Creating a world doesn't require story - Thoughts on Destiny (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Friday, February 06, 2015, 22:08 (3375 days ago) @ Earendil

Well said.

The world building is atrocious in this game. None of the "characters" you encounter have any personality other than the Cryptarch, and he's a prick.

The Ghost tells you we know nothing about the Vex, but then has mysteriously heard legends of the Black Garden. He also tells you to hide from the Cabal because nothing gets through their Exclusion Zone, and then you totally kill them all and get through the zone like no big deal. The whole game is full of people telling you "no one has done X (before, in hundreds of years, and lived, etc.)" and then you just kind of go and do it, no big deal. Also, the design of the world counteracts the thin storytelling: No one has ever made it through the Exclusion Zone, but when you get through, there are totally guardians patrolling the areas on the other side. There are clearly other Guardians on the moon. And so forth.

In terms of how the "worlds" feel, the only real difference between Earth, Mars, Venus, and the Moon is the color scheme and who you get to kill there. But the different races are all functionally the same. As far as the story is concerned, they're all just "evil" and need to die. No sense of history. No scope given to the tasks at hand.

Hell, at the end of the very first mission, an Archon appears and Ghost says, "We'll come back when you're ready." Then, in the very next mission, you go back and kill the Archon. Not only are you recycling map areas way too quickly, but you're also diffusing any tension you may have built. Oh, I guess I am ready to kill any big baddie I see. No fear, no anticipation, no tension at all.

And the game does this constantly. "A triptych of Cryptids (or whatever he calls them)... said to be uncrackable" and then Ghost cracks them. Boring and uninteresting, and utterly without drama.