I'm a huge Halo fan, so was obviously interest in what Bungie did next. My initial enthusiasm for Bungie's next game was somewhat muted, as it sounded like it was going to be an online only MMO. No engaging single player content. PvP focuses. Always online.
The early reveal of Destiny had lovely looking art and an interesting back story. They stated the game wasn't an MMO, and the "share world" part sounded like a FPS Dark Souls game. The game looked awesome during it's initial showings, but again, my interest was temped by the online centric nature of it.
The I played the Alpha, and was really surprised how the game seemed to be a single player game with optional co-op and PvP. I enjoyed every damn second of the Alpha, and my interest peaked massively. I went back and read all the old articles I'd previous skimmed over, and counted down the days until the final game hit.
There's not much to be added to the discussion around the story in Destiny. It was obvious the story had been gutted in the final game. Playing the story missions felt like playing a levels normal campaign on random select. No connection from one to the other. Just go here, do that. Terrible decision. But it didn't matter that much to me, as the core game was glorious. The gun play was Halo-tier. I'm not a big PvP gamer, but Crucible scratched whatever PvP itch I had. I don't have a huge experience with PvP games/modes to objectively compare how Destiny holds up, but Crucible engaged me far more than any other PvP shooter in recent years.
Then I clocked the story missions, hit level 20 and enter the RND heavy end game.
The reveal interview has a quote which I think sums up the biggest failure of the end game:
The ultimate goal of the game appears to be to grow your Guardian over time, customising it with equipment and weapons won out in the field. Accomplishment will be constant, or, at least, opportunities for accomplishment will be constant.
"Imagine after a hard day at work or at school, when you feel like you've been going backwards, imagine you could go home and spend an hour with an experience where you feel like you accomplish something," Jones says. "That would be awesome, and it's our goal to give players that experience."
They utterly failed to do this.
Prior to level 20, every single session had resulted in progress. Once you hit the end game, progress comes from finding better equipment, which is at the mercy of the slow drops and the game's awful RND system. I spent a full week of playing every night to progress from Level 20 to 21, only progressing with the luck of a Blue Engram turning into a light imbued bit or armour. The only way to avoid the RND is to grind the fucking crazy to get to Vanguard or Crucible Levels 2 and 3. I play a few times a week for an hour a night, so only just hit Vanguard level 2 last week.
Overall, Destiny itself is the most compelling game I've played this year, albeit a deeply flawed one. RND, grind, bullet sponge bosses, story etc are all massive negatives. But I'm still engaged with the game, and it's still my go-to game to play each evening.
As for sequels, the game can be improved in several key areas. I'm certainly on-board with this franchise. The foundations are strong for it to really turn into something special.
