I'll start off with the terrible voice acting from Peter Dinklage. I had to wonder if Peter phoned in his dialogue while suffering jet lag, a hang-over and maybe a few too many prescription drugs!

After I dressed up my character I finally found my way to earth. I quickly noticed that the graphics were not much better then Gears of War 2-3. I played Destiny on my 360, so I'm assuming the graphics are better on the PS4 and the Xbone?

My biggest complaint, in the roughly 5 hours of playing, was not knowing where to go.
There were nav markers that popped up from time to time, but when I followed them, I found I was led to the side of a cliff or a dead end or to a small raised area that had nothing there to indicate to me as to why I was led there at all.

I somehow walked into a Public Area and shortly after getting there, a mini version of the Halo Scarab with 6 legs materialized. I was under the impression that Destiny was going to be original! There were three other players in the area, and after what must have been thousands of rounds expended at this mini-scarab, we failed the objective. During the later part of this battle two of the players stopped doing anything and just hid behind a building waiting for the battle to end. I walked around hoping I would find a whiz-bang-super-intergalactic heavy weapon, but nothing was available.

I was not impressed with the enemy AI. It felt exactly like playing against those dumb ass Promethean Knights in Halo 4. Many of the enemies would dart behind an object and never move again. Oftentimes I would walk up to one and it just went still, it didn't fire it's weapons or attack....so I beat it to death. The melee felt powerful and satisfying....for me, this was the only fun I had in the game.

The second Public Area I got into was to do battle with an enemy that scampered around a bit, he couldn't be damaged by my cheese-puff shooting weapons. There were three other players in the area and after they saw that the enemy couldn't be killed, they literally dematerialized right in front of me. Eventually this enemy made his way back into a cave and the battle was over.

I walked inside a building and accidentally brushed up against an object, so I deployed my mini-343 Guilty Spark probe and it started, quite slowly, to investigate the object. As soon as I deployed mini-spark, I was overwhelmed by a horde of enemies, some of which acted not unlike some of the zombies in Left for Dead. I killed a few while walking back out of the area and I realized how bored I was with this game. So I shut it down and deleted it from my console.

I would like to mention that I fell asleep three times while playing Destiny. I attribute this to the battle field being so quite and so few enemies on the battlefield most of the time.

I would like to say that if I had been playing in a party I believe my experience would have been far better. I'm holding onto a glimmer of hope for this game.......

I quickly noticed that the graphics were not much better then Gears of War 2-3. I played Destiny on my 360, so I'm assuming the graphics are better on the PS4 and the Xbone?

The main thing with the PS360 versions are the huge hits to image quality to get them performing well. In some ways, it's actually astounding how visually similar the PS360 versions are to the PS4/XB1 versions; there's not much in the way of missing objects and visual effects and such.

But The PS4/XB1 versions are astronomically sharper and cleaner. Much better texture quality, better shadows, 3 times as many pixels in every frame, that sort of thing.

My biggest complaint, in the roughly 5 hours of playing, was not knowing where to go.
There were nav markers that popped up from time to time, but when I followed them, I found I was led to the side of a cliff or a dead end or to a small raised area that had nothing there to indicate to me as to why I was led there at all.

If you bring up your ghost, there's usually a description of what its/your current objective is. In explore mode, it just leads you to pulsating green nav markers that you can get missions from, if you don't already have an objective.

In case you're misinterpreting the navigational system: at any particular moment, the "nav point" isn't necessarily an actual objects, but rather just a thing to help indicate which direction you should currently be walking (sort of like ODST's superintendent nav markers that might just sit themselves on a door). The nav markers only exist on a meaningful object if you're very close to your destination. And you don't have to bring up your ghost to be directed to the current nav marker, there's a white arrow on the radar that points toward it.

I somehow walked into a Public Area and shortly after getting there, a mini version of the Halo Scarab with 6 legs materialized. I was under the impression that Destiny was going to be original! There were three other players in the area, and after what must have been thousands of rounds expended at this mini-scarab, we failed the objective. During the later part of this battle two of the players stopped doing anything and just hid behind a building waiting for the battle to end. I walked around hoping I would find a whiz-bang-super-intergalactic heavy weapon, but nothing was available.

Yeah, the game doesn't really provide context-specific weaponry ever, and it doesn't necessarily give out events that are practical for you in particular. For public events, oftentimes you're simply not going to be prepared.

That's just going to be a thing with this game. It offers you the ability to try to tackle things that you aren't leveled/geared for, and that is what it is.

I was not impressed with the enemy AI. It felt exactly like playing against those dumb ass Promethean Knights in Halo 4. Many of the enemies would dart behind an object and never move again. Oftentimes I would walk up to one and it just went still, it didn't fire it's weapons or attack....so I beat it to death. The melee felt powerful and satisfying....for me, this was the only fun I had in the game.

