You're as inconsistent as ever. (Destiny)

by Harmanimus , Friday, July 10, 2015, 17:21 (3661 days ago) @ Avateur

And in a game that's been marketed as building your Legend, and about how important the GUARDIANS are to saving the world, these Guardians have zero motivation, zero context, and zero authority because there is seriously nothing going on in-game to justify anything beyond, "Someone said to do this, so go do it. Then, after you've done it, whether you actually really accomplished something means nothing because who knows what you really did or didn't do or if it mattered."

See, I draw up some issue with this take of Destiny. Now, I will agree that some of it is really easy to get all muddy and confused about, but the suggestion there is a lack of a core narrative to the game that doesn't progress anything forward and lacks any player character agency is disregarding a lot of the game.

At first I held a complain that the game was a tangled mess of missions, up to the point I realized that with story missions there were two types, the core plot missions, and then side missions.

Over the course of the core missions you are woken up from death, find your way with the aid of the little light to the tower, while being observed by the Exo stranger. You get your NLS drive and investigate a facility in Old Russia, only to discover that there is a Wizard there, that came from the Moon. Once on the moon you investigate traces of a Guardian (once again observed by the Exo Stranger - and are then provided breadcrumbs to follow to Venus) and discover that the Hive hold a shard of the traveler that is enveloped in Darkness. Releasing that brings back some light to the Traveler.

Your Guardian travels to Venus, is introduced to the Vex, and advised that they are a threat to continued human existence. With that information you are directed to pursue the Heart of the Black Garden, as it holds the most immediate threat to the City, though you have no direct proof, but if it's anything like what was occurring on the moon you know it has to be done.

So you visit the Reef, and demand an audience with the Queen, rather than be shot down by patrol craft. There is conflict within the Reef as to whether or not to involve themselves with your Traveler, but they provide you hints to what you'll need to progress. You claim the head of a Gatelord and bring it back to the Reef. A little bit of snark later and the Queen is impressed enough to gift you the location you seek, and you travel to Mars. After locating the access gate, you find a way to recharge the Gatelord's Eye and you venture into the black Garden.

Once you are done with defeating the Heart, the Traveler begins healing, and there is celebration in the tower. You do not partake, and instead prepare to venture back out into the Wild to seek more discoveries of the Golden Age and defend humanity further from the forces of darkness.

And when it comes to it, the start and finish of each destination holds at least a degree of the Player's Guardian driving that action. You may be moving toward carrots held by the Ghost and the Stranger and the Reef and the Tower, but the drive to those actions are all Guardian. Your bold advance into the Hive's Dark Ritual, and the interactions between Venus, Mars, and the Reef. Your Guardian isn't sure of what they're doing, but they are blazing a trail forward. That is why each destination, at it's core, is being opened by your visit. No one has been to the Moon since it was ceded to the Hive and lived, but you open it. The network for tracking the Vex and all the forgotten sites on Venus are reopened by your Guardian. And you are the Guarding that broke through the Cabal Exclusion Zone.

There's some story/gameplay segregation - and it's a definite that there are various smaller groups or parties of Guardians doing more far reaching exploration (Kabr and Eris both had full Fireteams of 6 when they ventured out, the Guardian who died on the Moon) and the direct time spent with the core plot is limited when you take into account that the side missions, strikes, patrols, Raids, and Crucible are all outside of the core story.

This is in no way a total defense of the storytelling of Vanilla Destiny. Just that there is a core story with character agency that progresses the plot forward. Combine that with the continued progression with Dark Below and House of Wolves, with admittedly less agency but more overall exploration of the story progression, and I'm excited for what they'll do with Taken King, as they have had much more time to respond and build responses to the flaws in Year One. I mean, there is a reason Luke Smith couldn't work on the Crota Raid.