Do Destiny reviews make sense relative to Titanfall?

Ok, video game reviews are a bit of a silly enterprise and there have been plenty of cases where the review scores represented a form of groupthink in one direction or another.. and usually not worth discussing..

And Destiny definitely is not a flawless game.. the story is.. well.. at best... the story is purposely vague and incomplete for the purpose of future expansion.. I am not nearly as disappointed in that as I am in the repetitive story mission structure.. that is a bit more shocking..

But even with this disappointment.. I don't see how one gives a higher score to Titanfall over Destiny unless you really really think the competitive multiplayer in Titanfall is just that much better than the Crucible.. They are both quality AAA dynamic competitive MP experiences .. the gameplay is apples and oranges and Titanfall was good, but the combat and PVP gameplay in Destiny is quite good (easily it's strongest aspect) and I don't see how one could say that Titanfall was that much better..

But in Destiny, you get sooooooo much more ... even if the story is garbage or incomplete and even if the story missions are repetitive.. there is a LOT more bonus content in Destiny compared to basically an MP-only Titanfall.. and yet Destiny scores are across the board less than Titanfall (.. GameSpot for example gave Titanfall a 9/10 and Destiny a 6/10).

So, I guess the only argument one can give is that Titanfall was "honest" about being MP-only (except it wasn't) and judging Destiny based on its weakest points.. I think it is more likely that Destiny gets lower scores because the reviewers were either setting a much higher bar of expectation for Destiny or just feel that Bungie/Activision set the bar too high with their hype machine.. I know there is no objective reality in this.. But the scores for Destiny just don't make sense to me even though I agree with some of the points that reviewers have made..

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I thought I'd stop lurking and put my $0.02 in here.

Having played both Destiny PVP and Titanfall, it is unfair to equate the quality of the two. Destiny PVP is competent but nothing I would write home about. It has limited mobility, low time to kill, and its defining features are the presence of Heavy Weapons and Supers. Titanfall has high mobility (wall-running, wall-hanging, double jumping etc.), low time to kill and its defining features are Titans and AI.

It is my opinion that Titanfall is superior not only to Destiny PVP but also the entire package of Destiny combined. Why? Because Titanfall builds a game around its amazing mechanics instead of building a game around investment systems. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying Destiny and it has some really good mechanics, but it has major issues with how it hides those mechanics behind MMO conceits such as grinding and loot.

Mind you, many people criticize Titanfall for not having much in the way of unlockables. However, it is a supremely well-balanced game with a high skill-cap and its mechanics alone have kept me coming back for more.

I think that Destiny's mechanics lend themselves best towards a PvE CoOp experience where you feel like you truly are legend, mowing down enemy after enemy. The problem is that becoming "legend" ultimately less to do with your own skills and more to do with how good your gear is. When Destiny hits that sweet spot where the enemies are just challenging enough to pose a threat but not impervious to your weaponry then the experience is great. Otherwise you have enemies that pose no threat or preposterous bullet sponge that punish your every attempt to do something neat.

Ultimately, Titanfall's "end game" is about its mechanics (wall-running, shooting on the move etc.,) and Destiny "end game" is about its system (knowing how to get the best gear, how to farm.) You advance in Titanfall primarily through increasing your understanding of the games mechanics while you progress in Destiny by finding ways to more efficiently advance through its systems to make yourself powerful enough to fight tough but dumb enemies. I think Destiny's problem is that it led people to believe they were going to get a game that focused on mechanics and a huge open world, with loot as a side bonus, and instead got a game where learning to work your way through its systems is the primary focus. This likely comes as a shock to many reviewers hence the lower scores. Remember, disappointment is valid reason to score something less highly than you would otherwise (and vice versa, i.e. sleeper hits). Bungie hyped this game a certain way, so expectations are what they are.

(Disclaimer: I love Titanfall, I played months (literally) of WoW, and I find Destiny to be an enjoyable but flawed experience. Not trying to bash Destiny here, but it's an experience that really needs some tuning up.)

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I can picture Cody with a single tear running down his face. :D

But seriously, nice points to justify the discrepancy the OP is talking about.

Btw, welcome, mate! Glad to have you aboard

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I think you de-emphasized mobility in Destiny (you even gave credit to double-jumps in Titanfall, but ignored that all three classes in Destiny have a very similar ability), but I see your point. Essentially, because the multiplayer was interesting and well-executed, the story deficiencies don't weigh it down.

