Halo had more strategic actions built into the levels (Destiny)

by Durandal, Tuesday, July 03, 2018, 14:29 (2572 days ago) @ ManKitten

In Halo, the levels are built to tell the story just as much, if not more so then Destiny.

Destiny has strikes, but other then those, there is little narrative advancement and the feeling of being isolated from everyone else in game.

The Assault on the Control Room, the Silent Cartographer, 343 Guilty Spark, Outskirts, The Ark, Exodus, Tip of the Spear, UNSC Pillar of Autumn, these levels are designed to make the player feel like a part of a larger battle.

You have NPCs reacting to you that are directly visible, you are clearly seen as part of a larger military force and feel like you are part of a large, and thus important mission. Halo 2 and 3 had large boss battles and big in game cutscenes to add weight and import to the mission at hand.

Destiny does not do this. With the exception of Warmind and TTK, there is little setup pre or post mission, and strikes have no cutscenes in game. There are no NPCs involved in the missions (with one or two exceptions) So the player always feels alone, and thus the import of their actions is diluted.

This is in part a decision to make the game activities feel more re-playable. I don't think it is a good one. If Bungie were to add frames and people as in game public events, worked in the strikes to make them feel like Halo levels instead of kind of one off long missions, they could do better.

This is the part where they need to be more RPG like, using strikes to tell a big story, while missions should tell smaller, deeper lore bits.

For whatever reason, they didn't want to go in depth story wise, and it still hurts this game compared to Halo.