Post "Lightfall Reveal" Rant (Destiny)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 09:05 (590 days ago) @ INSANEdrive
edited by Kermit, Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 09:11

You're totally right about Bungie creating great content with great potential and then underutilizing it or letting it die on the vine. (Miss you Titan and Venus.)

Or at least it certainly does seem that way. Bungie has always been really good about reusing assets. We've seen some of that this season with the Mars Lost Sector being repurposed into one of the seasonal activities. And I'm certainly not against new stuff, obviously. That would be silly.

Instead, I just wish they went about presenting differently. About the new stuff, and the old stuff. New stuff this close to what should be, "as advertised" or "projected as" the closing of a story arc, just seems highly unnecessary.

Unlike Game of Thrones and Star Wars, I don't think they've screwed the pooch yet (though they have gotten dangerously close to the pooch with the, um, screwing device).

They already have, multiple times in these last 8 years. The difference here is, the creation treadmill doesn't stop. If they screw up too much, in most cases, it can get patched. Just... make the ending of this saga good, right? THEN we'll see.

We are talking about story, right? Not imbalances, experiments gone wrong, etc. The low point for me was when Destiny released, and gap between what we got and my expectations.

Hoping the grand vision yields treasure at the end of this rainbow. Sorry for the rainbow mention; I realize the colors are part of the problem and, in your thesis, presents evidence that their eyes are off the prize. I'll get back that.

Na, colors are fine. The stuff on Titan are anything but Drab! ;D

Of course you couldn't see my tongue inserted in cheek. I never interpreted you being against color itself. I was only foreshadowing my final paragraph.

It's more about what the environment has to tell. What is the story? With everything all shiny and new, the story that needs to be told is different. As I say above, the presentation of what can be told is different. One of destruction in action, instead of destruction in retrospect, and the lessons from that retrospect. And to, what I'm pointing out, is my own disappointment in that difference. I'm sure, based on the momentum they've had, that the story will be... fantastic. And at some point, we will go back to titan. But it will be with seasonal momentum, not expansion momentum. And I, in what was shown to me, am thus far saddened by that.

See also, all my raving about Europa? Part of it is scope of the space. All that expansion momentum, with new tricks added to a new space. ...so whatever. We'll see.

Also miss Europa, even though it's still here. The initial exploration of that space was amazing.

Another way of putting it: you're 100% correct about great art coming out of constraints, but it is more than that. It's also about finding gold where you didn't expect it, discovering there's more there there than you ever planned for, as you move organically through the creation process.

Indeed.

Back to colors, I was also put off by the Lightyear--I mean, Lightfall's pallet and tonal shift. As cheapLEY suggested, it may not have the significance we give it. Cyberpunk worlds, despite all the neon, are usually pretty fricking dark. That contrast is an essential aspect, actually.

After I made my post public, it (of course after the fact!) occurred to me that, instead of my smashed together "prose" in the introduction, I could have simply said how often these articles can be both informative but also unreliable narrators. And then I could have built into that.

Example: What was said about the new Hunter Arc Super. "The Hunter leaps into the air, hurling their staff into the ground". That wording implies no control over aiming the super, and that it would be animation locked to do one thing. Essentially "plant the flag", hence my response in reading this. Then... what we got was, exactly what I said it should be. Even had the "staff spinning" animation from the provided .gif.

If only they had used the word "aiming" or something of its verbiage ilk. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AS for the darkness of Cyberpunk, yeah. There can be. But this game is a very tame T for Teen. I'm not sure about how ACTUALLY dark they could go, but I guess we'll see what they do with this constraint. ;D

Superficially, tame, yes. Let me be clear, I watched only part of the reveal out of the corner of my eye. It's not like I'm not going to buy the darn thing--how much do I want to know? Based on that limited exposure, I suspect the disconnect for both of us is that it felt more like I was watching a promo for a brand new game rather the continuation of an epic saga. Is that accurate?

The game has disappointed me less and less as time goes on. Are my standards lowering? Perhaps. At this point I'm thinking of it like I think of The Wire. It's flawed for sure. In terms of ambition, few come close.

I remain ever hopeful.

Kerm