Whether Destiny will work well for casual sessions as a random is a question that might take some time to answer. At the very least, the core story missions seems like they'll be decent enough in single-player play; a buy would be unlikely to be a total waste unless you totally hate the core gameplay...

But a lot of Destiny's content (strikes and the raid) seem to be strongly built around coordinated team action. Strike matchmaking was alright in the alpha and beta, but more accessible voice communication would have made it much better. And of course you'll absolutely need to go in as a group to do the raid.

We really have to see how it plays at higher levels, and how the game's systems work out, to give a good answer.

If you're a long-time Bungie fan, this will probably do the trick. The quotes from the team got me excited.

Honestly, it's a difficult game to talk about in that it generates comparisons to games you know or have opinions about, yet it's different at the same time, and it's easy to get the wrong idea. The gameplay is reminiscent of Halo, but imagine that we were able to wander over into each other's game seamlessly. It's a different experience.

The best thing to do is to play it. Sounds like you missed the beta, but I'd suggest you rent it, and recruit a fireteam here ahead of time. It's best played with others.

I don't have much of a friends list (have friends, just not gamers lol) and have generally looked for decent campaign type games.. things like raids look like their out of the realm of doability for now.. so I'm wondering what the lifespan of the game is and how much of the detail I would need to get into to get the most from it. Looking at wiki's and reading threads here there looks to be a LOT going on

You will actually probably be better off playing it casually. You can play through the raids and strikes and not worry about grinding to do the harder stuff.

Also I'm going to make it my mission to help people be able to do the raid.

A game with the founder of HRINC? SOLD sir! Lol

I get the points made about how it feels familiar but is different, that's likely what's making me hesitant abt picking it up in case I hate it. I do like bungies ethos and their storytelling so it's worth a risk I think

maybe grabbing a few people here if I get a few hours playtime is a good plan. The need for a team with different skills is compelling and it wouldn't hurt to try and make friends

Reviews will be flooding in all this week. So you can have a look at those. The Raid won't be playable until the 16th either so no-one is missing out on that during launch week

It's not quite like anything else out there, but it borrows from a lot of places so it's difficult to describe properly. Plus, if you go in expecting it to be 'X', you'll likely find it's not and will be weirded out. Destiny is Destiny.

Once you really start getting into gear and builds it does get quite complicated to wrap your head around. But the campaign and initial leveling kinda serves as one massive tutorial; elements of the gameplay are slowly unlocked, and you slowly gain access to more complex pieces of gear. You're not going to be overwhelmed at the start: it just gives you movement with a single-level jump, then a single gun and you go from there.

The 'shared world' stuff is pretty unobtrusive. A few players will wander around in your game in bigger, kinda cross-road areas. You'll sometimes see people playing trying to play football in the Tower. You can ignore them.

There will be timed events popping up, but you can ignore those too.

I partook in the Beta and while I had a fun time playing with some DBOers on a few sessions, I usually play games alone and had a blast. I feel like Destiny caters towards a variety of player types and I was able to plunge into intense story missions or relaxing strolls and skirmishes in Explore mode alone without feeling like I was missing something.

In terms of being overwhelmed by the amount of skill powers and levels and numbers galore - it's mostly just texture. I STILL have no idea what marks and light levels are, but I was able to quickly see "oh, better gun, let's use this and go back to battle" or "this thing lets me smack the ground for a shockwave? Cool".

I've attempted a few MMOs before and never enjoyed them. Destiny feels radically different than those games. To a Halo fan, I would describe Destiny as much more similar to New Mombasa in ODST than an MMO. There's a hub world with respawning and patrolling enemies as well as waypoints that lead you into cinematic missions. But for Destiny, imagine that hub is larger and much more varied and intricate with the waypoints leading you into story missions as well as other kinds of activities, and the respawning enemies have different objectives from time to time, like securing a fallen satellite, etc.

Of course, being always online, you'll also see other ODSTs exploring around the town. You can fight alongside them or keep going on by yourself with no hassle. There's nothing in the game that forces you to play with other people, except competitive multiplayer, of course - though it sounds like Raids will be so challenging that teammates will be a necessity, like Cortana-on-Legendary-with-all-the-skulls-on challenging.

I recommend it, but ultimately, I think it's one of those hard-to-pin-down games you just need to try.

Long time fan and lurker (mostly on HBO) here. I've been trying to suss out if Destiny is, for me at least, a launch day buy or a pick it up later kinda thing. I'll definitely end up playing at at some point but have a baby on the way so luxury items have to be well planned ;)

I'm familiar with the general plot of the game, and it's certainly the kind of thing I'd go for but I'd be interested in the thoughts of anyone who played the Beta never having played an MMO before (I have not partaken in WoW, Skyrim, EVE, Starcraft etc..) nor am I steeped in fantasy history a la dungeons and dragons type mysticism. I'm not against it but haven't found the need to open that box either.

I don't have much of a friends list (have friends, just not gamers lol) and have generally looked for decent campaign type games.. things like raids look like their out of the realm of doability for now.. so I'm wondering what the lifespan of the game is and how much of the detail I would need to get into to get the most from it. Looking at wiki's and reading threads here there looks to be a LOT going on

I do understand the futility of a question like that to other people what with everything being subjective and all (YMMV).. but I'm wondering if there's a half decent primer anyone has come across that might help me decide? or any advice?

Cheers
Jay

If you and your friends liked playing Halo's single player I think you'll enjoy Destiny. It is very much a Bungie / Halo type shooter with just a few MMO elements added on, mainly in the form of swapping out lesser weapons and armor for better pieces you'll discover as you play. While we don't know everything yet, it seems like it will be very much a scifi game, so no worries about not knowing about D&D type fantasy stuff. While it does have modes meant for three players instead of one (Strikes for instance) it will happily find you two other players to play with if you don't have friends online at the time.

Like others have said, it seems Destiny will be a good fun time for casual players, especially if they've played any of the Halo series, but will also have the depth and challenge to keep up with you if you eventually want to go looking for more difficult missions and activities.

I'm a die-hard Halo fan. I'm good at campaign but terrible at multiplayer. I play Halo socially 6 hours a week with large parties. I also love TITANFALL.

Like you, I've not been involved with MMO games and actively avoided them. I was very leery of Destiny because of the MMO aspect but not anymore.

Two things that remain a bit of a concern for me are the RAIDS and MM/multiplayer. RAIDS may be outside the scope of my skill or time allotments. MM/multiplayer proved a bit difficult in the Beta and I felt somewhat inept. Add to that my multiplayer time is already taken with Halo and TITANFALL.

I loved the open world areas, public events and Strikes. I could play these PvE modes for months at least. Probably longer when DLC is considered.

I hopes that helps you, coming from a person who was previously reserved about Destiny.

Skyrim is a single player game. Perhaps you're thinking of The Elder Scrolls Online?