Quests / Missions (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Sunday, March 23, 2014, 13:05 (3685 days ago)

I was thinking recently about what sorts of quests and missions we'll be able to do in this cool world of Destiny, since quests in 99% of MMOs are completely uninspired and rigid, with only 3 basic variations on what you have to do. Fetch. Kill. Escort.

Playing through Bioshock Infinite a second time, this time on 1999 mode, I came across a lone example of something pretty sweet in an otherwise rigid game.

In a bathroom there's a cipher on the wall. Anna says she can't read it, and that maybe there's a codebook for it. I search the area high and low, and there's no code book. However, I notice a dead guy is holding a picture of a canon. The picture isn't highlighted, and neither the game nor Anna say anything about it. That's strange, what's this canon? It clicks in a few seconds: that looks like the cannon a few squares over.

Turns out, inside the canon's barrel is the codebook. So I go back and Anna decodes the cipher, something like "Tip your hat to the vox populi" or something. I don't remember exactly, but there's a hat on a rack you can nudge revealing a secret door that opens leading you to some cool stuff. AND NONE OF THIS WAS TOLD OR HINTED TO ME!

I am really surprised it didn't play out like this:

Anna: Booker, search the area for anything unusual that might help us find the code book!
Finds picture, highlighted Press E to look at picture.
Anna: Booker! That looks like the cannon back across the street, we should go investigate that.
Runs to cannon.
Anna: Booker! Try looking around, or IN the cannon.
Picks up codebook.
Anna: Now we can decode the cipher! Let's head back.
Heads back to Cipher.
Anna; Booker! It says to tip your hat to the Vox Populi. Are there any hats around?
Finds hat on stand.
Anna: Booker! That's a hat! Try moving it!
Hat Highlights: Press E to tip hat.
Anna: Booker! Look a secret passage opened!

I say this because this exact same thing happens all the rest of the game, with Anna telling you to explore stuff before moving on. Anyway, the point was that it was kind of cool to actually have to LOOK at things and use my brain a teeny bit.

I would love to see tons and tons of missions and quests work this way in Destiny. Not through prompts and explicit goals, but through careful observations and exploration. Like maybe if we have to find something, we have no idea where it is, and you have to talk to NPCs (or maybe other guardians who know where it is!), or examine areas for clues and stuff. With all that sweet sweet loot there should be plenty of things to find right? So many MMOs have stupidly simple and uninteresting quest systems, with explicit instructions and waypoints and shit, that it would be a shame if Destiny just had kill / fetch / escort quests and missions. If Bungie's going to build this sweet world for us, then we should be rewarded for exploring and paying attention.