On Authenticity (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Sunday, June 28, 2015, 20:37 (3434 days ago)
edited by Cody Miller, Sunday, June 28, 2015, 20:41

I really think that the biggest issue I have and always have had with Destiny is its insane dichotomy of the authentic and inauthentic.

When I speak of authenticity, I'm talking about just the general joy in making the best thing you can. Even bad games can be authentic. I would not say that Oni is by any means Bungie's best game, and it's not even a fantastic game, but everything about that game made me believe that everybody working on it was trying their hardest to make it the best they could. The fact that it didn't quite measure up doesn't matter at all.

Every single Bungie game up to Destiny felt like everybody working on it was truly just trying to make something awesome. Some were better than others, but all felt completely honest.

There's a lot about Destiny that feels very authentic. The art, the lore, the game feel, the guns, the raids. The Vault of Glass wouldn't exist if there wasn't someone extremely passionate about making a kick ass raid working on it. This is all why I play Destiny.

But the dichotomy is that there is a great deal about Destiny that feels completely inauthentic - things that feel cold and calculated and integrated for reasons other than game quality. The repetition and grinding, the barely there narrative, the trickle of DLC content, RNG loot, the promotional tie ins, platform exclusives, lack of game customization, and others.

You look at the price of gear in marks when the game came out, and it was blatantly obvious that Bungie was gating your progress. 150 marks for armor, then 75 for a helmet? Shit, can't get both in a week! Tons of stuff like this was laid completely bare, staring me in the face. Stuff that was the complete opposite of fun, yet designed clearly to jerk people along so they didn't drop the game before DLC comes.

I look at a guy like James Cameron, who has directed three films which were at the time the most expensive films ever made (T2, Titanic, Avatar). Enormous risk by those in charge, yet looking at those films, they all feel completely authentic, and full of artistic integrity. He didn't compromise, or at least it didn't feel like it. I've met him and talked to him, and he seems incredibly passionate about his films, and impervious to bullshit. You might not like his work, but you can't really look at any of them and say "That's just there to sell toys".

After Halo, Bungie could have been like James Cameron. Any bullshit Activision requested should have been met with a "Fuck that, we do it our way or we get someone else". I refuse to believe this wasn't an option. Either you make money with us or you don't. But they chose not to go that route.

This is selling out, completely as per Matt Soell's definition. When people say that the old Bungie is gone, this is what they mean. Not that many on Halo were on Marathon, but it was still Bungie to me. The individual people don't matter. This isn't Bungie. I think that is deep down what people are reacting to with all this news. The fact that it's not purely about making the best game they can make.

It's again so boggling to me because I've never really seen anything that is so authentic at the core, yet have the rest of the center built upon something so stupid and toxic. This is why I can't just drop it immediately. Everything about the Taken King looks sick. But what's the cost of all that awesomeness?