I played 5 hours of Destiny 2 and I can confirm that it is good but there is nothing remarkable about it, at all. Before I get into the issues I'm having with it, lets start with the positives. The art direction is fucking strong, the shooting feels good, the game has a ton of colors, it sounds great and probably the biggest change that I noticed was the soundtrack. It's spectacular. I mean, the soundtrack DESERVES a better game than Destiny 2.
The Farm
Journey
The game starts out super strong thanks to the execution for the most part and soundtrack. It has nothing to do with the story or writing because while it made me feel things, it was not for the right reasons since I know fuck all when it comes to the lore behind Destiny because I didn't watch a 2 hour lore video nor did I look at lore cards or whatever the fuck back when I played Destiny 1. This leads me to believe that the game will end strongly as well with the middle missions being alright but nothing like the first and final missions. That's my guess, I could be wrong and I hope that I'm wrong.
It certainly feels more coherent due to how the game is built with them throwing randos with you in almost every facet of the game which has a really good feeling of being connected with the Destiny universe in a way that doesn't seem superficial. Having said that, I've been finding an issue with the game that wasn't existent in the previous game. Back when Destiny 1 came out it was new enough that even with every shortcoming the game had I kind of stuck with it because it was enjoyable and many people I knew at the time were playing it, not to mention there weren't many games releasing that year(
2014 was WiiU's year). The issue I've been finding is that when I'm playing alone it isn't as fun as it was in D1, I don't care about exotics or whatever because I dropped hard from D1 after finishing Vault of Glass. So now, there is nothing of substance for me when I'm playing the game alone. With friends it's a different matter of course but that's very disappointing because the story is plainly average and is nothing to write home about. They missed the chance of getting you invested in the characters and explaining the universe in a clear, coherent and focused manner with D1. So now, you're stuck with a story that on paper is ok but is hard to get invested into anything, at least that's how I'm feeling right now. Like, my thoughts about D2 ends when I close the console. I don't have anything to think about or go over in my head when I do so and I certainly don't feel any affinity for any of the characters.
I'm yawning when I'm playing the game alone lol and that's a bad sign. Still, I want to stick with it and see it through but like the first game I don't think this will have its hooks in me for months or years to come. As soon as Cuphead drops and the October wave of games hits, I'll be moving on.
