Destiny Impressions pt. 3

At this point, I've reached lvl 20, beaten the story, and have begun working hard on the end-game content.

So the main story has been beaten, and I like the tone it's presenting for the remainder of the experience. It does instill hope while acknowledging that the war is still far from over. The lack of emphasis or proper development of NPC characters threw me off at first, and I can see why it would really bother others, as character development is something that was born for storytelling. However, given the game's social nature with real players, I feel this was deliberate in a sense. Spending more time making online friends seems to be the goal here instead of investing you in NPCs that can't really do much for you in the long run. Creating your own stories with other players seems to be the key thing here, and I often feel that people are missing it. If you want story details, just look around at the post-war environments (show, don't tell at is finest, IMO) and grimmoire cards at Bungie's website. I'm curious as to whether or not people will accept this, so this is gonna be a very divisive part of the game. As for me, I welcome this unique take on storytelling--meaning notreally telling it.

The gameplay mechanics, from the gunplay to the RPG elements, are more streamlined than anything you've likely ever played. You really do feel like a warrior building himself/herself up to destroy the enemies opposed to the light. Leveling up doesn't have the same feel as in RPGs, however, as the levels are mostly there to equip better items and weapons, much like Dark Souls does in a sense. You can even increase the effectiveness of better weapons once you have the necessary materials, which is always a cool thing. The item drops seem to do one cool thing though. At lower levels, things feel hard to come by. However, once you keep getting higher and higher, so do the item drops. And the enemies definitely get an intelligence boost at higher levels as well, making formations and attack patterns as though they're working as a unit instead of independent of one another. That's not to say they're as good as human players, but they provide enough of a challenge either way.

The strikes, noticeably, get better too. The regular enemies give you one hell of a fight, as do the bosses. Some will feel the bosses are bullet sponges without much thought put into taking them down. While I can see that--and to some extent agree--I don't mind it. Blasting the enemies trying to defend the big beast makes things just as challenging, IMO, and the bosses don't fool around when it comes to power as well.

Most of the multiplayer aspects revolve around the co-op, as I've said before, and it is the biggest reason why you should play Destiny. It's a rewarding experience to play with friends, come up with strategies, and destroy your enemies as a working unit. Even the guns you get in the end-game are ridiculous in their power and useability. The competitive multiplayer doesn't seem like one that's going to replace the likes of Battlefield or Call of Duty any time soon, but it's still fun to test out your new weapons and your skills. I do have concerns about the lack of a proper matchmaking system, especially coming out of the makers of Halo. However, I do feel that the multiplayer is only supplemental to the overall experience, and not a big chunk of the deal. It's just there as a test run for guardians, and little more.

And now to address some common complaints I've heard about the game and whether or not I agree with them:

• Yes, the world feels empty and devoid of life. We were dropped into a world that just nearly got killed by the forces of darkness. The last remaining human city is just that: the last remaining human city!It's pretty much a sci-fi post-apocalypse, and Bungie has stated this from the beginning. It's not their fault you forgot about that little detail.
• The single-player experience is...well, a little unfairly balanced, I'll admit. But then again, this isn't exactly a single-player focused game now, is it? I'll admit, I love my single-player games, but this game is slowly but surely getting me into the online community. But I'll readily admit that I like playing this game solo, just to prove to myself that I am that good.
• The lack of communication with random players is there for a reason: people don't wanna hear the online trolls and idiots jabbering away at their headsets--don't lie, they're in every online game and everybody hates them. There's a reason they restricted it to fireteams only. They wanted only the best possible chat experience.
• Are the mechanics and RPG stuff shallow? No. The depth is just hidden by the simplicity. The best way to put your skills to use? PvP and Strike/Raid missions. There you have to actually utilize your FPS skills to win, not rely on how big and bad your guns are and how many bullets you can tank. You have to actually use your weapons and skills.
• Is the game repetitive? Yes, and I realize that it can be off-putting for a lot of people. But for me, the repetition is considerably lessened by the incredible mechanics.

Now, again, this is not an official review. I'm actually saving that for when the game picks up steam before the expansion packs roll in. Bungie's got new story events, public events, weekly and daily strike/raid and Crucible challenges, and a whole lot more incoming. A game like this--as Bungie likely meant when they said the day-one reviews won't tell the whole story--requires patience and time devotion to really see what they're trying to say this game is. It's not quite an RPG shooter, but it doesn't feel like it's meant to be. "Shared World Shooter" seems like the best way to describe it, and I feel that streamlining it was the best way to get more and more people into it. Is it flawed? Oh, most definitely. But no game is entirely perfect at launch, especially online-based ones. And so I feel that a review for this game so early is doing this massive project a disservice. Maybe in a month or two will I have a full review. But until then, an update of my impressions every now and then seems like the appropriate thing to do.