I still disagree pretty strongly with the score discrepancy. I think Titanfall deserves at least a 1-point dock for the laughable attempt at a campaign. They put a little generic VO in a multiplayer mode -- that's it. At the same time, I think Destiny took an undeserved 2-point penalty (at least) for being a Bungie game that didn't knock campaign out of the park. Since PvE is such an emphasis for Destiny, and PvP is almost the entirety of Titanfall (I guess the minions count as PvE), you get this huge discrepancy in score where I don't think there's a huge discrepancy in the overall package.

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Yeah, this is my point.. I am not going to split hairs on Titanfall MP gameplay vs. Destiny Crucible gameplay.. Both are polished and competent and offer a lot unique interesting aspects.. I personally prefer the overall gunplay and management of supers/grenades/melees/movement in Destiny over the pieces in Titanfall, but it is really apples and oranges in my opinion and they are both high quality and Titanfall is not that clearly better (at least not to reviewers who are on average not that great at FPS and working within a limited amount of time for review for MP competence)..

Both games require some grinding for MP.. but I guess Destiny can be faulted for making some items harder to get by playing MP alone.

Nevertheless..

The review scores seem more punitive towards Bungie's arrogance (and Bungie definitely deservers some comeuppance).. but some of the review comments and scores are just absurd relative to other games in terms of longer term value proposition.

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I would disagree heartily with this take.

Titanfall has a few features, like the wall running and Titan interaction and mechanics, but that is really it. Without titans it is a generic FPS with some mobility features.

The levels are not really set up well for movement, either by the titans or the pilots. Levels with large open areas for Titan play are too open for pilots to traverse safely. Likewise in the city sections there is no room to maneuver with your titan to dodge and the pilots can fire on you with impunity. Plus each level doesn't feel larger then one area of a single planet on Destiny. You would think that when you have these 30 ft robots you could have a bit larger level, but each one looks about the same size as a COD map.

The boarding mechanics are simple and the titan has only one recourse, a special weapon that they have to choose to equip. Halo 3 had better animations and more options when it came to vehicles then Titanfall, which has Titans and interacting with them the central feature.

Class customization in titan fall is really insignificant. The sidearms have little differentiation, and the perks don't change gameplay significantly. Oh, I can shoot while wall running, or now I can hack 5% faster! Why would you ever hack anything other then turrets? The perks really don't change player decisions at all.

It's story, what little there exists, is delivered by a bunch of forgettable voice overs while the players are too distracted to pay attention.

Both Destiny and Titanfall have grinds, and Destiny has a much larger and broader grind but doesn't hide behind the "prestige" conceit that COD clones like Titanfall do to pad out the end game. Titanfall is a bit more arbitrary, in that each unlock has very specific random criteria, like "shoot 100 robots" to unlock this scope.

Destiny is much more forgiving in that any XP goes to unlock all your equipment and class equipped at a given time. You are not forced to kill 100 rats just to get that scope on the one gun you are still trying to decide if you like. Also, Destiny's guns start with sights. I can't tell you how much this means to me. I hate iron sights, I can't use them in FPS games. Not having to start with a gun that is crippled is a huge bonus to me.

Yes, Destiny does't have wall running and wall hanging, but it has more movement modes, supers, far more customization, a better story (yes, even what little I've seen), and actual PVP and PVE game modes. The mechanics in Destiny, are easily as varied and are more impactful. You can significantly change your play style with a change up of the perks in the same class, let alone the sub classes. This is the sign of good mechanics.

Ultimately, the low scores on Destiny are due to the MMO hype. People thought they were getting the Halo MMO under a different name, and are dissapointed that it didn't happen. Bungie hyped too much without more concrete info upfront, and made some odd and frustrating choices like the limit of 3 people per team and no proximity chat. The latter two, along with the dull boss fights are probably the main drawbacks for this game.

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Interesting thoughts on this thread throughout, thought provoking opinions.

It's fun to speculate why Destiny got crushed so hard (and even though I've been really hard on it I'd still probably give it a 7/10) but who really knows without having a sit down with the reviewers, but all of these are interesting thoughts nonetheless.

If I had to toss my hat into the ring in the Destiny vs. Titanfall question, I'd imagine a major factor was, is it fun? Titanfall wasn't really trying to do anything other than be a new shooter, and people seemed to love its new free form movement and Titans. Destiny does some stuff with the multiplayer that is good but I don't think its going to be enough to save the franchise so to speak.

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Do Destiny reviews make sense relative to Titanfall? (Destiny)