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What are your thoughts on the Destiny series?

jayj

Banned
I recently got back into Destiny 2, having played it on and off for a while. I did beat most of what the original Destiny had to offer (although I was never the type of person to grind away at maxing out stats or doing the toughest stuff). Personally, I've been a bit disappointed with the Destiny 2 experience after having enjoyed the first one for the most part. It seems like the first Destiny had more of an open area feeling for it's worlds you would play, while Destiny 2 has felt a bit more linear in a way, although I guess like it's still technically open. That and it seems like they have really tried to make playing the game more of a slow grind, with the leveling being the type of thing where you're just slowly progressing here and there dependent upon drops, with your ability to upgrade the weapons and armor you like being limited to the point where it makes the game feel like a Borderlands sort of looter shooter, forcing you to use new drops all the time.

I guess that's one of the things I got against it by this point, most of the weapons tend to feel kinda similar for their class/type until you get into the legendary guns, and you are only allowed to have one of those equipped at a time, so you really just gotta choose your favorite and stick with that for the most part. So because of this I don't really like using new weapon drops just because they boost my stats unless they're one of the few types of weapons I enjoy using. That and I have to say the story feels like a real letdown this time around, it sorta feels like it's gone in more of a Marvel super hero sort of direction compared to the first game, and I am just not a fan of that sort of thing. I am playing through the game to see all the various worlds and what it has to offer, but I can tell how real the grind is, and how they seem to be going out of their way to make you play the game all the time to really progress into the more demanding stuff. Heck the game is literally unplayable if you aren't leveled up to where they want you to be, with enemies being unable to be damaged until you hit a minimum level requirement. It's at the point where I am really wondering if the time it demands is worth the effort, and how much enjoyment I will get out of what it has to offer.

So that's basically how I feel about the games, wondering how everyone else feels about them.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
Love it, hate it.

Gunplay is peak FPS, everything outside of that is plagued by terrible business decisions and I have absolutely no idea how on earth they managed to reboot development of each game a year before release.
Seriously, how do you manage to fuck up that much twice?

Still, Destiny 1 is my 2nd most played game ever (~2,500 hrs) right after FFXIV (~2,800 hrs).
 

Godot25

Banned
I played it from The Taken King up until release of Lightfall.

It's frustratingly great. On one hand, Bungie artists are best in the biz. Their soundtrack team too. And gunplay is also best in genre.

But after years I just felt burned out. Which is hilarious considering that I was playing the game during lowest of the lows (Curse of Osiris) but left if so close to the finale. But I regret nothing. Destiny 2 just doesn't have anything left to offer for me and I feel that it would be better if Bungie just produced hard sequel because outside of fact that it could bring lapsed players back (including me) it would also solve some huge design problem that Destiny 2 currently has (no urge to farm for loot thanks to weapon crafting, power creep etc.)
 

Bry0

Member
I’ve got a lot of times in 1 and 2. I think 2 generally has better gameplay, but 1 had better art direction, and better tone. Destiny 2 has gone full marvel with the lighter art style and super hero armor design and the tonal direction shift which I am not crazy about.

I have so many mats that have used the same weapons for like 3-4 expansions at this point if they weren’t sunset. I just upgrade them. I’ve completely burned out on the seasonal model of the game as it’s 10% new content and 90% repeating the same thing every week. I always thought the game would become something more but it’s kinda stayed stagnant for 3-4 years now and I’ve lost interest.

A proper sequel with new base mechanics and features would still bring me back, but this drop feed of repetition we’ve had over the last set of expansions hasn’t really done anything that fundamentally changes the game.
 
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Bond007

Member
Loved it for years until i began to hate it.
Just never felt they respected my effort or time with finding ways to make me re-grind or make the gear i worked hard for obsolete with every new expansion, rather than adjustments. By the time they started removing content, i was gone.
When it all clicked it was amazing. I have more fond memories than anything and would be happy to start fresh in a D3.
 

Gudji

Member
Lot's of potential that was never fully realized. Gameplay is top notch tho.

Hopefully they'll make a true MMO reboot someday.
 

Kupfer

Member
I played the beta on the PS4 and didn't understand it.
I thought it would be an open world halo'esque game and didn't know it was more like a mmo raid shooter with stats, leveling and stuff.
 
