Destiny

[fallenchicken]

I actually just barely got it. Plan to play it tonight (really, Thursdays are the one night a week i can binge-play games). I feel like people should have known what the game was from he alpha--it was a very polished alpha. A fun co-op game. Not the mind-blowing next-gen title people think it is--if anyone actually expected it to be that? It's not the great new gaming experience, but it's not as disappointing as say Titanfall. I'm sure it will sell a shit-ton of consoles. Really, just something to play until Dragon Age and The Witcher.
You can't trust the internet reaction, overly positive or negative, to a high-profile title right at it's release.
The story is really bad though. It's incoherent. I don't know how these video games can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and can't get at least a half competent writing staff.

[JensenBakura]

What are Kath opinions so far? Based on what I've been reading, it seems Chicken's assessment from the alpha is pretty spot on, with maybe some additions about loot being a bit boring and not a lot of mission variety (which you wouldn't really get a sense of in a console alpha or beta).

I get the sense that if it wasn't a Bungie game or been hyped as this console megahit, people would probably accept it for what it is a bit more. A lot of the extreme reactions both ways seem to not be really reflective of what you get.

I just hit level 14, and I'm about to start Mars. The story is very vague, and you are only given the most cryptic of exposition. I know online shooters aren't a bastion of epic narrative - but if Starcraft can turn a silly RTS into a Melodramatic powerhouse of cosmic yarn-spinning, Bungie "more money than God" Studios really doesn't have an excuse. The combat is ok, but only really shines when your level, the difficulty, and your gear are all harmoniously balanced. I agree with other reviews I've seen: the solar system looks very pretty but feels very very small, and bland. I'll reserve final judgement for when I've completed the story. Right now it feels like a 6/10. Still not as monumentally disappointing as Swtor though.

Edit: Also, what chicken said.

Edit 2: And on the bright side, I'm working my way through Avatar and man, what a show...

[fallenchicken]

Should my robot have splooge in her eye?

[Pewps]

You can't trust the internet reaction, overly positive or negative, to a high-profile title right at it's release.
The story is really bad though. It's incoherent. I don't know how these video games can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and can't get at least a half competent writing staff.

From what I understand the Bungie guys were all fapping over Dark Souls method of story-telling and tried to emulate it in Destiny but failed horribly. The lore in Dark Souls was vague enough to be mysterious but also left implications about certain subjects to sort of poke players in the right direction, Destiny is so vague that nothing can be gleaned whastoever

I've been busy so I'm only level 6 still and just got to the Moon

[badfo]

From what I understand the Bungie guys were all fapping over Dark Souls method of story-telling and tried to emulate it in Destiny but failed horribly. The lore in Dark Souls was vague enough to be mysterious but also left implications about certain subjects to sort of poke players in the right direction, Destiny is so vague that nothing can be gleaned whastoever

The story is really bad though. It's incoherent. I don't know how these video games can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and can't get at least a half competent writing staff.

The story is very vague, and you are only given the most cryptic of exposition. I know online shooters aren't a bastion of epic narrative - but if Starcraft can turn a silly RTS into a Melodramatic powerhouse of cosmic yarn-spinning, Bungie "more money than God" Studios really doesn't have an excuse.

Yeah, this is probably the most universal complaint I've seen, even among people pumping the game.

Sadly I think that's just AAA games now. Very few seem to care.

I don't know if I would have gone into this game expecting a great story, but I didn't play a Halo game after Halo 3 so I think my perception might be colored a bit differently than those that continued with the series.

The Dark Souls comparison is interesting. I hadn't heard that specific take on it.

[fallenchicken]

At least Peter Dinklage is getting paid. He sounds thrilled to be here.

Quick, we need to get to the ship [yawn]!

[JensenBakura]

I don't know if I would have gone into this game expecting a great story, but I didn't play a Halo game after Halo 3 so I think my perception might be colored a bit differently than those that continued with the series.

The Dark Souls comparison is interesting. I hadn't heard that specific take on it.

I stopped at Halo 3 too. Halo 3 had a great cast, with great dialogue, and some really memorable scenes (the death of Miranda is one of my favourite all-time cutscenes - still get goosebumps). Destiny has none of those so far.

The worst dialogue so far has been "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain" followed by more vague exposition and a cryptic "now head to X". I was not amused. And yeah, Peter Dinklage's dialogue keeps putting himself to sleep.

This game needed less Dark Souls parody and more Doom: You are on Mars. Now defeat the legions of Satan, or you will die. Earth might suffer too...

[fallenchicken]

I agree Jensen. That's what's baffling about it--how do you screw it up? No one expects high literature, just some competent popcorn science fiction/standard mmo stuff. I would just like to have some context. The game literally makes no sense. It's me shooting aliens while Tyrion whispers constantly in my ear.

[Pewps]

Doing a Strike with 2 retards is very stressful and it would seem a majority of the PS4 userbase are in fact retards.

[Pewps]

"I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain"

Wow I just got to this part and I got legitimately pissed off when that happened. It's like, you drag me out to fucking Venus and just say "loll kill da robots!!!" and disappear. Yeah fuck you. This isn't even Dark Souls story-telling, it's just fucking lazy. For "the biggest threat" to the Traveler they don't even look scary. They have no sense of self-preservation so they just walk slowly at you while firing, which makes them comical, not sinister.

The Queen's brother is alright. Queen is lame though. Should make her brother King. He'd get shit done.

