Damage Mechanics (Destiny)

by Ibeechu , Portland, OR, Friday, December 20, 2013, 00:27 (3990 days ago) @ kapowaz

Kapowaz and I and some others were talking about all this on IRC a few days ago, and it's generally the feeling I've been having with Bungie not just for the last year or so, but ever since pre-Halo 2.

I think kapowaz got too caught up in the details (albeit trying to prove his point). But the reason Bungie's secrecy bugs me, and I think the reason it bugs kapowaz, is this:

1. Bungie constantly hypes their own product, and tells us how great it's going to be and how we should trust them just because they're Bungie.

2. They refuse to give details about WHY it's great.[1]

These two things do not mesh. It may have worked for me during Halo 2- and Halo 3-era, where they still had a lot of street cred, and I really could trust them. But ODST and Reach came along and, while they're fantastic games, they did not live up to Bungie's own hype. I'm not impatient. I'm just annoyed. And, it's the reason I've not been active around here. I just don't have a reason to care. Yeah, I've seen the Destiny footage. It looks really neat. And I know that I'm constantly told I should care. But then they dodge giving me reasons to.[2]

Again, it's not necessarily a lack of information compared to any other game. Just that their giving out this amount while at the same time yelling at us to get hyped its gonna be the best is exhausting at best and condescending at worst. "You want concrete reasons why it's gonna be great? What, our word isn't good enough? Do you also demand that Santa bring all your gifts early, you impatient jerk?"

I also get that a bunch of you love information being handed out in this way. The question I have is, "Why?" I genuinely can not understand it. I get the allure of peeking behind the shadows. And I get the primal excitement of jumping on the hype train. But these two things contradict each other. I just. I just don't get it.

The best thing I've seen about Destiny so far? The recent Jason Jones interview. He was matter-of-fact. He answered questions. More to the point, he answered questions while maintaining their secrecy. Even more to the point, he was able to do that without being "srsly the game is the best, guys"[3]. And most to the point, he treated the audience with respect enough to not beat around the bush. Incidentally, as much as I really, really dislike Halo 4, I loved 343's approach to their updates. They were never overly confident (and were transparent on how nervous they were to be taking on the franchise), and they handed out information in a steady way; never obfuscating for the sake of it.

God. Why this bums me out so much is because they are Bungie. I love them and they've had an extremely significant impact on my life. And contrary to the tone of this post, it's still one of my life-long goals to work there as an animator (eh deej hehe jk about all this stuff bff forever). But that's exactly why it bugs me. I don't want to not have confidence in Bungie's ability. I still want to put them on a pedestal. But after having been given information in this way for the last 10 years, and having the last 5 of those years produce sub-typical-Bungie results, it's wearing really thin.

Cliffs/tl;dr:
- Bungie itself is the biggest source of Destiny hype
- At the same time, they're keeping specifics closely guarded
- When asked why we should be as excited as they are, they tell us to calm down

[1] I'm not talking about minutia like fire cones. All I want is broad strokes stuff. So far I could tell you one thing about what Destiny actually is. It's an MMOFPS. Neat. That's intriguing. But I've also known that for a year. I really can not give any other deep reason to separate this game from, say, Halo. But to add to the frustration, they keep saying it's definitely not an MMOFPS. Well. I'm stumped, guys. Dozens of weekly updates and several vidocs and I have no fucking idea what this game is. But I guess that's my fault for being so impatient and not trusting you guys 100%. After all, according to you, the people who are trying to sell me the game, it is revolutionary. Ok. No more questions then.

[2] "ChorrizoTapatio How does the damage system work in Destiny?

It's all really complicated. Essentially, you're gonna see these dudes, and you're gonna want to, you know, do some damage to them. Maybe they're extra-terrestrial squatters who have claimed your lost homeworlds as their own. Maybe it's just that guy from that other private group who thinks he's always right. At your fingertips, you'll have an inventory bristling with weapons, not to mention all the powers of creation. You're gonna use that stuff to attack those dudes, and they will become really damaged.

Sorry. I should really ask an Engineer to answer this question. Ask me again sometime."

No, wait. One more question. Why even pretend to give an answer if you're just going to joke about it? Why have any pretense of a mailbag at all if it's going to be stuff like this?

[3] "I don't think anybody in this world has ever done anything worthwhile without being their own worst critic. Especially if you talk about any creative enterprise. If you somehow believe that what you're doing is the greatest thing ever all the time, it's absolutely not gonna be the greatest thing ever."
-Jason Jones, in the Making of Halo 2
This idea of creative humility blew my 13-year-old mind. And it's the antithesis to Bungie's current self-propelled invisible hype-machine.