Our Beta experience (Destiny)

by Oholiab , Sunday, July 27, 2014, 22:09 (3569 days ago)

Not sure anyone really cares, but here goes.

I'm a very casual gamer. I'm in it for a captivating story and the fun times I get to have with friends and family. Bungie games have fit the bill for me ever since playing Marathon over LocalTalk. Needless to say, I've been excited for Destiny, and have managed to get my kids even more excited. Side note: as a father of young gamers, I'm excited that Destiny is rated Teen.

The beta was a lot of fun to play, especially with my kids. I was amazed at how vast the playable space was in Old Russia. I'm still not even sure we explored all of it. We enjoyed the seamless movement between so many varied indoor and outdoor environments. We also enjoyed running into other Guardians on their own missions, although they seemed few and far between (perhaps a result of Destiny's availability on four platforms, with no cross-gen networking?) We found ourselves hanging out waiting for Public Events (my daughter would yell, "it's a public event!"), but we were disappointed that we were often alone in them, occasionally being joined by one other Guardian. I hope that changes in the full game.

Sparrows were a thrill, my son said it was like riding an imperial speeder during a podrace. I hope there are race game types.

We did a lot of exploring. Someone else mentioned that the immediate enemy respawns in this mode killed the immersion, and I would agree. The kids didn't care: more chances to kill enemies.

We walked on the moon! I can't verbalize how powerful an experience that was. I got chills... I can't want to go to other real places. I think the choice to locate the story in our own solar system was brilliant.

This game is deep. Almost too deep for a casual gamer like me. I walked away with a lot of questions about mechanics. What do the colors and symbols associated with the weapons mean? Why am I collecting spin metal leaves? Can I pause the game? Is glimmer shared between the different Guardians we create? I didn't like having to constantly manage my inventory - I just don't have time for that style of gaming.

Contrary to the advice I received, I found myself rarely switching primary and secondary weapons. I was all about the hand cannon and sniper rifle. I wanted to collect less weapons and more upgrades to the weapons I prefer. The reload time on that hand cannon is excruciating! Taking off the head of a Fallen was as satisfying as a Grunt's birthday party. I also rarely used my super, something I confess I need to get in the habit of using more often.

Crucible. I really enjoyed the control game type, and the narration was great. My kids have been repeating it all weekend. I've always been terrible at PvP, but I couldn't get any kills in crucible unless I was atop a structure with my sniper rifle. Not sure what other people were using on me, but I was dead in two shots. That tank on the moon seemed way too powerful.

Tower. I was skeptical of the emotes, but I found them useful and entertaining, perfect for the social construct of the tower. My daughter loved this area the most, which is not surprising. She likes to dance with other Guardians, so I bought a more powerful shotgun.

Story: I wanted longer missions that felt more connected to the overall story. Like I said at the outset, I'm a story guy at heart, so I found having to go back to the tower or to orbit was distracting. However, I wanted to be able to explore after a mission. Why did I have to go back to orbit after 30 seconds? Why not let me opt in or out of orbit, and automatically go into explore mode if I stayed put? Also, I have always abhorred boss battles. Bungie games have always made end-of-level moments feel like they were not boss battles (Tartarus being the only exception I can think of). However in Destiny, it seemed like a lot more stories ended in boss battles. Finally, I hope in the final release you can turn off the hit points and scoring in story mode. Again, it hurt the immersive experience for me.

Bottom line: we had a lot of fun, and we are looking forward to September! But I need a full manual on how to play this game!