Personality and Personalisation (Destiny)

by kapowaz, Sunday, July 27, 2014, 10:09 (3772 days ago)

As I've said before elsewhere, I think there's a lot that's great about Destiny. It's got some very fun and compelling gunplay, and despite the repetition I've not yet felt like I'm getting tired of the grind. So, with that caveat out of the way let's talk about something else which I think Destiny is a bit of a let-down for, particularly when contrasted with previous Bungie titles: personalisation.

Much was made of the character customisation, but I've yet to spend enough time in close proximity to other players in The Tower to notice the different appearances of players. In combat, players all more or less look identical. That'll potentially change once people reach 20 and gain access to shaders, but that feels a somewhat arbitrary restriction for unlocking a way of expressing yourself. The lack of facial hair options also feels like a shame.

Months ago I mused about the possibility for something equivalent to WoW's ‘transmogrification’ but I see no sign this has been implemented yet. There are many cool looking weapons and pieces of armour, but it seems like we'll be forced to dress like mis-matched clowns once we gain superior armour items. I'd love for Bungie to tackle this head on: it seems daft to make amazing looking armour only to not allow us to keep showing it off once it's become redundant.

The other thing that's sticking out for me is the emblem system. Halo 2 and onwards allowed players to create their own emblems from a number of core elements and different colours. It seems this has been ditched in favour of an unlock system for pre-made logos (each with a predetermined colour scheme), a lot of which seem quite weird and ugly (at least to my eyes). I can understand wanting to put certain designs behind achievements or reputation unlocks, but it would seem far more sensible to make the design components be what you unlock, and then allow players to create their own emblems from these designs. Funnily enough, this is what Diablo III does.

It'd be great if players could show off this style some other way. It seems that the Titan's Mark, Hunter's Cloak and Warlock's Focus are perfect for expressing these designs. Maybe you'd need a particular item to be able to show your design, but it would be great if you can show your personalisation off like this. World of Warcraft's tabard system lets you do this with factions and your own guild, so I'm wondering if maybe there will be a way of doing this to show off your clan's logo in the final release.

Right now it feels like everyone feels very cookie-cutter and similar, and when I go into a Crucible match I'm struggling to work out which character is mine. It'd be great if we were given the tools to show off and flaunt our own personal tastes and style in a game which, after all, is as much about showing off as it is playing with your friends.