Oops, More Destiny 2
It’s time to explore the constant mistakes at the heart of Destiny 2
I’ve been playing The Last of Us 2, but in between the beauty and brilliant murder simulation, I keep getting pulled back to the worst/best game that I can’t help but love/hate.
Destiny 2.
In this case, I’m talking the specific expansion Shadowkeep, and many of the new features that have come with Season 11 of this shooter-MMO. I picked it up after hearing some positive buzz about Shadowkeep, and I thought I could fit the campaign in between finishing the original Last of Us and playing the sequel.
Turns out, I was wrong. But here comes some honesty; I don’t think I like Destiny 2.
I’ve been struggling to put my thoughts together on my relationship with this game. I’ve tried once before (on my author website), but I don’t think I captured my complicated stew of feelings in the right way. In order to help with this process, I’m pulling a Jim Halpert; It’s time to make a pros and cons list.
Pros:
The Flavor
Destiny 2’s world is rich. I love the look and feel; the textures, the enemy factions, the hidden history that resides at every location. It’s Space Wizards versus a looming cosmic darkness. It’s big sci-fi, but it doesn’t bog itself down with the math and pesky science that usually drives me away from the genre. It’s video game sci-fi, more interested in setting up pins for the players to knock them down, than to explain the mechanics of its internal universe.
The Hive, the Vex, even everybody’s least favorite, the Fallen. I love how Destiny keeps finding new background to justify the ever-expanding roster of threats. I’ve lost several hours to the Destiny wiki, and I will likely lose more in the future. I love how unbelievably dense it all is; half the time I have zero clue what’s happening. But it sounds good, and sometimes that’s enough.
The little snippets of text you get when looking at the description for Exotic Items is almost as exciting as the gear itself. Seriously. When I get a new Exotic, I check the stats last. Considering how important those stats are, that’s a win for Bungie’s story department.
The Gunplay
Is it any wonder that Bungie made a game that just feels so good to live in? The satisfying pop of enemy’s heads. The tactile feel and sheer variety of all the weapons you can wield. The Exotics (either received as story rewards or through elaborate quest-lines) each have different powers and abilities that make them endlessly unique. It’s a joy to swap around and test out different variations. It almost never gets old.
(I want to take a second to highlight my favorite weapon in Destiny 2: the Graviton Lance. It’s a void pulse rifle. When I get a kill, the ad will explode in an array of purple energy grenades that decimate any weaker enemies in the area. Lining up a perfect shot with the Lance is seriously the best.)
The fact that customizing your load-out gives you a marked difference in how hard encounters are, says a lot. When I’m running through a Raid or a Dungeon, I switch my guns out on the fly. My Gambit weapons (my trusty Horror Story auto, my Hammerhead machine gun) are much different than my Story Mission guns. I treat Armor (with the new update) much the same way.
Bungie does gunplay well. It’s Destiny 2’s biggest asset.
The Music
Ohhhh man. The music in the Destiny franchise has always been incredible. The Taken King score is a frequent listen while I write. I even wrote an article about how much I love the Tim Burton charm of Destiny’s Halloween event from a few years ago. The score for each planet paints a picture of its atmosphere and enemy focus in interesting ways.
The creepy tinge of the Shadowkeep score speaks to the horror fan inside me. I’m always drawn in by whatever music that the talented team at Bungie put together.
Cons
The Flavor part deux
Here’s where I go off the rails a little bit: because I love Destiny’s world and flavor so much, the fact that it’s so impossible to seek out makes me want to tear my hair out. I shouldn’t have to scrounge for simple explanations to simple story events, nor should I have to struggle to parse what each character rattles on about in cut scenes. Destiny 2 doesn’t care if you’re following; they are tread-milling into the next cosmic threat whether you know what a Warmind is or not. The issue has improved in the sequel, but the lore cards are unhelpful as crap. I can’t imagine what it would be like to enter the Destiny universe as a new player. If the systems and the grind don’t drive you away, the plot vagueness will.
If they switched the way that things are presented, Destiny 2 could have one of the best on-going stories in games.
The Grind
The reason I keep leaving Destiny is simple; once I hit a certain point in the grind, I have to walk away. The only way to hit high enough levels to get involved in the endgame raids, is to find a fireteam.
While I have lots of friends that play games, I can never get a dedicated crew together to navigate these type of events. I’ve sought out random folks on the internet to team up with, but that has shaken out to mixed results. The community (like so many other gaming communities, this is the internet after all) are horrifically toxic. The last time I went into a Raid with a random squad, the other players stressed me out so bad that I had to excuse myself. I won’t get into specifics, and I know that I probably should powered through the harassment. Leaving the raid was bad form, but when I feel panicked by a video game, it’s time to hang up my Pulse Rifle.
I understand that not everything is for all people. I don’t care for Destiny’s raids. Never have. They are much too long and the rewards for each clear are just not worth it.
I hate that maxing out my light level efficiently is gated behind events like this. I hate that certain exotics are locked behind these interactions. Why can’t there be a single player alternative to find awesome gear? I understand that the community would abuse it, but who cares? Is it more important that people find your game readily accessible and can get the loot they want? Or is it about excluding people like me that don’t have the time or energy to go through the hassle? If this kind of thing can’t be fixed, then why am I here? That’s a lot of questions, but I feel like they are important ones to pose.
No Respect For Your Time
I hate hate HATE the speed that this game doles out loot. It’s sickening. I play a mission for 35 minutes. I have to sit through atrocious load times and I’m rewarded with a blue helmet that is lower light than what I’m currently wearing. Why? Why does blue gear even exist? They are utterly useless.
If Destiny 2 respected it’s players time, every play sessions would shower you in good loot (Legendary gear at least). All the guns, all the armor, all the time. When other loot-centric games are piling on the goods, Destiny often doesn’t feel worth it. Things have been improving over time (the season pass stuff) but it’s too little, too late. This needs to be addressed. It never will be, but that’s where we are.
Galaxy Shrinking
At the end of this current season (Season of Arrivals), Bungie is tabling several planets. That content is gone until they decide otherwise. Their claims that these planets that they are removing will come back at a later date doesn’t fill me with much confidence.
Will all associated Exotic quests and gear vanish with these planets? Will I miss whole stories due to the harsh reality that this digital world isn’t for the players? Destiny 2 doesn’t care about it’s fans; that’s the bottom line. That’s business, whether the player base likes it or not.
I suppose it’s time to wrap this up. When I fall back into the messy world that is this Space Wizard MMO, it feels like I’m making a mistake. Oops, more Destiny. It looks pretty, it feels good to play. These are superficial joys in a game that should be all joy. Games as a service should be an opportunity to refine the product into a perfect specimen.
I want Destiny 2 to be the gun that I can’t stop playing. It’s a bummer that it’s not. I want to spend my time in this universe.
Maybe one day.
