Linear time and Paracausal Forces (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Saturday, November 18, 2017, 23:52 (2357 days ago) @ Kahzgul
edited by Ragashingo, Sunday, November 19, 2017, 00:34

I'm really not sure why the choice has been made, repeatedly, to not have the characters in the game actually learn anything or figure anything out from the bits of information we've collected along the way, but their inability to grow, change, learn, and adapt is incredibly frustrating for me, especially given how absolutely perfect the premise of D2 was for all of those things to take place. Instead it was a story about re-establishing the status quo. Only Hawthorne changed at all, and that was a long wait for her perspective to move an inch.

I think we’ve talked about this part before. Each of the Vanguard have dialogue showing that they have learned. Specifically:

• Zavala says he had grown too reliant on the safety of The City’s defenses and that he intends to reestablish a more outgoing, offensive posture to try and prevent our enemies from being able to attack us like the Red Legion did.
  
• Ikora tells us she had grown too comfortable with her light and her immortality. She says that when the Traveler tested her (as in, when her power was taken away) she failed that test by basically running away and hiding instead of acting to protect The City. She pledges to do better, and they even mentioned this in the stream a bit.
  
• Cayde-6... eh... I actually don’t remember any dialogue from him about learning. Someone else a while back mentioned that of the Vanguard he was the one who was the most heroic and who accomplished the most. He took a big risk traveling alone to Nessus, but it paid off in the end. Is there even anything he should have or could have done differently?

With at least two of the three Vanguard expressing a desire to not repeat their mistakes, you can’t really claim there is no growth or learning. It’s right there in their dialogue, in game, not locked away in lore or whatever. Furthermore:

• Unless I’m mistaken, most or all of the content in Destiny 2, so far, occurs during the Red War, and little to none of it besides us landing at the new Tower occurs after Gary’s defeat. You can’t rightly claim there has been no learning or growth when approximately zero time has passed. Nobody has yet had a real chance to demonstrate any change in attitude or behavior. Curse of Osiris will be the first actual opportunity for us to see any changes in the strategy or actions of the Vanguard or The City.
  
• As “the Guardian”, we tend to get called in when a big bad shows up or when things have already gone sufficiently wrong. We don’t, however, seem to be a part of planning meetings or regularly scheduled patrols. In our early days, we were basically just lucky to stumble upon Rasputin, and the Hive, and the Vex. By the time Crota and the House of Wolves and Oryx became a threat we were being called in as “the Guardian” and were again not really part of The City’s regular defenses. So if Zavala really does start to look beyond The City’s walls, would we as the elite god slaying “the Guardian” really notice or necessarily be a part of those changes?
  
• All that to say, even if there are changes, they may be more subtle than you are after. I’ll personally be looking for signs of renewed expansion of The City and of human colonies in other places on Earth and beyond. Ikora’s behavior in this upcoming expansion will also be something I observe very closely. Certainly, if she gets out of The City and actually does something, that’ll be a change. But so would something smaller like a more proactive attitude.

We’re two weeks out from our first chance to see how much Bungie is willing to do with D2’s story post launch. After that, your frustration at a lack of change will be a lot more justified. Right now, it’s a bit premature, in my opinion.