This (Destiny)

by kidtsunami , Atlanta, GA, Tuesday, July 02, 2019, 09:34 (1981 days ago) @ MacAddictXIV

I mean I don’t see it as different than anything else in videogames. If you’ve never play a video game before, you don’t “know” touching a goomba in Mario will kill you. You do it, and you see what happens. You don’t “know” that you can break bricks if you’re big. You just discover that. You don’t “know” hidden blocks exist. You find them.

The rules of every game only reveal themselves one you get in there and start playing. It’s always been a part of learning how to win.

I've never put together this way, but I like feeling like I'm immersed in a fictional world. Blind raiding just means you're on the elite squad of guardians willing to scope out the unknown. It's cool, man.

I love that feeling as well, but Destiny has never constantly given it to me. It’s so overtly “gamey”, from the health bars and numbers flying off enemies as you shoot them, monster closets that spawn enemies, teammates that disappear and reappear between loading zones, “darkness” zones... Destiny just isn’t a game that manages to make me feel like I’m in a “real” place, on a “real” mission very often. This extends to raids as well, where the various mechanics feel more like arbitrary and artificial challenges than having an actual battle against a powerful foe. I don’t mean any of this as a criticism... it’s all loads of fun. But immersion is so rarely part of the equation for me. That said, there are rare moments that go farther towards making me feel like I’m with my fireteam in a real time and place, and they’re some of my favourite experiences in Destiny. Shattered Throne, Whisper, Zero Hour, a few of the strikes, parts of some of the older raids... its a great feeling when Destiny does start to close the gap between the game itself and my suspension of disbelief :)

I feel like most of the raids on the Leviathan have felt immersive because it actually feels like your in Calus' House were he is testing you in some weird space gladiator arena. So all the switches and weird rules makes sense. It actually made it even more twisted because you know he built this to test people.

Between the curse loop of the Dreaming City/Last Wish and the "tests" of the Leviathan, Bungie has gotten a better handle on the ludonarrative of Destiny.