Late thoughts on Destiny 2 (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Thursday, May 25, 2017, 05:56 (2525 days ago) @ Oholiab

As usual, I'm posting as the zeitgeist is waning...

I'm generally very excited for the next iteration of Destiny. I won't repeat the specifics that have been mentioned in other threads.

I do have a concern, and maybe those of you who are better informed could speak to it:

In the video about "things you missed in the stream" (something like that), Deej mentioned something to the effect that once you finish the campaign, other activities open up. As one who likes to savor content slowly, this statement concerns me. I believe this was the case for vanilla Destiny and the expansions: you had to finish the campaign in order to unlock strikes, patrols, and arena modes (raids notwithstanding). Am I recalling that correctly? I distinctly recall feeling rushed to get through the story modes.

Yes and no, i guess. Strikes were plot-specific in Destiny 1, so as you got to each strike in the plot, it became available to you just like another mission being unlocked (I played the level 9 strike like 10 times to get a sweet blue gun that I then got rid of two missions later, oh well). Once you beat the game, all of the strikes became playable on "heroic" mode which made them balanced for max level characters.

What I hope they're saying is that this will be more like TTK, where there was so much more to do beyond the main storyline. Heck, I still haven't gotten my last sword (That would be funny if there were a sword in D2 called "The Last S Word"). The whole "sleeper simulant" quest chain, for example. Lots more stuff like that would be great. We do know that there are "Adventures" which are like side-quests... I would hope that a few of those will open up after completing the main storyline as well, but we just don't know yet. Bungie is saying there are "lots" of them, but they also said there were "lots" of worlds for us to explore in D1, and that ended up being "4." Take their vague statements with many many spoonfuls of grains of salt, imo. Wait until they give us real numbers.

We do know, for example, that the European Dead Zone is at least twice as big as their biggest zone from D1 (which was, I believe, the Plaguelands?). That's a solid statement they made. So hopefully there's stuff to do all through that area.

I contrast this with Assassin's Creed: Black Flag or the recent Deus Ex (I don't play a lot of games to have good references). In these games I felt like I was able to enjoy them at my own pace, exploring when I wanted to explore, completing side quests as I wanted, and continuing the story when I was in the mood to do so. I did not feel in any way rushed to get through the story.

Did you feel that way in Destiny 1? D1 is probably your best barometer, especially the later xpacs.

I hope that patrols, adventures, and lost sectors will be accessible while I complete the story, not as a result of doing so.

I imagine they will be. Patrols were certainly available to you early on in Destiny 1. That being said, we just don't have very much actual info yet. Lots of D1 hype was fueled by "it would make sense if X" speculation, so it's important to grain of salt all of this. We really don't know.