I'm not sure about enemies acting completely stupid doing nothing (there's nothing as bad as Halo 4 elites), though the Fallen seriously lack character in the beta. The Hive are mildly cool, especially on the Moon.

I would like to say that if I had been playing in a party I believe my experience would have been far better.

Yes. Destiny is very strongly designed for coordinated coop, especially in strikes and such.

Incidentally, that's why a lot of us consider the policy with voice chat to be insanely stupid. Voice chat appears to require being in a party and on friend's lists with each other, and this is a game that feels like it could strongly benefit from public proximity chat.

I second the public chat issue. The hurdles needed to jump through in order just to hear your friends in your strike team are a major problem.

Graphics on the XB1 are comparable to other XB1 titles. Water shines and reflects, and the weeds and grass look good, shadows are nice and move intelligently. I thought the moon skybox was especially pretty.

In game, I think Bungie has stripped most of the plot from the beta, so as to not give away too much of the story.

Incidentally, that's why a lot of us consider the policy with voice chat to be insanely stupid. Voice chat appears to require being in a party and on friend's lists with each other, and this is a game that feels like it could strongly benefit from public proximity chat.

Eh? Maybe an Xbone problem? Day one, mission one, minute one me and a complete stranger formed a fireteam and located a warp drive together with functioning voice chat. No friend listing required on the 360 at least.

You're right. I was thinking of chat in matchmaking teams. Crucible isn't exactly a chatty place, and even strikes require you to form fireteams.

Really? I found the nav markers almost too easy. Instead of just telling a destination, they actually designate a path to follow. Once I noticed the compass arrow it was really easy, and bringing up the ghost made it even easier. I almost never had to think about where to go.

I'm not sure what you mean about the spider tank. I suppose it's a bit like a scarab, because it has six legs? Other than that, it's not very similar. I like it, personally, though if you're going to accuse it of being unoriginal, you should be comparing it to Ghost in the Shell, not Halo.

I had no problems with the AI. Enemies disappear behind cover at long range, and don't come out, which makes total sense. There is less variety of enemies at once, and they are not as expressive as in the Halo games. It can be more difficult to sense that they are communicating or responding intelligently because it's more difficult to understand them. Aside from that, I thought they mostly acted as suspected, moving around based on my last known location. The only issue for me is repetitiveness of behavior in explore mode, but that's probably a scripting issue, not AI.

Just like me, you are playing a new title on outdated hardware. I was not surprised by the fidelity on 360 at all. If you look at the comparisons, it looks much better on PS4, probably XB1 as well. On top of that, this is a game with nearly constant, persistent multiplayer and large, outdoor areas. There's only so much an old system can handle.

As far as enemy frequency, I really hope they don't pack in more than they already did. If you don't see any enemies, walk 10 feet and look at your motion tracker. There is probably a whole pack of them just over the hill.

You're right. I was thinking of chat in matchmaking teams. Crucible isn't exactly a chatty place, and even strikes require you to form fireteams.

The phrasing of this sounds like you have to do something extra, but as I understand it, starting a strike is like joining matchmaking. The game finds team members for you.

The phrasing of this sounds like you have to do something extra, but as I understand it, starting a strike is like joining matchmaking. The game finds team members for you.

The question is regarding voice chat. Matchmade strike teams do not have voice chat by default.

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I consider that a feature.

...Which means in the absolute worst-case scenario, you'd have to mute two people, even if there wasn't an option for auto-mute (which there would almost certainly be, preferably also with an option to never get matched with people who auto-mute).

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Incidentally, that's why a lot of us consider the policy with voice chat to be insanely stupid. Voice chat appears to require being in a party and on friend's lists with each other, and this is a game that feels like it could strongly benefit from public proximity chat.

I was glad for its absence. I am sure that for every one time it provided me with useful information from a stranger, there would be ten times where I'd imagine I was playing Halo 2 online again.

No thanks :)

I was glad for its absence. I am sure that for every one time it provided me with useful information from a stranger, there would be ten times where I'd imagine I was playing Halo 2 online again.

No thanks :)

The inability to speak seemed strikingly out of place in a game designed to be as social as Destiny is.

Having the option to speak (or hear) doesn't mean you have to use it....

I was glad for its absence. I am sure that for every one time it provided me with useful information from a stranger, there would be ten times where I'd imagine I was playing Halo 2 online again.

No thanks :)

The inability to speak seemed strikingly out of place in a game designed to be as social as Destiny is.

Having the option to speak (or hear) doesn't mean you have to use it....

I'm getting more exasperated every time someone says they don't like a feature or don't use it and so they don't care if it's gone or they even like that it's gone (in Destiny and Halo, and I'm sure I'd feel the same way about other games if I got involved in their communities). Voice chat exemplifies it pretty well. It's fine if you don't like a feature or don't use it, that doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to, and me being able to use a feature doesn't mean you have to, choosing not to use it or turning it off would be very simple to do.
For the record, I can get behind preventing people from hearing randoms. I have difficulty getting behind requiring people to party up through their semi-external console party mechanism or to get in a very small in-game group to talk to each other.

