Bungie's story goals (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Sunday, June 05, 2016, 17:01 (3186 days ago)
edited by Cody Miller, Sunday, June 05, 2016, 17:09

I am reminded of an old article from 2013 when Pete Parsons was talking about Bungie and their goals for Destiny and the universe.

He said the following:

"We like to tell big stories and we want people to put the Destiny universe on the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Star Wars".

Compare this with Naughty Dog, whose most recent games are already being compared favorably over other non video game works. Notice how Destiny largely has not succeed here.

Destiny's success I think has largely been in the 'gamey' circle. It's managed to capture people who like to play PvP, or play activities for the best guns and gear. I don't think it has branched out from this and created any sort of lasting cultural impact beyond that.

I don't think people are caring about the Destiny universe in the same way that they care about the three universes mentioned in the quote. They haven't really succeeded here. I've written about why I think this is the case. But to say people don't care about the Destiny universe at all is wrong. They clearly do. Just not in the manner they were aiming for.

It's a combination of investment driven game mechanics, and a failure of visual storytelling that has placed Destiny where it is. Now, I don't know if they are okay with that or not. I don't think there's anything wrong with being revered in terms of the 'gamey' aspects of your game. In that regard, I'd say that they did succeed. But their success does not seem to be the type of success highlighted in this article.

I wonder if their aims have changed. I think that might actually be a good move. It's almost better to bank on the game aspects because Bungie has a very good track record there. But to continue to pursue this goal might be not only misguided, but fundamentally incompatible with the type of game systems they have made.

If the Rise of Iron reveal is heavily story focused, that's almost a bad sign to me unless the game mechanics are completely overhauled.