There's no antagonist (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 13:14 (3472 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I actually like that line and that whole encounter because it's more than just the one line. It's the one instance that Destiny lays out some neat clues that anyone can follow. We have in front of us an Exo who was not resurrected by The Traveler. She somehow knows about things beyond The City's influence. She somehow understand's the threat of the Vex. And, perhaps most intriguingly, she has a ship and allies or crew of her own that are having to be careful to stay hidden while going about their interventions. There's a lot packed in to that one cutscene. Most of it is unanswered mysteries, sure, but they fee to mel like mysteries that help expand Destiny's universe.

It is strange, because it seems like the beginning of the game is packed with cool stuff like that, but the end peters off.

Like, the opening has tons of cool stuff happening like your ghost turning on the lights, and a neat little scripted moment to make the world feel more alive. You emerge and a fallen ship warps in and knocks stuff down. The Warmind mission has you opening an array. You get a tons of cutscenes all through the beginning, advancing the story along.

But then the rest of the game is dead by comparison. You get fewer story moments, and there's little to no scripted stuff in the levels that feel 'big', or make the world feel like anything that you can actually affect.

In general I'd say the Halo games relied on the strength of their core gameplay and the strength of their cutscenes to tell a good story. Each Halo game was pretty for its time but they always felt a bit... fixed and stagnant. I always wanted a bit more Call of Duty or Gear of War in my Halos where big interesting things in the level itself helped tell the story and drive you forward. Bungie tried a bit with Scarabs but they turned out to be big set pieces that mainly spun in circles. The best they ever gave us was the UNSC Frigate battling the Covenant Corvette. That set piece looked epic and it accomplished that feeling of having others in the world carrying out their own mission to help you accomplish yours.

Destiny could once again get by one strong interesting cutscenes like Halo did, but it sure would be neat if Bungie would step up things a notch and get more storytelling out of things happening around you and to you in the world.