Thought it was this clip

I was glad for its absence. I am sure that for every one time it provided me with useful information from a stranger, there would be ten times where I'd imagine I was playing Halo 2 online again.

No thanks :)

The inability to speak seemed strikingly out of place in a game designed to be as social as Destiny is.

Having the option to speak (or hear) doesn't mean you have to use it....

I'm getting more exasperated every time someone says they don't like a feature or don't use it and so they don't care if it's gone or they even like that it's gone (in Destiny and Halo, and I'm sure I'd feel the same way about other games if I got involved in their communities). Voice chat exemplifies it pretty well. It's fine if you don't like a feature or don't use it, that doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to, and me being able to use a feature doesn't mean you have to, choosing not to use it or turning it off would be very simple to do.
For the record, I can get behind preventing people from hearing randoms. I have difficulty getting behind requiring people to party up through their semi-external console party mechanism or to get in a very small in-game group to talk to each other.

So wait, what is this situation where you're with non-randoms where you're not in an in-game group?

this is a game that feels like it could strongly benefit from public proximity chat.

As in random people in the tower/public spaces can just talk to me uninvited? No thanks. Chat enabled when you're in a fireteam together, sure.

I somehow walked into a Public Area and shortly after getting there, a mini version of the Halo Scarab with 6 legs materialized. I was under the impression that Destiny was going to be original! There were three other players in the area, and after what must have been thousands of rounds expended at this mini-scarab, we failed the objective. During the later part of this battle two of the players stopped doing anything and just hid behind a building waiting for the battle to end. I walked around hoping I would find a whiz-bang-super-intergalactic heavy weapon, but nothing was available.

Did you try any, like, you know, strategies? Just shooting at the thing, you realize pretty quickly that you get more damage hitting the legs. Doesn't take long after that to realize damaging a leg enough stuns the tank and reveals a critical hit area. This wasn't even a particularly difficult boss fight, so I'm not sure you can blame it for the thousands of rounds you expended.

To be fair, it can take a while to damage the legs enough for you to attack its Weak Point for Massive Damage. (TM)

So wait, what is this situation where you're with non-randoms where you're not in an in-game group?

What from Vagueness's post are you referring to?

Indeed, it takes a powerful weapon or coordinated fire on a single leg to expose the core quickly, but those yellow crit numbers are a good sign you're on the right track.

The reality is that there aren't THAT many shooters out there that ask you to take down a mini-raid-boss (something that requires a little strategy other than "headshot, headshot, cover, repeat") out in the open world, so maybe some people are just not used to that. If you've played RPG's, or past hybrids like Borderlands, you would have a category for this, but maybe not. Seems like Destiny is going to have a lot of them. Something on the scale of Terramorphous the Invincible? We'll see, but definitely in that ballpark.

Perhaps I was unfair with how I worded it.

I was glad for its absence. I am sure that for every one time it provided me with useful information from a stranger, there would be ten times where I'd imagine I was playing Halo 2 online again.

No thanks :)

The inability to speak seemed strikingly out of place in a game designed to be as social as Destiny is.

Having the option to speak (or hear) doesn't mean you have to use it....

I'm getting more exasperated every time someone says they don't like a feature or don't use it and so they don't care if it's gone or they even like that it's gone (in Destiny and Halo, and I'm sure I'd feel the same way about other games if I got involved in their communities). Voice chat exemplifies it pretty well. It's fine if you don't like a feature or don't use it, that doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to, and me being able to use a feature doesn't mean you have to, choosing not to use it or turning it off would be very simple to do.
For the record, I can get behind preventing people from hearing randoms. I have difficulty getting behind requiring people to party up through their semi-external console party mechanism or to get in a very small in-game group to talk to each other.

So wait, what is this situation where you're with non-randoms where you're not in an in-game group?

I'm late but this wasn't answered and I'm all about clarity. The issue is that you can't hear anyone talk unless you join their party externally to the game or you specifically join their fireteam (or they join your party or fireteam). This is the case regardless of what kind of group you're in, it can be the general crowd of the Tower or explore mode, or a matchmade team in the Crucible, or a matchmade fireteam in story mode, or a matchmade fireteam in a strike, it doesn't matter, you have to go through menus and rely on them to accept your invitation, or hope they do the same for you, and then you have to go to orbit and then go back to what you were doing, and for some strange reason fireteams can only have three people unless you're in a raid-- I don't buy balance as a reason in general because you can have tons of people working on one objective in explore mode and you can have teams of six in competitive multiplayer.

and for some strange reason fireteams can only have three people unless you're in a raid-- I don't buy balance as a reason in general because you can have tons of people working on one objective in explore mode and you can have teams of six in competitive multiplayer.

You can have 6 in your fireteam in the Crucible and in the tower.