Destiny Review | The Taken King Review - No Longer Taken for Granted | MMORPG

SBFord

Destiny Review | The Taken King Review - No Longer Taken for Granted | MMORPG

My relationship with Destiny is complicated. On one hand, it would only take a subtle prodding to get me to unleash a violent torrent of criticisms and resentment towards a game that was so obviously a shell of its true potential. On the other hand, I had sunk more time into it than I would ever care to admit in front of polite company. And so, Destiny made me a walking hypocrite.

Read the full story here

Talonsin

I dont undertsand things like this: "LONGEVITY: 8 you can expect to repeat the same content over and over as you chase the ever vanish gap between you and the level cap." Does that sound like an 8 to anyone? If repeating the same content over and over after a week scores an 8 in longevity, I sure would hate to see what a 5 is

CrazKanuk

Talonsin said:

I dont undertsand things like this: "LONGEVITY: 8 you can expect to repeat the same content over and over as you chase the ever vanish gap between you and the level cap." Does that sound like an 8 to anyone? If repeating the same content over and over after a week scores an 8 in longevity, I sure would hate to see what a 5 is

I think of it as something like Replay Value. I actually prefer that term, but since MMORPGs never end I guess the meaning of the term is somewhat lost. I think that longevity eludes to how quickly the content gets "old". I actually find, with Destiny, that even though the content can be extremely repetitive, it's always interesting and fun. 

As far as the length of the story content, there's less here than the original game, but they at least do the story justice with the cinematics, etc. They stay true to their original mission which is to make Destiny a game where friends can easily play together and the barrier to entry is low, making it easy for new players to pick up and play with their friends, too. 

TheHiveLeader

I still don't like that I'm killing the Hive... just something about it...

klash2def

Destiny is a really good game. The Taken King is a great step toward bringing MMO experience to console players. It not quite that yet but it's a good step. Hopefully at some point they make it a more open world experience. Currently every planet has boundaries but it would be nice to see a mountain in the distance and actually be able to walk to it from your location. Then add crafting, trading, and selling items and it's looking one of the GOATS

JeroKane

I love the new expansion and the 2.0 update. It was a huge improvement. The game has a much better progression now. The new missions in Taken King are mind-blowingly fantastic! The new Taken enemies provide challenge and introduce fresh and interesting new mechanics. The new Strikes are some of the best yet! Absolutely fantastic group content! The initial Storyline of Taking King might feel short ( think about 8 or so missions, but very intense missions at that. Especially when playing them with full 3-man fireteam with friends), but it really doesn't end there after you kill Oryx! After the storyline you open up more side storylines (Taken War), which are very challenging and absolutely fantastic. I have done about 5-6 of these now and keep unlocking new ones as I progress. All this at level 40. A lot of these side story missions require light level 240 to 260 so far. Very intense, very challenging. Great fun! The Dreadnaught has a new Patrol Zone, which is fantastic on it's own! Provides a lot of replayability with lots of crazy events. You can also spawn your own events in Hall of Souls ( 3 step progress, where the last type of Event is insane RAID level like insanity (definitely need light lvl 290 and 6 people as minimum)) with runes you can get from defeating the final bosses of the new Taken Public Events on all planets. So far I am really digging this new expansion! It has a lot of content! Much more than people think, since a lot you need to find out yourself and unlock along the way. I haven't even touched the new RAID yet, as I am currently light level 282.

Sovrath

TheHiveLeader said:

I still don't like that I'm killing the Hive... just something about it...

Quiet you! You will sit down and kill the Hive and you will like it!

Myria

To be honest, if not for friends who play it I probably would have quit Destiny long ago. It's a game that weirdly got all the fundamentals dead on, and then seemed to forget to put any meat on that wonderfully articulated skeleton. The story was half-arsed at absolute best, the voice acting and dialogue often cringe-inducing (the infamous "I don't even have time to tell you why I don't have time" line made me wonder if anyone at Bungie even cared), the content.... Well even after two DLCs there wasn't what you'd call a ton of it and it didn't help that many areas were being re-used over and over again.

What, you think no one would notice that your 'new' Dark Below or HoW mission was just an old mission area done backwards, Bungie?

While Taken King doesn't entirely make up for all of that, nor am I nearly as enamored of it as many of my friends currently are, it is the first time I've felt the game was starting to really live up to it's potential. The new missions and strikes have a lot more variety and interest in them. The dialogue is far better (albeit in a lot of instances I think Dinklebot actually was better, the problem wasn't primarily the voice actor's fault... Save his utterly cringe-worthy phoning in the ending of Black garden). There's an actual story of sorts (hackneyed as it is, but what's a video game without a trope or three hundred?) to follow and it's even in-game rather than stuck on a web site you'll probably never bother with. The reward and progression system are where they should have been to begin with -- you're not endlessly doing things for green engrams that make you want to pummel a cryptarch (though, to be fair, I would love to be able to use cryptarchs as target dummies). It's not D3 or Borderlands reward-wise, but it feels right for the game.

