Canon Fodder

by GrimBrother One, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 20:38 (4060 days ago)

I've been thinking a lot recently about what shape the overall narrative is going to take in Destiny. What will be "canon"? Grim IV and I were discussing it the other day and I mused about where Destiny's canon trajectory would fall. I pondered a modern game scale to provide a measurable comparison canvas...

Halo

In Halo, very little is left to the player's choices in regards to what becomes official story. A few recent things that come to mind are Noble Six in Reach and members of Fireteam Crimson in H4 (don't give me that BS about "canon N6 being steel Mk V b; that was Thom's armor, and it would seem ridiculous if they happened to suit up his replacement in the same damn armor). The majority of the canon is given to us by the franchise stewards & creators directly.

Mass Effect

With the ME universe, there is quite a bit more that is left up to the player. For example, for attractive, intelligent, and all around good people, Commander Shepard is a smoking hot redhead female. There are tons of choices in the game that essentially amount to branching realities in the fabric of the canon. There are certainly plenty of foundational set-pieces and common themes/events that are the same for everyone, but there is a large amount left up to the player.

EVE Online

EVE is on the far end of the choice spectrum. In some ways, the players themselves and particular feats of note become apart of the fabric of the game story and universe.

Where do you think Destiny will fall? A big part of me feels like there will be a very interesting mix of each of these schools of thought when it comes to how the overarching story of Destiny will evolve and expand. The idea that we as players might end up becoming a greater part of the legend that lives on through the game is certainly a tantalizing one.

Thoughts?

<3
Grim