Between the hosts of The More You Nerd we have played more Destiny than probably any other game. In this week’s blog post we look at the game after 6 months and try and sum up the gaming experience.
Hello Faithful Listeners, and to those fellow guardians out there,
If you have been listening to the podcast of late you know that we here at TMYN have been enjoying the game “Destiny” by Bungie studios a great deal. By “A Great Deal” I mean to say that all other video games, social obligations and respective life partners have taken somewhat of a back seat in the 5 months or so that the game has been out. I am pretty sure that Drew had another kid in that time frame, but I can’t be sure, time moves faster now that approximately ~15-20 hours a week are dedicated to killing Fallen and Hive. What follows is as objective as I can be in reviewing a gaming experience that I not only love, but also at times hate. Come with me now as I spelunk into the bottomless loot caves that make up the wild and crazy world of Destiny.
First, a little history in case you haven’t been following the Destiny Saga since this game was announced at E3 a few years ago. When Bungie, the creator of the much lauded “Halo” series, announced that they were working on a brand new intellectual property game world that would come out across both the Xbox and Playstation my level of excitement was at about a 3/10. I had played Halo and its sequel on friend’s systems, both the story and a ton of four player split-screen multiplayer, and I enjoyed the games, but never enough to switch allegiances and purchase a Microsoft console.
When Bungie showed gameplay footage of Destiny this last year I was still nominally excited, but I was so busy planning a wedding while attending Grad. school that I couldn’t get super excited…yet, so I was at like a 4/10 on the scale at this point. Then, in the summer of 2014, something happened that changed my gaming timeline irrevocably: Destiny Beta play…
All four of us jumped into the Destiny Beta (Mike and Drew had already played in the Alpha) and we got to explore the sandbox of the Earth in the far-flung future. We got to advance to level 8, earning grenades, jump abilities, and of course our first Super. We got to play on the moon, run through the Sepiks Prime strike, and play in the crucible for hours on end. Up until this point I didn’t understand why Alpha testers were so excited about this game, but playing it gave me a reason to get similarly excited. I was at a 9/10 on the excitement scale.
So I Pre-ordered the game, made T-shirts, took time off of work and got ready for the September launch date. The next few months were an absolute blur, but in that time I somehow played Destiny almost every night and still managed to graduate while maintaining an excitement level 11/10. That’s right, full-on This Is Spinal Tap.
We talked about Destiny before, a couple of weeks after the game released during my Birthday Challenge episode. The main topic of conversation was a general melange of disillusionment with the extremely high expectations that we all had for this game…that is all except for me. The expectation was that Destiny would be a game to end all games, but it fell short in the categories of story-telling and content, as well as a few painful gameplay mechanics (many of which have been patched in the weeks that followed).
I had lower expectations for the game perhaps, as the stunning graphics, liquid smooth game play, and extremely addictive end-game content were more than enough for the likes of myself to blow me away. Despite any griping that we had though we have been logging in dozens of hours each week between the four of us.
There have been many times when all four of us were online joking, playing and having a good time. I can’t say the same about any other game 5-months after it’s release. Few of us have logged so many hours in such a short amount of time for a single game. To put this in perspective I think I have probably put as many hours into Destiny as I have playing some of my favorite RPG’s of all time like Skyrim, Final Fantasy 7 and the Mass Effect series.
I have logged literal weeks of my life into this game, along the way meeting new friends, completing some very high level challenges, and starting a Clan of like-minded gamers to play alongside. From this perspective this game is a solid A+ of entertainment value and pure fun, though I acknowledge that this is not everyone’s gaming experience.
For many gamers who are not extremely social, and didn’t have a network of friends to play alongside the game was very different. Playing this game solo is a very shallow experience, that can be completed in maybe 10 hours. What follows in the end-game content requires 2-5 other players, and a great deal of time spent playing with those fellow guardians. This is one of the reasons that I can’t recommend enough building your friends list and maybe joining a clan.
Each time you join a group of like-minded players make sure to friend request them and message them if you are looking to play, through either Bungie’s site or the playstation/xbox system. For solo players that don’t take the above advice this game is at best a 2 out of 5 stars, or C- Grade territory. Rarely will a game swing so wildly from player to player, but with such a big MMO-type game with many moving parts it is hard to nail down exactly how to quantify the exact gaming experience.
For me Destiny is a jumble of adjectives, no single one can aptly describe the total gaming experience, but have run the gamut from soaring heights to crawling lows, words like challenging, exciting, frustrating, vainglorious, addictive, annoying, and rewarding all come to mind about this game, but the one that stands out a cut above the rest is ‘fun’.
This game is just plain fun, the jumping mechanics, the sparrow-riding, and the head-shot animation hasn’t gotten old after all this time. Bungie set out to make a game with mechanics and gameplay that rivaled their erstwhile creation, and they did just that. For me, a fan of both the World of Warcraft MMORPG, and shooters like Halo, I find Destiny to be a perfect mix of genres, and just plain fun.
As maybe one of this game’s biggest fan’s a large part of my fandom has been being able to watch the game change over time with updates, patches and the first major DLC dropped in December. I think that the game is a sum of all its parts, from good to bad, and getting the entire historical perspective this game get’s high marks from me in the improvements that they have made since it’s September 9th release date. I really enjoy being one of those people that is “in the know” about the game.
People ask me questions about the game, from mechanics to rumors, and I can always have a conversation. This is a reason that I like to keep playing and coming back to this game time and time again. Back in December I got the Playstation platinum trophy for the game, which means I completed every trophy challenge in Destiny. It was a nice capstone to three solid months of playtime, and I felt like I earned the “legend” status that this game promised to its players in the advertising campaign that they ran.
As I write this I have stepped away from the game for the last few weeks as my free personal time, interest, and my capability to engage in the game play have all diminished slightly. I have played less than 10 hours over the last 14 days, which is akin to me almost not playing at all. This breathe of fresh air has been good though, as it has given me time to reflect on the game as a whole and quite honestly I think I will appreciate it more once I dive back in.
I just returned from Penny Arcade Expo (PAX East) and I played a lot of new games while I was there. Quite honestly though, in my heart of hearts, during the convention my eyes were on the lookout for sweet Hunter cosplays, rad space-magic merchandise, and any fellow players that I met. When I rejoin the ranks of the clan, and take up my controller again for the next 8-hour gaming session you won’t be able to see it, but just know that I will have a big smile on my face.
-Patrick a.k.a. SaturnBurn
We love to hear from you about your Destiny and other MMO gameplay experiences. Send your comments through Facebook, @themoreyounerd on Twitter, or send us an e-mail at themoreyounerd@gmail.com.