I must confess that when I first read about Destiny back in 2013, I was entranced—and quite thrilled—by its ominous and grandiose presentation. Bungie’s first post-Halo game got me hooked with its post-collapse futuristic setting, the mystery behind the traveler, and the overall premise of its story and the PvE gameplay elements that they kept boasting about.
Due to the personal circumstances, some of which are quite obvious and yes, do involve my country, I was not able to play the game beyond the Xbox 360 Open Beta; while short, it did nothing but raise my interest in the game, looking back in retrospect, I sure dodged a bullet there.
That being said, I was shocked and ecstatic when Bungie announced that its sequel was also coming for PC, and on top of it, that it was to be distributed through Blizzard’s Battle.net platform; this meant that I could convert my World of Warcraft gold into store credit, use the store credit to buy Destiny 2, and have a game to play with friends and have some fun.
Now, a week after it finally launched on PC, I’m forcing myself to play this incomplete game. I’m really glad that I didn’t paid for this game using United States Dollars, or any other form of tangible currency, cause boy…Charging sixty dolarydoos (plus thirty for the season pass) and only having ten-twenty dollars’ worth of content should be a criminal offense.
In that sense, I shall avail myself of the principle of reciprocity and write about my impressions of this game using the bare minimal effort, but it should still have more content than Destiny 2 has as of November 01, 2017.
A whole lot of nothing:
One of my biggest gripes with Destiny 2 is that much like its predecessor, you can look at the universe it presents to you, but you can’t touch or interact with it whatsoever, it’s all eye-candy and scenery porn.
You have these vast edifices that serve as a reminder of how far humanity had reached—and fallen, a golden era that is now but a distant memory, but they’re nothing more than a fancy decoration, you can’t visit it, can’t explore it and learn a thing or two, nothing.
[This paragraph is preorder-exclusive only]
When I first arrived at the European Dead Zone, and gazed upon the ruined church amidst a cacophony of gunfire, I was expecting a war-torn zone, complete with ruined buildings and stores to navigate through—perhaps my expectations were set too high, aside from a few corners and corridors, there’s nothing that matched what I anticipated.
The maps often feel claustrophobic and walled, the “Theme Park” design approach was dialed to eleven when designing them. The vast chasms and beautiful skyboxes mask the corridors and long hallways that comprise these “planets”
You will often see yourself staring at interesting landmarks that you can’t reach; from a visual standpoint, the locations are nicely done, each with their own distinct look and feel, limited in size but not in scope, which ultimately does—[DLC1 Required to read the rest of this paragraph]
Most of the time, due to the way phasing works, you will find yourself alone, public events are your biggest chance of seeing another player in these barren zones, but in many cases, you will be on your own as you capture a drill for the 15th time.
I am not exaggerating when I say that all of these events involve a drill of some sort, I don’t know what’s up with Bungie and drilling.
The Greed
>Charge $60 for base game
>Charge $30 for Season Pass
>Have cosmetic loot boxes
Seriously, not even the dwarves of moria were this greedy. For what it’s worth, they’re all cosmetic items and you’re awared one of these for every level up after reaching the cap (level 20).
The Story, or lack thereof [Spoilers]
I tried to care for the story, I really did try my best to care for it, but it’s a hard thing to do when the plot is generic and devoid of life and emotion.
Essentially, you’re returning from a relaxing trip when the Red Legion assaults The City, strips the Guardians off their powers; the Red Legion’s leader: Darth Malgus, slaps your shit and throws you off his ship.
You can do nothing but watch as the Legion occupies your beloved city; broken and powerless, you escape to the outskirts of the city, eventually reaching the Farm.
[DLC1 Required to Read this Paragraph]
After you reunite the Vanguard, its time to strike back at the Red Legion, the first order of business is to stop the Death Star, as all will be for naught if the Death Star is activated; with that in mind, you must seize [DLC2 Required to read the rest of the paragraph]
With the threat of the Death Star neutralized, its time to take back the city, and whoop Darth Malgus’ ass. In a homage to Terminator 1 for SNES, you jump through the city’s rooftops and windows, as you make your way to [DLC2 Required to read the rest of the paragraph]
[DLC2 Required to Read this Paragraph]
Its time for the final showdown: You versus Darth Malgus, but you’re not alone, the light is with you, and this means its time to spam your ultimate, as you dps down Darth Malgus and clear his add waves, Darth Malgus is no match for you…or is he?
[DLC1 Required to Read this Paragraph]
Hurray! The day is saved, the light flows through the galaxy, it is time to rejoice and revel in victory! It is also time to rebuild, the wounds of the Red Legion’s onslaught still fresh, time will tell if the Last City—and the Traveler, will fully recover from their assault, but the future looks bright and optimistic, as long as [DLC2 Required to Read this Paragraph]
The Class "Variety"
For a game with only 3 classes, they sure feel homogeneous, and this is coming from someone who experienced World of Warcraft’s homogenization through time; while each class has access to 3 sub classes, these don’t do much beyond changing the color of your abilities (Red, Purple, Blue)
The only major change each and every one of them brings is that it radically changes your Super Abilities. Said subclasses have access to two “attunements”, but they offer little to none gameplay changing elements.
Every skill tree in this game Is essentially:
- A choice of three grenade types
- A skill that (barely) modifies how you jump (the blink-teleport ones suck)
- A support-esque ability in some cases
The attunements further specialize your chosen specialization, enhancing your melee ability in a way, and adding small gimmick passives, culminating in your “gameplay” changing ability, but these barely have a major impact overall; the huge bulk of your firepower naturally comes from your weapons.
The Endgame “Content”
There is literally nothing to do right now; three strikes that you can repeat ad-nauseam, one of which is offered in a “nightfall” hard mode that changes every week, and PvP. The “Leviathan” raid is still not available on PC.
That’s it, that’s all of this sixty united states dollar AAA game has to offer in its launch.
[This paragraph requires DLC2 to read]
Closing statement:
I would like to conclude this short article by saying that I had more fun farming the WoW gold that I used to buy Destiny 2 than actually playing Destiny 2, because the game feels— [DLC3 required to read the rest of this section. This DLC pack isn’t part of the Season Pass and must be purchased separately]
2 Comments
Tony Isaza · November 1, 2017 at 7:13 pm
I’m still very much hooked into the Destiny universe, but considering I started playing it in year three when the last DLC came out and they bundled everything… man was this barebones. Maybe it’s because I had to finish three years of content in just a few months that I’m a bit spoiled, but yeah, once I hit end game I was left with tedious daily tasks, no meaningful long-ass complex quests that required a fucking binary translator like in D1 and a raid to farm, which is a chore in and of itself if you don’t have a solid team and need to jump in with randos.
I agree with your thoughts on the story. While it was structurally better than the first, in the sense that it exists, and has a beginning, middle and end-ish, it was SO fucking generic.
Anyway, good review, dude.
*goes back to Leviathan raid
*hates self
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