While I realise I might receive some backlash for this piece from Destiny fans, I believe this is a subject that needs to be addressed and at least questioned.
Bungie, a behemoth of a company due to their successes with Halo, leave their multi-million profited franchise behind to create the next best thing. All their efforts and attention were needed to create Destiny, and it seemed to pay off. Destiny became the most pre-ordered game in video game history. Bungie had also managed to something that they could never do with Halo: a multi-platform franchise. Now they could appeal to the masses of both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 fan boys across the world.
The result: a truly phenomenal and immersive game. In terms of gameplay, Bungie have done the required, if not more, creating a game that I personally could not put down. The beautiful environment with the incredible level of detail is beyond anything they have done before. The soundtrack is also something to be revered, as the game does very well to create an atmospheric presence.
So where are my issues? As a hardcore gamer, I have spent a great deal of time through the years playing every genre I could get my hands on with FPSs, MMOs and RPGs being among my favourites. I thoroughly enjoyed Destiny and what it had to offer, but now I am stumped on where to go and what to do next. I have completed the game and I am currently at level 29. All that is holding me back is obtain enough raid gear to get me to level 30. While the later game is more challenging, which is appealing, it lacks severely in variety, which in turn creates an air of boredom and feels all too reminiscent of Spartan Ops. After level 30, what then? While I enjoy the multiplayer, it hasn’t drawn me in enough like Halo or Call of Duty. There is no real progression system in the crucible game mode, with all your experience going towards your overall character. Without a ranking system, the multiplayer feels very hollow with no real reward for playing – an epic fail, in my opinion.
The lack of a ranking system truly is a let down.
This is not all. Thanks to a glitch in the game, some Destiny players have been able to see the future content that is due to be released with the season pass. Now bearing in mind the season pass carries a hefty £35 price tag, you would expect to receive a lot of content, especially how it is not too far from being the same price as an Xbox One game. Well, from what has been seen, unfortunately that’s not the case. Both expansions that are included with the season pass only include a limited amount of story missions (around 10 for both), 2 extra strike missions and 2 extra raids. While this may seem a lot to some, these missions are included on already established and playable sandbox levels (planets). Don’t get me wrong, I would hope that Bungie will open up new areas for its players to explore, but the pressing questions for me would be the size of these areas and the duration of the story missions.
One of the uncovered missions for the DLC.
While talking about the story, this happens to be another of my main gripes with the game. The general premise of Destiny is great and very interesting, but I don’t feel like it is explored enough and it does leave a lot of unanswered questions. While I understand Bungie believes this will be a game to stand the test of time and last for “10 years”, it comes across as if they are drip-feeding the story so that they can release this unfinished fable across many future DLC.
My main worry comes in terms of monetary value for the gamer. The season pass currently available will definitely include 2 expansions to the game and will have both released by early 2015. What I need clarified is – will it include any future expansions, or will the poor absorbed gamer have to reach into their pockets for a further £35 every season pass that is released, just to receive a bit more content? Bungie have always been a customer eccentric company, but this is all starting to feel like they have sold out and are cashing in. Destiny for me unfortunately feels very unfinished and the story was way too short for a game that has been in development for so long. I worry about the longevity of the game without having to essentially buy the game again every time a new season pass comes out. The latest rumour going around is involving a “play tester” from Bungie. While this may be an average Joe trying to stir things up, he did make some interesting comments.
“The Story revolved around discovering that there was something wrong with the Speaker and the Traveler. As a Guardian, you were abducted by this yet to be named group led by Crow (a deleted character). The Traveler was the cause of the collapse of the Golden Age because this group found through their travels that the Darkness was a spawn of the Traveler rather than its rival. Essentially when the Traveler was brought to Earth it unleashed the Darkness and took over the technology humanity used and turned it against them. As that happened centuries ago, the truth was twisted through the Speaker to say that the Traveler protected Earth in its darkest moment rather than destroyed it”.
This change in story was said to have happened only a year ago, so could it be a viable explanation as to why there happen to be major gaps in the story?
Was the Speaker supposed to be a bad guy?
Even further analysing Destiny, a lot I observe is borrowed ideas from many existing franchises. I find it hard to see any major developments in anything too fresh. While the game works well incorporating these ideas, it’s not original. Let’s take the characters, for example.
The Fallen = The covenant, Vandals = Elites, Dregs = Grunts, The Hive = The Flood, Cabal = Brutes, Guardians = Spartans, Ghost = Guilty Spark. The Vex are the only non-Halo reference in Destiny, but have a ridiculously similar back story to that of The Geth from Mass Effect. Bio Mechanic organisms connected together via a hivemind, created by a superior and evil race (The Darkness/The Reapers). While on the topic of Mass Effect, taking your ship space faring from planet to planet while collecting materials you can sell or use to upgrade items sounds familiar. While this sounds like I am stretching to find fault with the game, surely I am not the only one to notice all this. The similarities don’t stop there either; the first time I played the Beta I thought I had accidentally started playing Halo, as I was greeted to the harmonic choir like music on the title screen. Last but not least is the first person aspect while incorporating hit points with health bars: it cries Borderlands at me. I understand that in today’s world it is very hard to create a completely original game, but for a company like Bungie, an innovator in aspects of the First Person Shooters, I expected a lot more.
Chief, is that you? Not very subtle, Bungie… or am I reading too much into this….
Believe it or not I actually love Destiny and thoroughly enjoy playing it on a day to day basis, but I can’t help but get frustrated by a game that had so much potential to be better. I worry that the game has been released far too early so that it would be on the market before any other major franchises. Also with the small games library available at present for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, gamers would be desperate to get their hands on a game like Destiny, especially with the hype that has been created and the credentials of a company like Bungie. Again this goes back to my earlier point of the worry that Bungie are cashing in. This might not even be possibly down to Bungie, but their publisher, Activision, and while I mean no disrespect to Activision, let’s be honest: with some previous Call of Duty games, we have seen proof of that cashing in by rushing in. I can’t help but think that if Microsoft had respected Bungie’s wishes to create a new franchise, allowed them to focus on Destiny while under the watchful eye at Xbox and still handed the reigns of Halo over to a sub-company (343), we could have been looking at an entirely different game today. I truly believe this breakdown in the relationship has cost both to Microsoft and also to the full potential of the game Destiny could have become.
And while I understand you may not all agree with my view and opinions, it feels good to air my frustrations. I welcome your comments and feedback. Thanks for reading.
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