stacks of money forming a well, keeping it from getting through. I really regret buying this. This was a gamefly rental at best.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
It's really sad for Joe, because he had interviewed DeeJ before and other Bungie people(Person?) and he seemed genuinely excited for the game.
gutterboy44
Member
I almost feel like spoiler tags for the plot of this game are gratuitous. The only "spoiler" to be had is giving even a minute of your brain processing time to think about the plot and ending of this game. So unbelievably bad considering an experience dev like Bungie, the insane budget and massive promises and hype they built up prior to release about the world and lore.
I don't regret buying the game, as it has allowed me to game with some friends in co-op and have fun. But I wish I could make it clear to Bungie/Activision how shitty of a job they did with this game. I guess not buying the DLC is the first step.
I don't regret buying the game, as it has allowed me to game with some friends in co-op and have fun. But I wish I could make it clear to Bungie/Activision how shitty of a job they did with this game. I guess not buying the DLC is the first step.
Son of Sam
Banned
Same here. Never payed attention to him but he nails Destiny
Poodlestrike
Banned
Yeah, got all that by listening to Dinklebot
He's the primary vehicle for story/exposition, after all. It's a piss-poor way to communicate the story, and one of Destiny's many sins on that front.Eh, it appears they may have channel stuffed the product and sales are faltering a bit and could be hit with returns, we won't really know how well it performed until post Xmas calls.
That said, they are trying to build a Diablo or MMO like community around the game that sticks around and buys 10 years worth of content. They need to really take a step back and reassess their core game if they want to build the dedicated fanbase that doesn't jump ship as soon as the next hot game comes out.
I haven't gotten to end-game stuff yet but the idea that farming a cave chest on Old Earth is more profitable an endeavor than end-game content like hard strikes and raids isn't a super great sign.
Omotesando
Member
In defense of Destiny's story, has there ever been a quality story written in an MMO, especially in the vanilla fase?
These games cost alot of money and story imo is one of the least concerns in a genre that is being ruled by mechanics and balance.
These games cost alot of money and story imo is one of the least concerns in a genre that is being ruled by mechanics and balance.
Poodlestrike
Banned
SWTOR. Actually, most MMOs have better stories than Destiny.
WrenchNinja
Member
Destiny is an MMO now?
Why does being vanilla prevent something from having a decent story?
Omotesando
Member
People played that game? I didn't.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Well WoW had coherent storylines in Vanilla. Tuning to raids would make sense in the lore.
WoW has some good quest lines. The big story though has too much stuff in books and supplementary out-of-game material, similar to Destiny.
FFXI still has the best story in the series.
While not all MMORPGs have a quality story, I would say every single one of them (that I have played) still beat Destiny's story.
TheCanisDirus
Member
Same. I didn't get most of that from playing through... and really paying attention. I honestly must have spaced at the whole
going to Mars to recharge the eye part. I don't even really remember Mars... just the very first encounter with the Cabal. Then poof game's over.... what happened?!
Poodlestrike
Banned
Wow, look at those goal posts go!
FunkyPajamas
Member
Oh, wow, this kind of makes me want to play the game now.
Since when is "but other games.." a feasible defense?
Poodlestrike
Banned
Resist the temptation. Basically all of that is delivered in a robotic monotone.
Kor of Memory
Member
Well, if we want to look at the insanely popular one, at launch the only real story was Alliance only with Onyxia having infiltrated the nobility of the Humans.
Other than that, the game was littered with little tidbits of lore, but most of that was supplemental from previous games, book, and other references.
Personally, I see Destiny as laying some groundwork. I admit that the game left something to be desired while playing, but I expect to watch it grow over the next year or so. I was basically expecting about as much "story" as the first halo game had, which was also pretty lacking.
Halo's story didn't really kick in until the extended universe stuff starting kicking in, mainly the fall of Reach. What's funny is when Bungie tried to do some more interesting stuff with the story (read: the arbiter), the average player hated it.
Omotesando
Member
Well whatever genre you want. What is it then?
These kind of games get new content unlocked. If Destiny is successfull and keep being succesfull they are going to stretch this baby out and thus they are comitted to it and expand on the Destiny world. Not hard to comprehend.
GuitarAtomik
Member
I just finished the campaign and yeah, this isn't even an exaggeration. It really is that simple. The only other thing is that you meet a mysterious character who you learn absolutely nothing about other than she knows more things than you, and you meet the Awoken Queen who you also learn absolutely nothing about. Even with the lowest of expectations, I was still disappointed in the story. Mostly because there really is none. There is so little story in fact that the few cutscenes in the game actually feel out of place. Still enjoying the rest of the game though despite the other plethora of problems I have with it.
EDIT: I mean there IS other stuff going on as Poodlestrike's post shows, but literally all of that detail is told to you by Dinklage in a fashion that you will miss it if you weren't listening hard enough and even if you were, you might not completely grasp what's going on since you can play the missions out of order. In other words, all that detail is treated by the game with just a notch above the gravitas level that quest text in an MMO is.
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