I still think the game needs some work, mostly to flesh out the story and, especially, back-story, not to mention more content, but at this point I'm having a lot more fun with it than I think I have in any shooter -- save, perhaps, the original Borderlands, as are my friends. Another DLC or two to finish the virtual reboot of the game they've done and it'll really be something.

With the additions and changes that have come with Taken King I finally feel like I can recommend Destiny to people I know without throwing in the dozen or three caveats as I would have felt the need to prior.

gervaise1

So if the expansion pack gets 9-9-9-8-9 what score does the Legendary edition get?

Phry

gervaise1 said:

So if the expansion pack gets 9-9-9-8-9 what score does the Legendary edition get?

More expensive ?

TheHiveLeader

Sovrath said:

TheHiveLeader said:

I still don't like that I'm killing the Hive... just something about it...

Quiet you! You will sit down and kill the Hive and you will like it!

Yes sir... *sniffles**

handheld

Talonsin said:

I dont undertsand things like this: "LONGEVITY: 8 you can expect to repeat the same content over and over as you chase the ever vanish gap between you and the level cap." Does that sound like an 8 to anyone? If repeating the same content over and over after a week scores an 8 in longevity, I sure would hate to see what a 5 is

If you played and enjoyed diablo/2/3 then you cant say anything at all because you have been doing exactly what you are complaining about.

gervaise1

Phry said:

gervaise1 said:

So if the expansion pack gets 9-9-9-8-9 what score does the Legendary edition get?

More expensive ?

Not by much though - maybe $60 to $75 depending on platform, the deal etc. And that includes the base edition and all 3 DLC packs. I think Destiny's success (and titles like Witcher 3) are positive for gaming. They show publishers that they can create a new franchise.

Phry

If it ever come to PC i may give the game a try, by the sound of it, the game is a lot better than when it launched, so it might just be good enough for PC now.

heerobya

I agree completely. Destiny was the best 7/10 of 2014, and Taken King is the best 9/10 so far in 2015. I actually am hoping they don't release much (or anything) in the way of new content (besides the King's Fall Heroic Raid) between now and like January, because otherwise I won't have any time for Halo 5, Tomb Raider, Battlefront, any maybe Fallout!

Tempestdrake

I have been playing MMO since the days of Ultima. I have lost count of the number of online games that I have played and maybe 10 or so have I considered great entertainment. I can say Destiny is one of the very very few games that I can say have made content that actually improves on the game rather then the gives it change of the same degree or a "meh" feeling. I believe they can do more and feel they are probably doing more but they squeezed what they could in this expansion and they did it with style and a boom. In other views as well they gave more in one expansion to provide a great experience then most games do over multiple expansions. And that also is saying alot considering they did not really need to. People played the game regardless.

Olgark

I don't usually like FPS but for some reason I love Destiny. I think it has to do with the RPG aspects to the game and the way my character has developed over the past year. It is a game at the end of the day which I find fun to play and in places a challenge as well. As long as I find fun in playing I will continue to play Destiny.

Anireth

So, a price point of $40, which is mentioned in the article, is somehow dropped in the actual rating. Even if it would be a lot of content for an expansion, which apparently isn't thec case, the price itself would still be a negative. Not saying that "The Taking King" is not worth it or anything, but you can't just drop stuff like that. I even noticed that with another review some weeks ago, where the price was also dropped from the rating. One can argue that the price should not contribute to the actual rating (though i think it should), but it should be listed as pro/con - especially if you mention it in the accompanying article! I also don't understand the scoring. For the expansion itself it might be fun, but how can a game that was scored 7.0 initially and that you hated (despite playing it) gain nearly 2 full grades through a expansion? Not to say that some specific values are clearly biased due to currently enjoying the game, like longelivity or value. Like, if one week of new content for $40 is a 9, how can you accurately reflect the difference to a game that has several weeks or months of content for the same price? And how would any game ever get an actually low value here? 2 hours content for $50? Clearly a strong 7! I have to admit i never touched Destiny, but the outraged it created, the previous reviews and your own article here, they all don't match the score given. It's like you've written the article with an honest review, but where forced to slap a good rating on it (be it the publisher, your superior, a random manager, whatever), because most people will only look at the number. Heck, it doesn't even match the magazine average of 8.5 for the expansion, despite the initial rating of Destiny being 7.6 there

eaos

Talonsin said:

