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"We want to unhide the fun of destiny..." (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY @, Toronto, Tuesday, May 23, 2017, 21:24 (2501 days ago) @ ManKitten

I'm perfectly fine with a cheesy sci-fi world with cliche characters and a dumb plot. But when that gets sold to me as a grand epic with characters that I'll really care about and a story that will really pull me in, that's when I need to raise my hand and say "uh... guys?".


Coming at it from a marketing angle.

What are they supposed to do? "Hey guys...get ready to play the O.K.est game of the year. It's got a mediocre story and characters that will make you say 'meh' at best!" They are trying to sell copious amounts of a product, so they are obviously going to talk it up.

On the flip side, when watching some of their vidoc style videos (kind of like the ones they showed during the reveal) a lot of the interviews just seemed sterile. Following the idea of "If you aren't excited about your product, why should I be?" When the people talking about it are passionate about what they're doing, it comes across. I get way more excited about something when they are saying "Here is why I love it" as opposed to "Here is why you will love it". Don't tell me what to think, I'll make that conclusion myself. And if I don't love it...you failed me. But if you are excited about it and tell me why, then I look forward to experiencing what you have.

That's always a tricky question in terms of marketing. I'm a big fan of the "if you've got it, flaunt it" approach. Destiny has some of the best art and visual design in the industry. The various planets and locations are spectacular. And you get to fly all over the galaxy to all these amazing places and have a blast shooting aliens with your friends. That's why I'm such a defender of the "Venus Baby" live action trailer for D1. It didn't match the tone of the story at all, but it was surprisingly true to the actual experience of playing the game. If the story is inconsequential to the point that it doesn't even matter (as was the case in D1), then I appreciate marketing that doesn't try to sell the story as part of the appeal of the game.

Now I personally don't begrudge Bungie for talking briefly about nitty gritty details at this event. They were talking to the hardcore players, and things like sidequests and maps are the kind of changes we like to hear about. But they paint themselves into a bit of a corner by wanting to show us how excited they are about these features, without wanting to show us real examples so we can judge the quality of said feature.
Saying "we have side quests now!" is not going to get me excited... it's actually amazing that D1 DIDN'T have side quests. If the side quests enrich the experience in fun and interesting ways, then I'll love them. But that's one of those things that you really can't know until you're playing the whole game, so I don't find it particularly valuable info from a marketing point of view.

Watching the D2 reveal, the parts that I think DID work were the moments where they let the game speak for itself. Watching that first mission was fantastic. I can't wait to play it. I also really loved the "Guided Games" discussion, because that came across as an inventive solution to one of the more difficult challenges facing the end-game.


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