This 100% (Destiny)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Friday, October 20, 2017, 12:21 (2615 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

You’re hitting on a few good points there. I do think Bungie has a problem with their current approach to storytelling in general at the moment (beyond the obvious shortcomings of Vanilla D1). Every thread they introduce seems to either a) not go anywhere meaningful, or b) end in a cliffhanger that never gets resolved.

I was pretty disappointed not to see or hear any mention of Mara Sov or the Awoken at launch. And unless the first expansion for D2 has a bunch of things included that we haven't heard about yet, I'm not holding my breath.

TTK starts with 1 cliffhanger (where is Mara?) and ends with another (WTF is Eris up to?). We’ve had 2 major Destiny releases since then, and neither of those threads have been mentioned in any meaningful way. And the more time goes by, the less likely it is that Bungie will ever return to those threads (because with every release, there is this pull to tell a “complete, contained story”). What about The Stranger? Dr Shinn? The alliance between humans and the awoken? Etc.

Korny's point about what made TTK matter and ROI not were really spot on. DLC should change the game world in both story and presentation where possible. And while ROI did expand the playable area in Russia, there's no mention or manifestation of SIVA thereafter, and that part of Earth isn't even accessible to us now in D2. I think there's definitely such a thing as overpopulating the mythos, and it seems we may be getting close to that, assuming we aren't going to soon see a winnowing down of things in the overall arc of Destiny very soon.

Although the Trials lore makes me wonder about that.

The only real exception to this trend Crota. He was introduced in D1, we fought him in TDB, and dealt with the reprocussions of his death in TTK. But even that was partially messed up when Bungie restructured the D1 story progression and made it so that the TTK missions begin before you’ve even fought Crota.

Whoops.

All this to say, I have a tough time caring about anything story related in Destiny, because Bungie hasn’t yet found a way to make the story matter. We’re into the 4th year now, and I still feel like I’m waiting for the story to start.

I feel the same way. TTK was well executed, and brought me the closest to feeling like there was an order of events that mattered. The D2 campaign, even with the sun-snuffing threat of the Almighty, didn't. Ghaul came and wrecked shop, but ultimately perished, though we don't really even know why; and everything is largely the same but for the fact we've had the fear put into us. Now what?

~M