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Fbh

Member
Only played Destiny 1 and wasn't really a fan. The gunplay and core gameplay was great and I liked the art direction and music. But ultimately it just made we wish we'd get a traditional game from Bungie, just a solid story mode and a great PVP mode like the Halo franchise instead of all this grindy second job GaaS crap.

The PVP was probably the part I spent the most time with but I got tired about the meta revolving around exotic weapons that forced you to do grindy GAAS shit to get them.
 

Ogbert

Member
Well, it’s likely my most played game ever, although my World of Warcraft years are a blur of raiding, negligible
hygiene and a frozen sexual timeloop.

I veer between loving it and being repelled by it. The gunplay is exceptional although, for the first time, I think CoD has surpassed D2 in terms of base weapon feel (notably smgs).

Some of the content remains incredible. Rerunning
Presage is a reminder of just how good Bungie can be.
However, the basic problem the game has now is eternal
bloat and an exhausted seasonal model. The game is both too complicated and too simple.

I can’t be arsed to update the new seasonal mods. Even though it would take a few minutes, I’m just done.
 

Valt7786

Member
Loved it until Lightfall. They dropped the ball so fucking hard with that expansion it's unreal. The seasonal model is outdated, will see how episodes fare instead...
LF's story was dogshit, the new city was dogshit, Bungies armor and weapons design team is dogshit lately too.
Crucible/PVP needs to become a seperate client or flatout removed from the game, too many balancing decisions are made around it and it makes exotics boring af because they can't make them too powerful or fun to use 'cause it'll upset the Esports wannabes.
 

Sushi_Combo

Member
Tried to get into D2 so many times, it's just not as fun as D1. Too much grind that isn't fun, way too confusing of an interface for a returning and new player.
Atmosphere is also not as dark and ominous as D1 and the OST still can't match the Music of the sphere's arrangement by Marty.
 

Kilau

Member
I played nearly 3,000 hours of Destiny and have never touched Destiny 2 because I knew the direction Bungle was going. That said, they surprised me with how much shit they have pulled.
 

Darchaos

Member
Destiny 1 was all about the adventure and exploration and the mystic of what will come and be. All toped of with a darker and gritier theme allaround.

Nowadays its just for some friends to log on into the tower and do a gm nighfall a raid and or a dungeon and to grind som shitweapon. Nothing about the game itself anymore just bingo taking as much cash as possible from the players.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
Never played it, I am not a big fan of FPS games, even less a fan of the GAAS genre. You can imagine how I must feel about a game that is both.

I came into this thread to try and get an insight into why the people;e that play games like these... do. The consensus seems divided...
 

Kings Field

Member
destiny 1 was one of my favorite MP games ever. Met a lot of cool people on there and have a lot of great memories.

The raids are hands down the best thing about Destiny. When a new one comes out and spending hours and hours and hours on it and trying to figure out the mechanics was a good time. My clan and I were so close to worlds first in Kings Fall but didn’t know he had a final stand mechanic and failed on it. We needed up getting fifth.

I stopped playing after the last wish raid came out. Watching the streams for that raid and only one team being able to beat it within 24 hours and Datto just missing it by minutes was wild at the time.

I touted the idea of going back and playing but wouldn’t even know where to begin and most of my clan has fallen off or just quit gaming all together.

I don’t think any other game besides playing Demons Souls for the first time could come close to that first experience with D1.
 
Played the first game a lot and had fun with it. would go back from time to time. Second game was ok but didn’t play it as much. It seems like it has really dropped off. I wonder where the series goes from here.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Played Destiny trial one time, got really bored and uninstalled it. Never when back to it.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
I enjoyed the first game. Tried the second maybe two years after its release and didn’t know what I was doing, so I dropped it maybe an hour in.
 
I was a huge fan of the franchise, I still consider it to have the best gunplay in the genre. With that being said, the decision-making by management has been atrocious for some time. Management has run Destiny 2 completely into the ground.

Thinking back, I believe it was greed that killed it for me. The introduction of the cash shop in Destiny 2 ripped the heart out of the game. Seriously, every concern you can envision for how microtransactions could be bad was fully realised in Destiny 2. Not to mention the paid expansions.

