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[General Article] Destiny: Review in Progress Part 1
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Earlier this week Destiny officially released to tremendous commercial success. Lauded by Activision Blizzard as the biggest franchise launch yet in video game history, it achieved $500 million shipped on day one. These sales are to retailers and digital distributors not to the end users but it is pretty safe to bet at this point that Destiny is on a fast track to be Activision’s third billion dollar franchise joining Call of Duty and Skylanders.
Read more of Rob Lashley's Destiny: Review in Progress Part 1.
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Comments
I hit 20 Wednesday night, I was boosted though by two slightly higher level friends who did the whole campaign with me entirely in Hard mode. So I was always hanging back taking pot shots and mobs above my level.
I've actually only played the first like 2 missions in Russia solo - the rest of my Destiny experience has been 100% fire team.
Last night I helped my brother level up a bit, and played some more "end-game" type level 18-20 story missions and strikes for the daily quests.
I've also been doing a good number of bounties, and I really both love and loathe the ones that are like "kill 2 enemies at once with your Fusion rifle, 20 times."
Kind of difficult to set up skill shots like that sometimes. (hint - works best on Hive thralls)
My plan this weekend is to continue the dailes/bounties routine, but I also want to reply the entire campaign solo on the level 20 heroic mode.
I've been leveling up my subclass, hunting for gear upgrades with Light.
I hope to be up to level 26 sometime next week so my friends/clan and I can give the Raid a go.
My only real annoyance with the game is that you HAVE to go to Orbit in order to go anywhere. Kind of wish you could just pull up the map and move from zone to zone, mission to mission, etc. or back to the Tower without having to first hit Orbit.
Xbox Live is also a little funky with Party Chat sometimes, so we'll have to leave/rejoin to get it so everyone can hear everyone.
I've also got two Strikes on Mars I haven't done yet which should be fun. I love the Strikes!
The Heroic mode (level 20) story missions are definitely challenging enough where you really have to rethink your tactics.
I've not yet done any Crucible, but if the weekend Event involves it I'll probably throw myself into that ring as well.
TLDR: Destiny is a great hybrid MMO/FPS, with some flaws from both genres certainly, but the signature Bungie moment-to-moment AAA gameplay and amazing production - the music, sites, sounds, etc. are all fantastic.
Lots of little details too like if you look up when it's raining on Venus you will get rain drops on your visor, or if you don't pull the trigger all the way on a Hand Cannon you actually see the hammer moving back. Lots of little details like that. Very cool stuff.
Well I'm only level 8 , but so far after getting my vehicle and also after been kicked in the same place on "the dark within" the night before. I think is is really good. Foomerrang from this sites friend described it as a FPS PSO , which is quite close to describing it properly. I say it's more like PSZ , PSP2 , PSP2I and PSO2 really. It's just the way you pick up missions from the main lobby etc very similar to the 4 games I mentioned and yes all 4 where MMO's well maybe not PSZ but the other 3 where / are. If Destiny had a keyboard chat system then it would be even better. So at least someone finally copied the PSO esque formula it was about bloody time , well done Bungie. Having said that Capcom are making a pretty packet with the MH series which yes copied PSO too. Sega lacking behind in the West still , silly company!
PS - Can't wait to get ammo for my huge grenade launcher that I got for handing in something or another
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
I am having an absolute blast with the game.
Currently have a Level 13 Titan and just arrived at Venus last night.
I have spend over 8 hours on Old Russia alone, just roaming around in Exploration mode, doing events, shoot stuff, exploring every nook and cranny and still haven't found and seen everything.
The moon is also a huge zone. Above the surface it's smaller than Russia, but underground there are vast Networks of tunnels and halls.... you can litterly get lost in them and also scare the shit out of you, when suddenly a horde of enemies jump on top of you out of nowhere!
Looking forward to exploring Venus in coming time and can't wait to get back in tonight and go to the Astroid Belt and visit the Queen of the Awoken.
But on a side note. I completely agree with the critism regarding social / communication issues!
These should be on top of Bungie priority list to deal with right now!
It's way too cumbersome and frankly inexcusable how they have implemented this.
It shouldn't be THAT difficult to invite someone into a fireteam.
I think it's a bit of a downside with the whole PSN / Bungie account integration, tho should be solvable.
I also hope they reconsider the fireteam sizes outside Strikes. The menu clearly indicates it can support 6 people in a fireteam and outside strikes this would be great when in Exploration mode.
Comparisons with Diablo are spot on and I played it just like I did Diablo. Hit 20 and lost interest completely as the loot grind doesn't interest me at all.
It does make me wonder what they spent $500m on when there's so little content in reality. I like the game and getting to 20 was a blast, but it did disappoint me how little time it took.
They didn't spend 500 million on Development. I wish People would stop posting this false information! It's just the press not doing their homework.
Activision "reserved" $500 million to be invested in coming years on the entire Destiny franchise. That includes mostly marketing, distribution and merchandise.
Except that it is not reality. There is so much to do in Destiny.
Does that include playing the same strikes/instances you played from 1-20 with the same mobs just with more HP?
Ha! Kind of. There's no way I could devote enough time to AA and Destiny, and Shadow of Mordor in a couple of weeks too.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
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As mentioned Activision haven't spend $500M on development; arguably they have spent nothing!
