FotL 2018 - The Haunted Forest (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 08:35 (2017 days ago) @ INSANEdrive
edited by Korny, Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 09:12

What's your first impression? How many branches have you completed? Is that... thing... really invincible? Is this what the Forest should have been?

The Good-
Optional Matchmaking! Want to go in alone, or with randoms? It's as simple as picking which you'd rather do. Innovative concept for Bungie, but they nailed it!

Content for everyone! Anyone who has the base D2 can play! And unlike content like Iron Banner, the 200LL requirement means that they will have a good time playing it. More accessibility = healthier playerbase.

It's fun! From the initial "chase enemy across two Lost Sectors", to the Sanctuary Onslaught Haunted Forest itself, the writing is solid (yay Amanda!), the playspaces are used well, and the name of the game is pushing through enemies, as opposed to the Forest's classic "ignore everything and run" gameplay.
Like I said elsewhere, the Infinite Forest's potential as a randomized Firefight-style mode was obvious, and now Bungie's done well to capitalize on that. And the Invincible enemy that pops up randomly? Subtle stroke of genius that adds to the feeling of needing to GTFO. Plus, that extra little trick/puzzle at the end with the chest? Bravo, Bungie.

The rewards and grind are done well!
Masks with applicable buffs, A 600L Masterworked weapon as your stretch goal, and an exotic catalyst that lets you meet its criteria by involving yourself with the game's systems naturally? Bungie, you done good. The double engram thing is nice, but it realy should be standard with any Eververse-linked event.
While the rate at which you acquire event currency is a bit on the slow side (meaning that you will not be able to obtain everything before the event is done, unless you have a lot of free time) The fact that there is no cap to the reward stream means that you really can just work towards what you want, and your choices on what to buy will definitely be more meaningful. Which is good!

The Bad-

The Forest is dark and full of terrors. Gameplay terrors, that is, like unclear navigation and awkward platforming. Because of the extreme darkness, it can be a little tricky to see where you are in relation to the path you should be taking, and the game can confuse you as well. At one point, we killed some daemons, which opened a path to our right. but when we ran through it, we noticed no enemies anywhere. After a few jumps, we realized that the path opened up by the daemons led us back to where we came, and we had to run all the way back to the correct direction. In the darkness, it's hard to make out where platforms have appeared at times.
But that's probably just a quirk that wasn't polished out from the way the Forest normally works, so not the worst thing ever, but still, when you're being timed, and success comes from killing enemies, any lull in battle caused by the game leading you in the wrong direction hurts.

The Scary-
I kind of like that they tossed Iron Banner in with the mix, it really gives you a feeling of having a ton to do, but with grindy bounties, it does put some bonus stress on you to play IB, since you only have a week, but that also means you aren't working towards the Horror Story, or daily bounties, and I don't even raid! Time management is scary enough IRL, but man... And of course we have a wonky Flashpoint this week.

Overall, the Festival itself is neat, and I hope Bungie actually fleshes out the event for a change, instead of just making it a one-off a la SRL or Crimson Doubles.
The Forest continues to have loads of potential for content.