So... First Impressions? *Spoilers* (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 15:18 (2827 days ago) @ Ragashingo

So far I've only done the story missions and some of the patrol quests with Cyber and Cody, including a few rounds in the Archon's Forge.

Story-wise, this might be my favorite piece of Destiny content so far. It's nothing spectacular, but it draws on the history and lore of the universe more successfully than anything else in the game, IMO. Tonally, it leans ever so slightly further into the fantasy direction, which I like.

I think the missions themselves are ok. Neither good nor bad, for the most part. I think the first mission and the final mission are both strong, with plenty of memorable, iconic moments. The rest feels mostly like filler to me. Random enemies scattered across the landscape as you move from point A to B. Hardly any of the encounters have any stand-out features that make them memorable or unique in any way (with a couple exceptions).

Overall, I'd say the story missions are a strong step down from the TTK missions, and probably a bit below the HoW missions as well (excluding the first and final mission on that last point). That said, I was more interested in the story as I was going, so even if the combat felt a bit "phoned in", I was still enjoying myself.

So far, I find the new enemies completely ordinary. They're fine, but I fight them exactly the same way that I fight regular Fallen. It's more of a re-skin than a new enemy type. Again, that's fine, although I think Bungie perhaps oversold the new enemies and what they bring to the table.

The Plaguelands, I'm not really sure about yet. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. I would expect nothing less from Destiny, but it's nice to see Bungie's art team continue to set the bar so high. At the same time, I found myself wishing the Plaguelands were more distinct from the rest of the Cosmodrome. I kept feeling like I was in a transition space between the cosmodrome and the Plaguelands, and that I was about to come around a corner and see the real new patrol space in front of me, but that moment never happened. It also doesn't seem to contain much in the way of secrets the way the Dreadnought did. After 30-45 minutes of patrol, I feel kinda done with it.

Archon's Forge is... strange. I like the playspace quite a bit more than Court of Oryx, but the encounters themselves get repetitive almost instantly. CoO had these strikingly unique boss fights with different mechanics. AF is just a bunch of cannon-fodder enemies, followed by bosses that die so quickly that I didn't even SEE the first 5 bosses we faced, because Cyber and Cody killed them instantly while I was focusing on other enemies.

My overall impression so far is that Rise of Iron feels very similar to HoW: competently made, but not really showing any great mission or encounter design. Just like HoW, I'm feeling like this is a bit of a stop-gap while most of the studio is working on the next major release.

All that said, I'm having fun with it. Looking forward to the strike and the raid. I'm just glad I kept my expectations low. I don't think this is anywhere close to a TTK level release.