What Activision have done is set money aside for:
I'm having a blase too. I didn't think I woudl like it as much as I did. It's been a long long LONG time since I was addicted to an FPS. While i've owned most of the major fps's to date, ie Halo's, CoD's, Battlefield's, etc, I always took my time playing them, but also devoting more time to my other MMO's. With Destiny, I haven't touched my other MMO"s in a few days which is wierd to me.
ANyways, having fun.
-Unconstitutional laws aren't laws.-
Though i really like Bill's MMOFTW (mostly the non-scripted versions now and then!), like many users i'm not so much of a fan of his reviews.
But i really think that the last thing to look forward to on this page is a) Bill -> b) reviewing a Trion game. Can anyone guess the score already? Right!
Please do this page a favor and let someone less "blind to any flaws, just loves every game" and more "objective author" review Archeage.
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain
I'm usually called a "fanboi" by my friends because I usually research games so much before release and build a bunch of unnecessary hype around them convincing them to ultimately buy the game with me. Once we get the game I usually try my best to defend the game while ignoring it's faults. This time I took a step back and let Bungie market the game for me lol. This time I'll defend nothing as I want to see the unbiased reaction from the community affect their decisions. Anyway, we all bought it and we all enjoy it. However, this game does not exactly meet the expectations set by the company's marketing.
First off, Destiny is 90% FPS (shooter) and 10% MMO with extremely long load times. I think many of us were led to believe that there was an even mesh of mmo and fps to appeal to both fanbases. Even though I am a Playstation loyalist (Xbox sux), my real soul belongs to the pc master race mmo genre. Dont get me wrong though. I really enjoy shooting things and collecting gear as any gamer would but I really wish the fps aspect of it wasnt so....."been there done that" and introduced a little more next-gen innovation. At times I feel alone in this fantasy world. I guess I'm used to being in a fantasy world with thousands of players loitering around and spouting nonsense in general chat but Destiny is far from that. Maybe I expected too much and was led to believe I would get that mmo feeling while looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger in heavy titan armor holding a M60E3 short barrel machine gun.
Even though its not the ultimate console game I wanted it to be, I still bought it and still enjoy it. I expect it will only grow with constant added content like the developers promised. Maybe its way too early to cast judgement on it. Maybe I'm just an old fogie who has played so many games in my years that I'm hard to impress. Maybe modern gaming is all about the $$$ and less about the consumer (cough cough F2P mmos).
Anyway, as it stands currently I would rate the game 7/10 but just like any mmo (if you wanna call it that) it really cant be rated because its always "unfinished" and will experience many ups and downs in popular opinion throughout its projected 10 year lifespan. Good luck Bungie!
I hope Dragon Age Inquisition too
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
So.. the same as any FPS campaign and the same general theme/format as most modern MMOs? Check.
True.
I m having only pc, so i ll just wait for the pc version.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
Yeah good luck with that.
" Setting aside Destiny’s commercial success I’m going to share with you my journey from Earth to the Moon and beyond over the coming weeks. This week I really struggled to enjoy my time with Destiny which is absolutely something I did not see coming. "
I have been a bit floored as well. I have been playing these games long enough to know that I need to keep my expectations in check, but honestly this game falls way below even what I considered to be bottom line expectations.
PvP
- just put the standard lobby in place already, the ui in place right now just for entering a match is ridiculous, it's annoying and it does not add to the game, just put the standard lobby in.
- I'm level 15 currently, I have opened up quite a bit of the pvp maps, I'm completely floored at the lack of pvp content, I know Bungie can do way better than this. The content that is currently available makes me wonder what the hell was the development team working on for so long? I think small team of 5 or less people could have slapped this game together in about a year.
- Where is the epic map variety? Capture the Flag? Territories? Big Team Battle? Where are all the tricks and goodies you made in Halo only with more polish and more tricks and more goodies?
PvE
- There have been some intense battles, but for the most part in a game like this, Bungie, you would have been better off recreating Halo in new skins. Themepark is your strength. I'm sorry but megaservers and phasing and all this trying to make a persistent world, yada yada yada, Bungie seems to have lost track of how to actually make a game. Halo 3 was themepark all the way and it was unbelievably highly replayable. With mega servers, I have a ton of loading screens that take forever much longer than even halo, and so far 2 of the 5 or 6 larger boss battles, I have experienced network issues.
Bottome Line at this point in time
- I've got a bit of a knot in my stomach over this one, I bought the digital PS4 version and I also bought the map packs, I'm forcing myself to play it because I dropped $100 on it. My general rule of thumb is not to pre order and not to buy digital, I really thought going into this that Destiny was a safe bet but I got burnt hard here. Really kicking myself over this one, I can't even sell the game and get some money back.
They always do reviews in progress on here, especially for the biggest games. Also, there is no "popular opinion" on this site as no matter what they rate the game there will outcry that it was:
too low
too high
too average
too picky
not picky enough
paid for
not paid for
Dog ate the review
dog made the review
fanboi writer
site is a joke
Only valid opinion is my own
You agreed with me, good review
You disagreed with me, bad review
Pick whichever combination of those you like.
We do reviews in progress for all the major releases. If anything this one will be shorter than most.
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Loves every game, and Trion games?
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/602/Defiance.html
Give me SOME credit, at least.
But that's off-topic, let's stick to the Destiny talk, eh? Though oddly enough, in that Defiance review you could swap Destiny's name with Defiance's. Though the Aesthetics of Destiny and its Polish might bring it closer to 7 in my book.
That said, that's me. Not Grak.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.