I mean, you're not wrong. (Destiny)

by EffortlessFury , Thursday, September 22, 2016, 23:32 (2983 days ago) @ Kahzgul

The next step in storytelling after sequencing is motivation. Not just what happened but why. Here is, in my opinion, the greatest failure of Destiny's storytelling. Someone at Bungie thinks that expressly not telling us what's going on is superior to telling us what the other characters *think* is going on. They're wrong. "I'm a ghost, and you're a guardian. I'll [never] explain later." "I could tell you the stories we used to scare children with, [but I won't]" "I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." and the greatest failure is that, in the face of all of this confusion, obfuscation, and intentional not-explanations of events, the guardian is FINE WITH IT ALL. I declare shenanigans right there. At no point in the story of Destiny have I ever believed that the guardian buys in to the vanguard, it's leaders, the Traveler, or any of this other bullshit. I do not know why I keep doing what these people tell me. I don't care about any of them, and I'm immortal. Why wouldn't I just leave and force them to convince me?

This is an interesting bit here. I don't remember if it was Destiny or some other game I was playing that led me down a similar thought process recently, but essentially:

Suspension of disbelief itself is suspended when the character whose shoes I'm filling no longer speaks for me.

Chief was a decent silent protagonist because, in the context of Halo, he's a soldier ultra conditioned to follow orders and, frankly, his orders make sense and we're all mostly onboard. In Destiny, I lack context for my actions (by design, no less. I've been resurrected and have no idea WTF is going on, IN LORE) and I never get clarity. I want it, my character does not seem to, so I can't ever engage.