Comments on: Thoughts: Destiny 2

By: ilitarist

ilitarist — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:04:18 +0000

I see. The moment Destiny 2 hit free to play I’ve expressed some interest to play it with friends. One of them (who had >700 hours in Destiny 2) insisted that we should try Warframe instead. Your explanation covers it completely except it’s third-person and the design is weird. We’ve played story campaign for a few hours and all it had was shooting identical guys with identical weapons with an optional stealth. Some numbers went up and in a few hours I could buy a new weapon with bigger numbers. I haven’t played since and I’m sad to live in a world where MOBAs feel like a rare multiplayer experience that is justified to be multiplayer and don’t feel like a job.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:11:58 +0000

I actually re-read through the Book Of Sorrows Hive backstory after picking up D2 again and it’s still some great SF. I really like some of the stuff they hint at in the lore, like the Traveller constantly abandoning its client races to the Darkness and the only reason it stuck around during the Collapse being that Rasputin kneecapped it before it could do a runner. Even the meta stories about Guardians being a bunch of murderous loot-mad thugs who jump off buildings for fun and do donuts on their Sparrows are entertaining. Like you say, somebody is having a *lot* of fun writing this stuff.

None of this stuff will *ever* be surfaced in the game, though, because Destiny 2 is fundamentally incapable of expressing a plot that doesn’t involve shooting 300 smaller enemies and then shooting a really big enemy.

By: Drinking with Skeletons

Drinking with Skeletons — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 15:34:24 +0000

I’ve got hundreds of hours in Destiny and Destiny 2 at this point. I like the gunplay, I like being able to play with my clan, and I like the lore. But despite being in a clan that raids and everything, we’re consistently baffled by Bungie’s incredible commitment to the most hardcore players over everyone else. From the acquisition of titles to the raid exotics to the raids themselves, the game leans hard on the maniacs who spend all day every day grinding for perfect rolls. It’s very strange.

Regarding the lore: whoever is writing the franchise’s background narratives is having a blast and putting out solid science fantasy. I’ve picked up the two printed volumes of collected lore, and I desperately want to play a Mass Effect-style game in this setting. It’s fantastic, and almost none of it is foregrounded in the game itself. It. Is. Staggering. How much good material they squander.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 13:30:56 +0000

I probably should have said explicitly: if you really want to know what Destiny 2 is from a high level then it’s best to read my review of the original Destiny, since I didn’t want to repeat myself: http://scientificgamer.com/thoughts-destiny/

The short version is that it’s more of an MMO than Borderlands, with the closest analogue I’ve played being Guild Wars 2; it has overworld areas with dynamic events that spawn enemies and other players running around, it has dungeons that you can queue into with friends, it has full-on MMO-style raids, and it has an item level (light level) that represents your overall power. It just also happens to be a first-person Halo-style shooter because that’s what Bungie do.

By: ilitarist

ilitarist — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 11:44:45 +0000

This was an entertaining read even if I don’t understand what the game is at all. Is it open world thing like Borderlands? A shooter but also RPG, but I suspect with no real character progression choices hence 750 levels on new characters? Anyway, not that I’m going to try it. Those hateful reviews are more interesting but I hope next time you have something you like to talk about.