It’s interesting, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the mood of Destiny and what direction they’re going to take it in D2, and Cruel’s track struck that chord again today.

For me, ever since the Beta, there’s been something magical about landing in a sparsely-populated Tower at night and having the music for Tranquility start playing. That track exudes sadness and longing, but there’s also an air of hope woven throughout. Every time it happens I drive my Guardian over to the railing and chill out to watch The Traveler. The ships come and go, Guardians transmat in and out, and it just feels right somehow. For me, this is the mood of Destiny that I absolutely love.

The direction they’ve taken Destiny since launch has been more toward the superhero-movie end of the spectrum, which can absolutely be fun, but quickly becomes bombastic and void of meaning if not contrasted against something slower and more intimate. I hope they’re able to keep that balance going forward (and maybe expand upon it a bit more?).

Not really sure where I’m going with this, but wondered if any of you had similar thoughts?

Similar thoughts? Get out of my head, man! You're scaring me. I love the Tower at night, especially when that track is playing. I have this memory of sitting on the fan with Mig one night (during the beta maybe?), talking about Destiny and all things Bungie.

I have similar feelings about Eighth, which used to be the soundtrack when you launched the game, and never failed to put me in that Destiny mood, a little sad for what is lost, but excited about the mysteries of space magic. May that essence be preserved going forward.

It’s interesting, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the mood of Destiny and what direction they’re going to take it in D2, and Cruel’s track struck that chord again today.

For me, ever since the Beta, there’s been something magical about landing in a sparsely-populated Tower at night and having the music for Tranquility start playing. That track exudes sadness and longing, but there’s also an air of hope woven throughout. Every time it happens I drive my Guardian over to the railing and chill out to watch The Traveler. The ships come and go, Guardians transmat in and out, and it just feels right somehow. For me, this is the mood of Destiny that I absolutely love.

The direction they’ve taken Destiny since launch has been more toward the superhero-movie end of the spectrum, which can absolutely be fun, but quickly becomes bombastic and void of meaning if not contrasted against something slower and more intimate. I hope they’re able to keep that balance going forward (and maybe expand upon it a bit more?).

Not really sure where I’m going with this, but wondered if any of you had similar thoughts?

Here's how I see it. Destiny will follow classic story beats over the course of its lifetime.

Mood:

Destiny: Hope
With the conversations had with the Speaker, it's clear that the first game deals a lot with the issue of "hope". From the rekindling of the Traveler's light, to the forging of the Young Wolf's Howl, everything in Destiny has been about pushing towards new hope, and the soundtrack had that (until the darker themes took over).

Destiny 2: The loss of hope.
Evidenced by the Last City's burning in the teaser image, Destiny 2 will be about loss. Heroes being reminded to keep their hopes and confidence in check with a series of failures, before finally making some significant progress in slowing their defeat, possibly culminating in a tactical retreat or major blow (destruction/loss of the Traveler?). The soundtrack will likely have a lot of strings.

Destiny 3: Rising from defeat.
With forces scattered and the enemy looming upon them, the Heroes must rally allies and some foes that have been met over the course of their journey, with steadily increasing victories and sacrifices until they are able to acquire a Macguffin that will be the key to victory (The Traveler's source of power?). Lots of horns and bombastic tunes.

Like I said, pretty familiar story beats, but when pulled off well, they definitely work.

As for the "atmosphere" of Destiny (such as the music that plays when you land in the Tower), I've always felt that Destiny has a bit of a late 80s/early 90s Japanese theme going, with lots of downtime in between all-out battles (think MSG: 08th MS Team). I like it, but the downside is that Destiny never takes this downtime to provide something interesting. It's always been farming for planetary materials, patrols, errands and inventory in the Tower, etc...
Still, the atmosphere is the same, and hopefully Destiny 2 can give that downtime some better context if we get to go visit the city slums.

I wrote a post a while back about the slight thematic shift with Rise of Iron, and how much I liked that aspect of the expansion (I can't find the link right now, but I'll keep looking). I enjoy Destiny's sci-fi roots, but Rise of Iron leaned ever so slightly towards a more typical fantasy/medieval/lord of the rings stylistic presentation, and it all just clicked for me. The Iron Lords armor, big magical broadswords, snow-capped mountains and ancient temples... I really enjoy that aesthetic. Maybe that's why VoG stood out so far above and beyond the rest of Vanilla destiny for me (aside from the awesome mechanics). There's a little bit of a "Mines of Moria" vibe to the Vault, and that really speaks to me.

