Here's the Catch 22 IMHO (Destiny)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Thursday, March 23, 2017, 18:56 (2893 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

The biggest weakness of Destiny was the lack of a compelling narrative that really made you care about what you were doing. Destiny's mechanics were often stellar and many missions had memorable dynamics and encounters, but they didn't connect very well to any emotional core storywise--at least for me.

For this reason, I don't think any of the exclusive content mattered. It all was just more of the same. Some of it was good, but not better than the best stuff that existed on both platforms. I could have easily lived without it.

Many, including me, have said they want a stronger narrative in D2. We want the story to matter, the strikes to matter--we want everything to mean something. The problem presented by the open world was that the public spaces had to exist outside of any timeline. (Even on a small scare--leave an area for 15 minutes, and when you return Randal the Vandal is alive again, up to no good.) At a time when some of the best narratives in our culture are serial in nature (think HBO dramas), the structure of Destiny demands a return to the status quo after a mission (think the way TV used to be--the status quo has to be reset by minute 22). It's not that Bungie didn't ever show consequences for your actions. Vendors say different things to you depending on what you've done, and I always got excited about new elements were introduced into the public spaces with the expansions. I like the idea of a shared public spaces and seamless matchmaking within, but it also seemed to constrict Bungie's goal of creating a living world--at least if you interpret that to mean a world that changes. In terms of story, change is what creates meaning.

So what if Bungie effectively addresses these issues. What if strikes are integral to the story? It's really going to hurt leaving them off of one platform, but if they are not integral, do we care?