You're as inconsistent as ever. (Destiny)

by Avateur , Friday, July 10, 2015, 19:41 (3661 days ago) @ Harmanimus

Show that there were actions that could be taken to heal the Traveler.

Agreed. The lack of seeing a healing or change to the Traveler is the problem. Part of storytelling, especially in a visual medium like video games, is about showing and not telling. So far, no good.

Crota is not allowed to fully reform, specifically on our plane of existence.

I didn't consider this piece. Good call there, though I don't think the presentation in-game to any casual viewer (and potentially hardcore viewer) drives that point home. I think the message is clear that Crota is back, and if he's not dealt with right now, we're all doomed. I wonder if the plane of existence thing is generally thought about by Destiny gamers. Regardless, excellent observation!

You took care of her problems because you owed her a favor.

A single pair of coordinates traded for endless missions and justice. I wouldn't call it an even trade, and I wouldn't really call that plot or story. I was told to go kill a thing to get a thing, still end up owing a favor, and now I gotta do more things. But I get your point.

All of this ties back into healing the Traveler.

I agree with you, again. At the same time, it goes right back to showing and not telling, because to this point there's no evidence of it.

When it comes down to it, the argument stands that your agency in Destiny is in line with the agency of the Security Officer and Master Chief. In essence, they are all doing things because they are told. The details of it may vary, and their drive to accomplish may be individual at a given task. In essence, you can boil the story of Halo down into things Master Chief did, and very few of those weren't guided by someone else's hand in the broad stroke.

At least in Marathon and Halo, some form of story and plot is taking place around the character. H1 has three acts. H2 has three acts. Things are actually going down. Master Chief makes many key decisions on his own. Marathon is pretty much nothing but following orders, but the storytelling medium there is largely text (and in-game). Also, part of the storytelling mechanic in that game is the literal fact that you're a puppet for Durandal being taken places as he sees fit.

The thing is, you're playing in a persistent world. The world has to change with everyone. And there is a lot more time for it to change. I'm not going to argue that the presentation of the Destiny story is without faults. But it is definitely there, and there is a lot more presented actively and in game than a lot of people I see give it due credit for. And I would say in large part it is because of how broad the game is compared to most everything else on the market.

I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree when it comes to story/plot, but you've absolutely brought up some good points. Thank goodness Destiny is a ton of fun to play though, right? I freaking love this game. The "story" is an absolute letdown.

But the urgency is in the mission itself, and the consequence is in the next expansion/world update. And maybe that's a fault in itself. Though it seems that Bungie intends to continue to improve upon that.

I think if that's Bungie's mentality, then yeah, I'd say it's a huge fault in itself. I can't wait for the Taken King because I feel like things will start to develop in a good way. I'm still not expecting much until Destiny 2, but I'm on board. :D