Paging story experts *SP* (Destiny)

by MacAddictXIV , Seattle WA, Monday, September 10, 2018, 11:55 (2058 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

On a whole I like that some of these things are teased and that we don't get everything explained to us. However, there are some things that I feel should be explained, one of the biggest ones was why Uldren was in prison and why he felt compelled to shoot one of the vanguard.

I have not finished the story, but while the game is fun the story is pretty shit so far. The lore may indeed be really cool, but if you mean to tell me that basic character motivations that give the dramatic conflicts clarity are not presented to the audience even by the end, then it's even worse than I thought.

I see not even a basic understanding of story function and dramatic principles at play here. That's as non hyperbolic as I can put it. I'd be happy to explain all in detail when I finish the story in a post nobody at Bungie will ever read.

*** FORSAKEN SPOILERS ***

As someone else pointed out (was it you, Cheapley?), there’s a pretty big disconnect between what we’re told is happening via the cutscenes (our guardian goes off alone on a quest for revenge) vs what we actually experience (guardians EVERYWHERE, lol). There was definitely room to setup some greater consistency there. As far as the driving plot of the main campaign, I thought it was functional and serviceable (I always knew why I was where I was, and what my goal was). This is actually a fair step up from some of the previous story telling in the franchise, IMO.

If we’re getting down to the motivation of the characters, then I think in some cases it’s intentionally vague/mysterious/misleading (Uldren), other cases I think it’s left unexplored because it doesn’t really matter (the Barons). Uldren’s side of the story is clearly part of what’s being dealt with in the Dreaming City. What I’m curious about is the vanguard. Over the course of D2, they’ve set up a fair bit of tension between Zavala and Ikora. The former’s defensive and conservative priorities are somewhat at odds with the laters renewed dedication to action and boldness. My hope is that they’re actually going somewhere with this. As of right now, Zavala is looking more and more like an old cowardly grump who just shows up to say “no” to everyone while our everyone else (mostly our guardian) does everything. They need to either tell a story where Zavala proves to be right, allowing he and Ikora to achieve and recognize a sort of balance between them, or the rift needs to have actual consequences (perhaps leading to division within the vanguard?).

Being Destiny, I’m tempted to think all this boils down to 1-note “character development”; Zavala is the protective one, Ikora is aggressive, and Cayde is the funny one. That’s all they’ll ever be, and that’s what we’ll get from them until the end of the franchise (we’ll, not from Cayde ;p. #toosoon?). But I’m hoping this isn’t the case. There’s an opportunity to use these characters in interesting ways.

I think it will be interesting to see what happens when we get our cayde replacement. Will he be more like Zavala or Ikora? Will that push the tide to one side? My guess is the person will lean more towards Ikora in which case there might very well be a split in the vangaurd. However, you already find out that Ikora is trying to be responsible by taking a bullet to keep the vanguard in one piece because that's what people need. I think Ikora is just as responsible as Zavala, she is just far more impulsive.