There's something else I've been thinking about, not necessarily related to the fantasy style I mentioned above (although it would certainly compliment the medieval armor and magical swords). I've been thinking about what Bungie could possibly do from a mechanical point of view to make Destiny stand apart from other FPS games. Since the release of Destiny, they've taken tiny little baby steps towards making melee combat a more prominent part of the game (swords, axes)... what if they took that idea waaaaay further?

What if melee combat in Destiny 2 was more than just a single button, stock melee animation? What if melee combat could have similar levels of depth and complexity to the shooting mechanics? How could Bungie do that without turning it into Streetfighter with guns? I don't think I'd want complex combo systems or anything like that... but I think there is room to make melee combat more diverse than it currently is in most shooters. In Destiny, like Halo, melee combat often devolves into 2 opponents mashing the melee button as fast as possible until 1 person kills the other. Maybe there could be a way to block melee attacks? Or counter them?

There could be a whole new dimension of combat waiting to open up there. Subclasses and/or specific abilities that truly favored close-quarters combat. That concept art that showed a Titan holding a shield hinted at a whole world of possibilities and really got me thinking :)

And who is going to compose the new music to evoke that emotion? Do you think they can get that without Marty?

Maybe, maybe not. But Rise of Iron was not exactly on the memorable side for music.

FUCK. I remember thinking that some of the music in the Oryx expansion was awesome, but now I think it had no subtlety and was less good.

I hate when my opinions are wrong.

It’s interesting, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the mood of Destiny and what direction they’re going to take it in D2, and Cruel’s track struck that chord again today.

For me, ever since the Beta, there’s been something magical about landing in a sparsely-populated Tower at night and having the music for Tranquility start playing. That track exudes sadness and longing, but there’s also an air of hope woven throughout. Every time it happens I drive my Guardian over to the railing and chill out to watch The Traveler. The ships come and go, Guardians transmat in and out, and it just feels right somehow. For me, this is the mood of Destiny that I absolutely love.

[youtubefull width=426 height=240]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNxYAoxu9Hc[/youtubefull

The direction they’ve taken Destiny since launch has been more toward the superhero-movie end of the spectrum, which can absolutely be fun, but quickly becomes bombastic and void of meaning if not contrasted against something slower and more intimate. I hope they’re able to keep that balance going forward (and maybe expand upon it a bit more?).

Not really sure where I’m going with this, but wondered if any of you had similar thoughts?[/size]

Wonder and Curiosity to offset ? The Light ? fueled efforts we Guardians make in our ? unending ? undead lunge towards...? The Darkness ?. Sometimes it's nice to hear sounds and see awe filling sights that we don't make, as long as those sorts of things aren't trying to ? Kill ? us. Even then, it's not like I won't be back... right?

What's not to like?

Alright so, Destiny Universe pander aside, I agree that the immediate mood for Destiny has assumed a shift to a more superhero/fantasy type role, but this is not the mood I focus on. The mood for Destiny, as far as I am concerned, is set in its overall background story, such as the environments and general atmosphere (which admittedly I am a sucker for in all games). It seems to me what it may be you are really enjoying is the collective escapism Destiny affords.

...something magical about landing in a sparsely-populated Tower at night and having the music for Tranquility start playing. That track exudes sadness and longing, but there’s also an air of hope woven throughout. Every time it happens I drive my Guardian over to the railing and chill out to watch The Traveler. The ships come and go, Guardians transmat in and out, and it just feels right...

The world of Destiny is an interesting idea, much like Starwars, or Lord of the Rings, or... Avatar: The Last Airbender. That said, don't get me wrong, the music for Tranquility is right boss, and is also a favorite of the Destiny Musics, which no doubt adds to the mystique. It's fun to dream. It works for books, movies, and of course it works for interactive visual media as well. As far as I can recall, or at least as far as I have played, Destiny is one of the few games where doing nothing sometimes is part of the game. Granted that downtime is more "set-up-for-the-next-task", but who's to say we can't get more out of it.

So Zen. Much Art.

The sound track for TFofR does not work for TRotK, no matter how good that first soundtrack was. Unless D2 is just more D1 and no universe progression, in which case they can rehash D1 themes and feelings all day long. I love the Shire, but a story that only takes place there would be a very different story.