Maybe this is why Bungie hates story-telling now? (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, February 09, 2015, 20:20 (3372 days ago) @ Old Fire Thief

I think you're right that Bungie delivered great gameplay. I also think you're right that it is Bungie's style to give us a game where we uncover and explore what remains of our past after a Golden Age and a subsequent Collapse. That same plot (more or less :p) was a major theme in Marathon, Myth, Oni, and Halo. The problem is that while Destiny does have some really neat backstory and scifi philosophy worthy of previous Bungie titles, it's front story did not hold up nearly as well. Halo got us used to great animated cutscenes and significant in-game chatter piecing the story together as we played...

...but Destiny has very few cutscenes of strong narrative value (landing at The Tower, then on the Moon, Venus, and Mars don't count, for instance) and even less input from our Ghost as we went along. Perhaps even worse is the way Destiny's missions didn't flow nearly as well. There is a connection between all the missions on Earth, or the Moon, or Venus, or Mars... but: 1. Most of the mission are too short and 2. What connections are there are generally buried in the Grimoire with little to no hints given to us while playing the game.

Speaking of terrible flow, the thing that shocked me the most the very first time I played Destiny was the way that missions end with two or three inconsequential sentences from our Ghost and then a countdown! "The City will appreciate this data... at some point in the future... that you may never see. 3...2...1... Stats Screen." is nowhere near as compelling as abandoning the Autumn and watching it rush past you before your escape pod crash lands on a beautiful and mysterious alien ringworld. That there's a short paragraph of text in the Grimoire from one of The Tower Vanguard saying "That data your provided us was indeed interesting" doesn't come close to making up for the lack of the easy to understand context and excitement that even the worst levels in Halo provided. :(