It's such a shame as there was a fantastic game in there somewhere. Sadly, Marathon is coming next and no doubt Bungie have thought up innovative new ideas for fleecing its customers. No thanks.
 

Spyxos

Member
I bought both Destiny parts when it wasn't f2p yet. And always dropped it very quickly. Because I didn't know what to do after the campaign. Shooting was ok, but nothing special as so many say. The environments can look quite nice and interesting. And the series has far too few enemy types.
 
Waste of time. its built more like a platform for addiction and endless feedback loops rather than a fun and fulfilling gaming experience.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Had fun especially during pandemic when I played with my irl friends all day long (was in a very active clan and also a part of 3 other destiny communities on Discord). But all good things must come to an end and I bailed out as my irl friends started losing interest, plus I didn't really like the direction the game was going. Will def return if they ever do a Destiny 3 though!

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Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Can’t be arsed with games that expect you to keep playing (and paying) for months/years with a drip feed and waves of content. Wish they’d make a single player game good enough you want to replay it a dozen times like Halo:CE or most recently, RE4 remake.

If you must have co-op, dont try to explain the extra character(s) in-world like Resident Evil 5, just duplicate the MC or have visually distinctive variations.

Also have no interest in multiplayer games with ability progression, Conker Live & Reloaded was the first I remember detesting. Removing level content because the game bloats to unsustainable file size and spreads player matchmaking too thin is another red flag.
 

Mossybrew

Gold Member
Short and sweet:

+ Great gunplay and variety of guns
+ Love the overall sci fi aesthetic, feel and tone of the game
- Structure of the game, I mean like everything, is a confusing, overly complex mess
- Progression of expansions removing entire game zones, quests, etc. over time is incredibly fucking lame.
- Trying to balance guns for both PvP and PvE is dumb
- Story is deeply uneven, for every cool thing there is a lame or pointless one
 
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Muffdraul

Member
I was big on MP 25-30 years ago when it meant playing against friends/co-workers on a LAN. Between Quake 3 on PC and Halo 2 on Xbox, I realized that I HATE playing against anonymous freaks on the internet. When you can't tell if you're getting your ass kicked because your opponent is cheating or if they're really just so much better than you that their abilities seem supernatural, it's just not fun.

Bungie was one company I felt like I could always count on to give me great solo campaign content even though they were concentrating so hard on MP.

I played a ton of Destiny 1 solo. A friend actually managed to pull be into co-op and even a little pvp. It wasn't so bad when Destiny was brand new, I felt like I could keep up. But I just didn't have the taste for it anymore so it didn't last.

I played a little Destiny 2 solo, but got bored and disinterested very quickly. I really feel like Bungie turned their back on fans like me and that sucks ass. I'll never touch Destiny or any other Bungie game again unless I have some assurance there's worthwhile solo content in it.
 
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sono

Gold Member
The first one starts really well and gives the impression that progression will hold lots of promise for a fantastic ending.

I cant think of anything else to say
 

ungalo

Member
I played Destiny 1 a lot.

Then bought Destiny 2 day one, was baffled by the lack of new content while everybody was praising the game (especially compared to the first that got trashed when it basically invented everything, like wtf).

After one week i stopped playing, heard it got better after launch but simultaneously everytime an extension comes out i read it's trash so i don't really understand.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
Trash games.

Destiny 1 was heavily flawed when it launched, but actually at its best. The PvP was chaos but very fun, I played it tons. The first raid was fun too. Despite all its shortcomings in terms of story, level design and pretty much everything I enjoyed playing it with friends and doing rounds of Control.

Destiny got progressively worse with Bungie nerfing the shit out of anything that was potentially powerful. Their 2 DLC packs were awful as well.

Then they rebooted Destiny 1 with TTK. And at first it looked good. But after a week or 2, and beating its boring Raid, I found it actually more terrible than the original release. All the weapons felt weak, the Raid was shit, the Taken were annoying enemies... I just didn't like TTK. I never played Rise of Iron.

Then Destiny 2. This right there killed all interest I might've had left in the game. This game was woeful. Its campaign, weapons, perks and the absolutely fucking terrible PvP tailored to team shooting, very slow super/nade charges and 4 v 4 max at the time. Every game I played, and i'm not kidding, was concluded by time over. I took out the game, sold it and never looked back. Until this one morning I just downloaded the F2P for kicks. 30 minutes later this cluttered mess of a game was already uninstalled.
 

