Does Destiny need a "campaign"? (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Friday, October 20, 2017, 12:54 (2615 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Campaign missions can really add to the experience, but their unique nature and/or setpieces don't mean a whole lot if you can't replay them or expand on them (alternate dialogue helps, especially if it depends on your character's knowledge of events, such as the kind you get from being a veteran player).
I dunno. Playing through Horizon Zero Dawn, I really appreciate how essential so many of the quests feel in terms of fleshing out characters and regions, and how doing sidequests does have an effect on dialogue and/or understanding of said regions, the people that you meet, events that happened before you showed up, and even the technology (both for you and Aloy). Little things such as Nil talking about a prison that he did a stint in, to simply playing through the story long enough for Aloy to learn what a GAIA core is all have an impact on things later on in the story.

This is why you segregate them. If you can visit the same patrol spaces before and after you finish the campaign… it feels like nothing changed. So, you have the patrol spaces come later, where they reflect the world post campaign. You get to feel like you did something in the main story, and you also get the open world aspect.

I'm a big fan of having the patrol space have multiple versions that you visit throughout the campaign and into endgame. Maybe there's version 1, where it's just you and no one else. Then in version 2, maybe the game will match up to 2 other players with you or you can bring a squad, and also the zone is built up a little. Have a big event in version 1 that changes the landscape in version 2.

And then in version 3 you're nearing the endgame. The zone looks a lot like it's final form will, but it's not fully populated and you've got one more epic mission where you're blasting through the zone blowing shit up and defending humans who are building defensive structures. Oh crap, the Cabal have landed a firebase here!

Maybe an NPC guardian you team up with dies here. When you come back after beating the campaign, you can find her dead ghost at the spot where she died and there's a little moment of reflection.

And then you beat the game and get version 4, the truly public space you see now.