14 DAY TRIAL // The general consensus seems to be that Destiny has solid multiplayer but feels largely unrewarding in all other areas.
This is disappointing, considering the amount of hype built around the game and the massive budget it had, especially when you factor in the fact that it's not just another Call of Duty, and was touted as an immersive science fiction adventure.
The bad thing with immersive science fiction adventures, however, is that they require a compelling story in order to keep you interested, especially if you’ve ever read a book. The entire genre gained its massive following through the power of storytelling, which many game makers keep overlooking.
Man has been writing since the dawn of time... y u no learn?
One thing that has always puzzled me was the constant use of the deus ex machina, which even ancient Roman poets warned against.
If you can't heed the advice of a man that lived in a time where 90 percent of the population was busy growing food so that the other 10 percent could focus on improving life so that their descendants would eventually discover the wonderful notion of "free time..." I don't know what you're being paid for.
Stories and culture (and blind luck) are what set us apart from the other hominids and enabled us to become the dominant species on our planet, and ignoring the legacy of great story-tellers from throughout time is simply disrespectful.
The way you go around the game "because Dinklage told me to" makes it feel like you're a janitor watching the blooper reel at the end of a movie while sweeping discarded popcorn. You know that a much better story took place just before you came in, and now you're left cleaning stuff up while everyone around you is talking about much more exciting stuff than you're experiencing.
You need depth in order to achieve immersion
Although it's not a disaster, the game is not even as fun to play as Borderlands was, which is a pity, especially considering the fact that Destiny got a massive billboard in Times Square.
The bold statements and constant cranking on the hype machine ended up hurting the game, because everyone was expecting some kind of transcendental experience, which the game failed to deliver.
The "Become Legend" tagline discreetly transitioned into "Become Legend, because we have no idea how to make you into one."
Many players have complained that they just can't get immersed into the game, that they're not invested in what they're doing, and they're wondering why they're in that world doing what they do.
The MMO elements are so badly implemented that you would think that a tank of manatees collected random features from within a bunch of everything that can be done in a game, and then the development team took half of that at random and implemented them.
The game was a commercial success, which is bad news
Using so much money without being able to deliver something that feels at least as good as what we already have is irresponsible. Take your time, play some of the best MMOs around, and then you're free to go on and make Destiny.
It's very disappointing when a science fiction game has no story at all, and especially so when a game that is set to become a presence in the gaming world for the next ten years gets away with it so easily.
This will encourage game-makers not to spend too much time worrying whether they should have tried harder while making the actual gamey bits, as long as they have a big enough marketing budget and top-of-the-line sky boxes.
I have recently come across this blog post by a Diablo 3 player, which describes some of what I'm feeling pretty accurately, and in a much more amusing fashion: through the use of a high school parable.
I'm not even going to go into loot distribution. Maybe the words DKP ring a bell, Bungie? Shameful.