[Darth Snuggles]

I don't think I need to buy this game. You guys have given me a full enough picture of the experience.

[pano]

I don't think I need to buy this game. You guys have given me a full enough picture of the experience.

[fallenchicken]

Yeah, please don't confuse this with a game you need to buy. It's fine. Bungie said (or at least I read that they said) that this is the best game they've ever made.

I'm like, do you guys remember when you made Halo 2?

[badfo]

I don't use review scores to inform my purchases and I mostly find them interesting from a drama perspective (like whenever reddit goes crazy because Polygon or somebody gave a big game an 8). And I think Metacritic is a scourge.

But it's interesting that two games with review embargoes that were after launch are so close on Metacritic. Destiny is a 74, Sims 4 is a 71.

[Pewps]

I only like review scores for talking shit about games I don't intend to play

polygon is shit though

[JensenBakura]

I don't use review scores to inform my purchases and I mostly find them interesting from a drama perspective (like whenever reddit goes crazy because Polygon or somebody gave a big game an 8). And I think Metacritic is a scourge.

But it's interesting that two games with review embargoes that were after launch are so close on Metacritic. Destiny is a 74, Sims 4 is a 71.

Sims 4 is a 71? How do you fuck up a Sims game? And why did they need a 4? Sims 3 still looks great...

[Darth Snuggles]

I can't believe The Sims 4 even managed a 71. People can still stomach The Sims?

I feel so old, I don't understand games anymore!

I think the release of Dungeon Keeper on iOS finally broke me.

[Pewps]

I'm gonna list off some additional grievances with Destiny.

-They increased the time between public events in the open world, from what they were in the beta. I'm now level 16 and I've experienced ONE public event, and I only got to Silver because no one was around to help me. Apparently Bungie realized the error of their ways and are going to fix it soon. But it was stupid in the first place.

-This whole "you have to be level 15 to unlock the 2nd spec" is just plain retarded. At level 15 you're starting the last planet, meaning you have to relevel the entire spec on moderately difficult enemies. And once you unlock it on one character, the 2nd spec is unlocked for all future characters starting at level 1. WHATS THE FUCKING POINT.

-They lock off a majority of the Crucible matches. I don't care for Destiny PvP, but there was one Crucible type that I was actually going to play, where everyone got vehicles and blew each other up. Bungie decided to lock almost all of the interesting Crucible types off so they can have what are essentially BG holidays similar to WoW, except you're not able to do those matches when it's not that Crucible's weekend or whatever. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

-Leveling up rare weapons takes forever. I got a level 10 hand cannon and used it for 5 levels before upgrading and of the 5 upgrades in it's tree I only unlocked 2.

-I like Tyrion but he was an awful choice for voicing your companion. It's completely phoned in. "Oh what's that, you just killed like 100 Hive with an ancient sword? Cool I'll tell the City."

[badfo]

-They lock off a majority of the Crucible matches. I don't care for Destiny PvP, but there was one Crucible type that I was actually going to play, where everyone got vehicles and blew each other up. Bungie decided to lock almost all of the interesting Crucible types off so they can have what are essentially BG holidays similar to WoW, except you're not able to do those matches when it's not that Crucible's weekend or whatever. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

This has to be a joke.

[Pewps]

-They lock off a majority of the Crucible matches. I don't care for Destiny PvP, but there was one Crucible type that I was actually going to play, where everyone got vehicles and blew each other up. Bungie decided to lock almost all of the interesting Crucible types off so they can have what are essentially BG holidays similar to WoW, except you're not able to do those matches when it's not that Crucible's weekend or whatever. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

This has to be a joke.

It's possible that I might be missing something. They may unlock after I do a certain amount of PvP matches, but even then that'd be retarded. But from the looks of it they're locked off until there respective "events" happen.

[JensenBakura]

I can't believe The Sims 4 even managed a 71. People can still stomach The Sims?

I feel so old, I don't understand games anymore!

I think the release of Dungeon Keeper on iOS finally broke me.

For me it was the release of Kotor on iOS...

[fallenchicken]

To be fair to Dinklage--and he clearly decided he was not going to get out of bed while recording this--it's not like he has much to work with. What's he supposed to do?

Collect that check.

[Pewps]

Also the fact that you can't use shaders (they change the color scheme of your armor) till level 20. Why limit that?

I will say that the Sunsinger is a really fun subclass to play for the Warlock. His super puts the grenade on like a 3 second cooldown, and there's a later talent that lets you get 2 grenades whenever your grenades activate so you can lob grenades fucking all over the place. But it irks me more that I couldn't play this sublcass till level 15, it would have been much more enjoyable to have played it from level 1.

[Sobchak]

I only played it for about an hour, but my impression is that the crucible is fun. Thematically it's very heavy-handed which is whack but at least the multiplayer is enjoyable. So far my only next gen multiplayer experiences have been bf4 and titanfall, and it's at least better than titanfall.

Made me miss Borderlands 2 though.

[Darth Snuggles]

I can't believe The Sims 4 even managed a 71. People can still stomach The Sims?

I feel so old, I don't understand games anymore!

I think the release of Dungeon Keeper on iOS finally broke me.

For me it was the release of Kotor on iOS...

I should probably clarify, I'm not against classic games coming to iOS devices. In fact I think it's great. I haven't played KOTOR on the iPad, but it seems to have good reviews.

Dungeon Keeper, rather than actually being anything like the original game, was a terrible pay to play monstrosity.