I dont undertsand things like this: "LONGEVITY: 8 you can expect to repeat the same content over and over as you chase the ever vanish gap between you and the level cap." Does that sound like an 8 to anyone? If repeating the same content over and over after a week scores an 8 in longevity, I sure would hate to see what a 5 is

On the surface your comment makes sense, but the total amount of content and the reward you get for completing strikes nullifies this statement. If you blindly are gear grinding then yes you might feel that way, but with patrols with hidden chests, plus the raid is absolutely amazing if you do not cheat and look at a guide. you will hit level 39 1/2 from the story missions. I have been hitting the game pretty hard with friends and I would give the replay value a 9 and for a console game these days that is pretty amazing.

Thorkune

I honestly don't get the appeal. I really liked it for a few weeks, but it was the grindiest game that I have played to date. The devs seem to listen to the players, so I think it will eventually be good. But, the way it is now, there is nothing to break up the mind numbing grind. 

CrazKanuk

Thorkune said:

I honestly don't get the appeal. I really liked it for a few weeks, but it was the grindiest game that I have played to date. The devs seem to listen to the players, so I think it will eventually be good. But, the way it is now, there is nothing to break up the mind numbing grind. 

I don't know why it's grindy-er than any other MMORPG. The changes they've implemented actually makes it more rewarding because the gear that drops is loosely based on your current gear level, meaning that you're continuously progressing with your gear. I think that's actually pretty cool. At very least, if I run a few dungeons I am guaranteed to improve my gear. At least at this point I am, probably until I'm maxed. 

Point is, the game was designed as a game that is social. The barrier to entry and the time required to get started and caught up with your friends is very minimal compared to other MMOs. 

NukeGamer

Talonsin said:

I dont undertsand things like this: "LONGEVITY: 8 you can expect to repeat the same content over and over as you chase the ever vanish gap between you and the level cap." Does that sound like an 8 to anyone? If repeating the same content over and over after a week scores an 8 in longevity, I sure would hate to see what a 5 is

Yeah good luck completing all the quest and finding all the chest in one week...why do people who never play these games comment on them...

gervaise1

Anireth said:

So, a price point of $40, which is mentioned in the article, is somehow dropped in the actual rating. Even if it would be a lot of content for an expansion, which apparently isn't thec case, the price itself would still be a negative. Not saying that "The Taking King" is not worth it or anything, but you can't just drop stuff like that. I even noticed that with another review some weeks ago, where the price was also dropped from the rating. One can argue that the price should not contribute to the actual rating (though i think it should), but it should be listed as pro/con - especially if you mention it in the accompanying article! I also don't understand the scoring. For the expansion itself it might be fun, but how can a game that was scored 7.0 initially and that you hated (despite playing it) gain nearly 2 full grades through a expansion? Not to say that some specific values are clearly biased due to currently enjoying the game, like longelivity or value. Like, if one week of new content for $40 is a 9, how can you accurately reflect the difference to a game that has several weeks or months of content for the same price? And how would any game ever get an actually low value here? 2 hours content for $50? Clearly a strong 7! I have to admit i never touched Destiny, but the outraged it created, the previous reviews and your own article here, they all don't match the score given. It's like you've written the article with an honest review, but where forced to slap a good rating on it (be it the publisher, your superior, a random manager, whatever), because most people will only look at the number. Heck, it doesn't even match the magazine average of 8.5 for the expansion, despite the initial rating of Destiny being 7.6 there

The issue about price and reviews is very valid imo. I dropped a comment on the original review "asking" how Destiny was scored down because it planned to have paid DLC whilst Wildstar was scored up because it planned to have lots of monthly content - even though it would have a $15 a month sub. Bill, I think, commentyed that well that was how they saw it. And we have the same "Bungie dropped the ball by charging $20" throwaway comment here. How does it stack up with e.g. the (seriously expensive) tattoos in TESO that were praised, or mounts at $25 and up in multiple cash shops - WoW, TESO etc. Or the $300+ that WoW's 6.2 will have cost anyone who stayed subbed from 5.4 (WoD was paid). And this feeds into Longevity as well - a term that may be a hangover from "traditional mmo" days. Replay value is far better. If you buy a game and play it for 10, 20, 200, whatever hour and had fun does it matter that you stopped playing? I for one don't expect to play the same game all the time continually. Same deal with films. I go and watch a film and don't expect to sit through it for the next 6 months. And I bring up films because the words and score not gelling remind me of the Oscars. Avengers, say, lots of fun, hugely popular, billion+ box office not a hope; Hurt Locker et. al - this is what films should me. There does seem to have been a disconnect regarding Destiny.