Unless they skip ahead.

That assumes, I think, that we won't be expanding beyond our own solar system in the sequels...

Doesn't it?

I haven't been paying much attention to the marketing lately, but is it ever implied anywhere that FTL is possible in Destiny? I think I brought this up way back in one of the first topics of this forum. FTL is an extremely sci-fi invention, and there's a lot of factors going against it being remotely possible IRL.

If humanity terraformed Mars and Venus (and other planets?) in the world of Destiny, then that seems to indicate we were never capable of just traveling beyond the solar system and finding life-supporting worlds. No FTL = where stuck with Sol. Which isn't that bad really, there's tons and tons and tons and tons of places to explore on Earth alone, having the entire solar system to play with for 10+ years shouldn't get old or boring at all.

I hadn't thought about it before, but all of the enemies being former humans (or human creations) makes a lot of sense.

I most definitely trust in Bungie to create an excellent game, regardless of what shape the characters are :)

All characters will now be poop shaped.

There would surely be tons of work needed to tweak and perfect animations, making sure nothing clips(if you care about that)

sOT but this is one thing I have always loved about Bungie games. Being a Bungie fan and going from the Halo games to the Mass Effect games I cringed frequently because they did NOT do a good job keeping clipping to a minimum.

It's not so much that alien locomotion is hard, as it is a lot easier to adapt skeleton systems between similar physiques. Imagine the difference between a human of height 4' and a human of 6'--not that much programming would change. But between a human and a tiger, the animation rigs would have to be completely redone, controls would have to handle the wider skeleton footprint, everythin

I understand (at least most of) the technological implications. There would surely be tons of work needed to tweak and perfect animations, making sure nothing clips(if you care about that), and all the bugs and required fixes that would result from running even a single model through all of the different contextual animations (or equivalents) that the humanoid characters have, not to mention all the permutations of gear, powers, etc.

Again, not that it is harder, but it simply takes more time, time is money, and that time could be used to perfect other things.

Sure, but I think it's a pretty weighty choice that the developer has to make. The attention to detail and thoroughness with which the world is crafted are going to be things the community thrives on. Given that FPS as a format has some pretty entrenched standards ( or at least developer habits) across the industry with regard to how things move, fight, obey physics, etc. I think that variety and originality not only go a long way to set a title apart, but sustain a title.

Also, as the other poster mentioned, we humans like looking at/playing with other humanoids.

Eh. Well there's always CoD for that. I say bring on all the creatures.

~M

I still think the Hanar and the Elcor are fantastically weird though, "This one is not sure if the Geth are stranger." "Dubiously: Did we see enough of the Elcor and Hanar to truly understand them?"

We definitely saw a lot more of the Geth, particularly if you did the Legion loyalty mission.

Again, not that it is harder, but it simply takes more time, time is money, and that time could be used to perfect other things.

Also, as the other poster mentioned, we humans like looking at/playing with other humanoids.

There was an article recently talking about ME3 and how much extra programming goes into making a non-humanoid playable character.

That and from the start they knew many of the supporting characters would be alien. I recall reading something about how the designers found that it's harder for an audience to become emotionally invested in a character whose appearance is too unfamiliar, leading them to give most of the main aliens a humanoid form.

Doesn't it?

I wouldn't say the Geth are the most alien. Probably the Elcor or the Hanar.

On the surface, yes. But on the inside, the geth are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more weird than anything the Elcor or Hanar can manage.

Geth are essentially a post-scarcity social anarchist's wet dream - and basically pacifist to boot.

There was an article recently talking about ME3 and how much extra programming goes into making a non-humanoid playable character. So that is one real-world reason behind the prevalence of humanoids.

(Annnnnnnnd I'm bringing it back to Bungie before I do what I'm so good at. Ha.)

Yup. I like the idea of playing on that limitation to help craft the story and give it direction. Very meta.

Sort of like how having something on the Moon automatically imbues it with all the things we think of when we hear Moon because Moon is a real place with a real relationship to us. The Fallen's motivations are very human, cause, well, evolved from humans.

Hard to remember Reach when Reach isn't real, yeah?

I wouldn't say the Geth are the most alien. Probably the Elcor or the Hanar.

There was an article recently talking about ME3 and how much extra programming goes into making a non-humanoid playable character. So that is one real-world reason behind the prevalence of humanoids.

Doesn't that sort of equate to "But GUUUUYS, alien locomotion is HAAARD!!!1!1"?

The price of convincing your audience and maximizing immersion, methinks. Bullymongs from Borderlands 2 we some of the most outlandish and stupid-looking beasts ever. Hopefully we at least won't be subjected to any of that noise.

~M

There was an article recently talking about ME3 and how much extra programming goes into making a non-humanoid playable character. So that is one real-world reason behind the prevalence of humanoids.

I figured he was talking Awoken/Exo. Not sure I'd enjoy all the other factions originally being human.

Ah, that would make more sense, then. :)