DeepSpace5D

Member
Destiny 2 is my most played game of the last couple years. I am someone who got into it late, a little before The Witch Queen expansion came out, and have since put a couple thousand hours into it.

I don’t disagree with the criticisms people have for it, but I think it continues to succeed because it offers something pretty unique, which is mainly a first-person shooter MMO that has both PVE and PVP content, but leans heavily on the PVE side of things.

There’s a social aspect to it when you join a clan, and become friends with other players. Some of my greatest gaming memories of all time have come from this game, like running through some of the more challenging endgame content like a Grandmaster Nightfall or Raid with fellow clan members/friends. Just getting dropped into a planet and fighting alongside random strangers in big open maps, seeing everyone doing their own thing while you ride on the sparrow, stuff like that makes it feel like a living world. And I realize that some of the stuff I’m mentioning is common for an MMO, but again, as a first-person shooter as well? Very unique in my opinion.

The shooting mechanics feel sublime whether on controller or m&k, and not just the shooting but the movement in general feels very fluid. If you are into guns at all, there is a dizzying amount of weapons to collect, hundreds upon hundreds of pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, smgs, bows, swords, you name it. Majority of them have really cool designs to them, and feel very different to shoot depending on their type, what rpm class they’re in, what individual stats and perk combinations they have, etc. The addictive part of the game came for me when I started getting knowledgeable about the guns, and realizing the exact guns and perk combinations I wanted to have for a specific situation. Since you can store 500 items in your vault, the appeal is trying to get a multitude of dope weapons made or found that can suitably handle any situation in the game no matter how difficult.

I’ve seen the sentiment that Bungie is just some lazy dev that rehashes the same content every season, and while you do have to admit that some of the modes seem to be on a cycle, I think in fairness you also have to acknowledge the new content they put out such as the campaign missions for each new expansion that gets made, the new strand subclass that came with Lightfall, the Multiplex pvp map that came out last season, the new dungeon Warlord’s Ruin that just came out in the current season, etc. They are constantly cooking up new stuff whether the critics want to admit that or not, and that’s why people stick around.

Those are my thoughts basically. It’s going to be interesting to see how this 6-month season plays out and what Bungie does leading up to Final Shape to keep players engaged with a season that’s twice as long as normal. But I can see The Final Shape exploding the popularity of the game to The Witch Queen levels again, or greater.
 

Raven117

Member
Some of the best minute to minute gameplay in gaming but definitely FPS.

The rest...gawd...its a train wreck.
 

Bry0

Member
Had fun especially during pandemic when I played with my irl friends all day long (was in a very active clan and also a part of 3 other destiny communities on Discord). But all good things must come to an end and I bailed out as my irl friends started losing interest, plus I didn't really like the direction the game was going. Will def return if they ever do a Destiny 3 though!

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Where do you get this stat summary from?
 

jcorb

Member
I loved the first Destiny, I thought it struck the perfect cadence of new content in a digestible format, and I was happy paying for that content. You knew what you were getting, and it didn’t demand you play it all the time, so it was very easy to go back to every couple of months.

Destiny 2 has been a fucking mess since it launched. They’ve certainly tried to fix things, and it’s in a much better state than it launched, but I also think they’ve maybe done irreparable harm to it as a prospective “series”.

Some people weren’t into the more somber nature of the first game, but to me that WAS Destiny. It really felt like something special, and felt truly hopeful.

Destiny 2 felt like a a shitty MCU wannabe, and it’s just never quite been able to shake that. Bungie seems way too inconsistent, never fully committing to a “feel” for the story and setting, and it’s just left the game feeling completely forgettable.

I honestly feel like they need to go back to the drawing board a bit, and create one singular, congruent experience with ALL of Destiny’s content. Get the original VA’s (minus Dinklage, and tragically Zavala), make sure the characters are congruent in tone and characterization across the full story, and really lean into that spark or feeling of Destiny 1.

And for the love of god, pick a single fucking monetization structure and stick to it. I just want to play your goddamn game, Bungie; but when ALL of the cool shit is locked behind paywalls, or was removed as “seasonal content”, it makes for a shitty experience for the player.
 
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