tl;dr, Cody was wrong yet again. (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Sunday, February 15, 2015, 22:00 (3381 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Can you really say they gutted a level when it was made clear that the engine could not handle anything bigger? Heck, the very next quote in the article is about that exact thing:

There’s a part of me that wishes we could have five times as many players in a space, and have three-to-five times the real estate, it’s just a matter of working with the engine and working with the consoles over time to try to get closer to that dream.

I always did say that last-gen really held Destiny back from its full potential. Heck, the Alpha gave that away. I said it then that last-gen was forcing Destiny to lower its ambition.

In the ride along video they also talked about how even the level segments we do have were built specifically to break up lines of sight. It was said that even things like the tall ship in the Forgotten Shore was there both as a level set piece but also to help limit what needed to be rendered at any given time to prevent framrate issues.

One of the things that excited me during the Alpha was when I stood by the entrance to the Skywatch, overlooking the Mothyards, and sniped towards the planes while other Guardians fought the Fallen. The prospect of having long sightlines that you could snipe down, or journey towards/beside massive battles in the distance had me giddy... then we get what's in the final game, with every other area that you pass being completely empty, or with only a handful of enemies, but rarely do you get to see other guardians. Again, I blame last-gen, because I'm playing a bit of FFXIV:ARR right now, and it's a true, complete MMO running smoothly on consoles.

And, of course, Destiny's problem is not a lack of playable space. It's a lack of a strong, front-facing story which perhaps filtered down into some repetitive story missions. If you wanted to play up the argument that Destiny should have been next-gen only I'd probably agree. I always thought it was a crime that Halo 2 got stuck right at the end of the Xbox's life. But I don't think the idea that the gutted their level deigns when their engine couldn't handle bigger levels holds much water...

Bungie's no Bethesda, so experience is really what hurt them trying to make a quest-based non-linear campaign... Overhauls late in development may have had an impact on this as well (see: the Grimoire Cards)... I think they did the best that their experience and time could afford, but they're getting better. Delaying the next DLC was a smart move (343, you paying attention?), since the feedback from TDB was that it was a step in the right direction in some ways, and a mistake in others... I'm feeling positive.

Heck, if nothing else, Destiny 2 definitely won't have these problems. And if we can finally unchain current-gen games from last-gen consoles, then maybe we won't have to see great ambition die...