So I guess I won't be joining DBO *Beta thoughts* (Destiny)

by davidfuchs , USA, Friday, July 25, 2014, 06:18 (3569 days ago)

So I'm three days in for playing the beta. I've purposefully kept myself dark on details and info, and haven't spent much time here on DBO because I wanted to go into the game without any preconceptions. I didn't know what I was in for with Halo CE and I loved it, so I figured the start of a new franchise is the perfect time to ignore everything and just go into it with an open mind.

But I'm just not clicking with Destiny. I guess Bungie has made a good game—it's just nowhere near what I want out of their games.

First, the pros: I love the sort of throwback 1970s tech style they've fused with a sprinkling of fantasy. The color palette isn't crazy vibrant but it feels very rich. I really like the character design and industrial design. I like my floaty double jump and the speeder bike.

The Fallen weapon with the homing ammunition feels a bit like a recolored Needler, but I'm impressed that none of the weapons feel that much like retreads of the Halo series—they definitely exist in a different universe. Likewise while I'm not sure Marty's music is up to the level of the Halo series (or it's just not my style), I do appreciate its difference in style. I wouldn't have thought he could so effectively switch gears. He'll definitely be missed.

But it's all not coming together for me. I'm just not feeling that invested in what's going on. The story feels broad, and I don't feel like I'm learning much. Maybe the Grimoire cards would help tell me what's going on, but why should I have to log on to Bungie.net to get invested in the story? The Vex get dropped in and I don't understand why Ghost seems to act like I should know these guys.

Part of the problem is there are no compelling supporting characters. I don't really know how I feel about Dinklage's voice acting, but if ever there was a reason to add some spunk to your AI companion, it would probably be because there's no one else talking to me. The Tower just feels like an inflated version of Fable 3's "there are no menus, they all exist in-game!" concept, complete with all these merchants I'm going to who are essentially mute. I'm told to talk to someone about my Crucible invitation… and I get a subscreen instead of lines of dialogue. Every time, it's a subscreen. Other random people in the world will throw out lines, why not people I'm going to be spending a lot of time running to? Having to do a button combo to leave the Tower and go back to my ship is simply wasted time and it started grating on me. Just let me fast travel when I want to the area I want directly.

The Fallen and Hive seem remarkably similar, honestly. I dunno if it's the color palettes, design, a cross between them… but I have a hard time telling them apart, especially since there are locations where they're supposed to be fighting each other and they don't seem that interested in doing so. So for me combat devolves into killing stuff that kind of looks the same, until you reach bosses. It took me and some randoms about 30 minutes to plow through the two bosses in the Lair mission, and it wasn't fun, full stop. Weak points don't feel telegraphed by the design; I just have to aim down my sights and see what floaty numbers pop up. And then I have to empty all my ammo into it. Again, and again. It's more tedious than the Tartarus boss fight and less enjoyable. I just want to dump ammo into this enemy, but the bloom on the weapons I choose was horrible. I started feeling that creep of annoyance I felt in Reach where the weapons were actively working against me when I went up against groups of foes.

PvP doesn't feel much better. I liked Reach, I liked Halo 4, but the level of randomness and "whatever weapon you have wins this battle" is too much for me in Destiny. On my second game of Control I quickly found that whatever super power one of the classes has that serves like a rocket launcher was the perfect weapon for just camping a control point since I couldn't seem to evade the splash damage. The bloom is more annoying here than in the campaign, and what's the point of a floaty jump if my aim goes to pieces while I'm up there?

I'll keep giving the beta a chance while it's running, but I'm not optimistic. To me it feels like I'm playing a cleaned-up version of Borderlands—juggling a myriad of weapons I can't remember, fighting the sense I didn't bring the right gear to a fight, and full of vast playspaces that, unlike Halo, I don't feel really enticed to explore (loot crates are not going to do the trick.) But this game is like Borderlands where they've simultaneously sucked the charm and fun out of the world. The humor in BL might not be your style but it at least leaves a distinctive mark with me. Destiny… just leaves me with a shrug.

I'm glad people here are having fun, and I'm sad I probably won't be joining you guys in the fall. I'll probably stop on by every once in a while to see what cool stuff gets created and discussed.