Witch Queen Thoughts: Is cool, fun? (Fan Creations)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Sunday, April 03, 2022, 15:13 (964 days ago)

Feci quod potui, faciant meliora potentes.

~ I have done what I could; let those who can do better.

(Approx. 1295 Words | +/- 10 min. read | About: Introduction.)

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The internet is a great place to learn a lot of really valuable Game Design skills, but it does a piss poor job teaching nuance, collaboration, and compromising, and I'm not sure you can get the results you want without those.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) March 22, 2022

Abundans cautela non nocet. And so before starting this, I would like to note, which I do both here and at the very end, that despite whatever passion in words is on display, no offense is either intended nor wanted. You are on the internet, and so I choose to speak in a way that breaks through the barriers that this format imposes. But in doing so, I then risk that emphasis being found one note. Happy, Sad, Angry... we're so much more than this! The colors from our hearts so much more mixed.

 How does one make themselves known when all they have is their own echo to comfort their logic by? When they need to speak of needs, while too implying a greater nuance, a want in collaboration, and a will to compromising, all while speaking from the heart among the silence of four very padded walls? I am alone! And all I can do is guess and be true. Do what I can with what could be wild and obstreperous emotions, which arise only because I lack further means to tame it buy. It is my hope that, despite the manner, what I have to say will be more enlightening than insufferable. Fairer in good than ill. We are neither immune to mistakes, both victims to the ignorance of this window. Both imposed to react, however differently, to what we see, tempered by what we know.

 So what else are we to do?

Let's hold hands, dear reader, and dare not hesitate, for these tall slabs of words from my mind will not show mercy, but instead I hope, to you shall reward the climb. Be it for wisdom, or laughs, or some concoction of artistic appreciation, I can not know what it will be for you. I bring you only the offer. Dear Reader! I extend my hand in waiting. Shall we embark on this journey?

It's your call. Please heed my words, and here we go.

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To rate is to compare.

 Compare to what? ... Experience? Merit? Personality and Taste? Discerning which is the honest, truest take on each topic can be quite a problem to have. I've been sitting here, staring glass eyed at my computer screen, trying to put into discernible words my many thoughts about Bungie's "Witch Queen" expansion. And, as ever, the hardest thing to do is figuring out where to start. A lazy, ever meta start, I admit, but it gets the ball rolling. Would this be acceptable if Bungie was doing the same thing in their story? And hey! Look at that! Story! It even had an...ending? Hey, artsy concept folks, I've got things to say!

And then I find myself sitting here, thinking about what determines quality? With whatever metric you use to gauge such a thing, well, that seems to get even more granular. If the food was good, but you got sick, is the food still good? Or if you tried something new and didn't enjoy it, but no real harm was done, is that bad? We've got a new weapon in this expansion! A first of its kind in Destiny, a first-person melee weapon! What factors should I use to talk about that? Is it a successful implementation if there is some sort of fun or utility in its use but it lacks any real first-person melee traits? First-person melee play? I've got... some... thoughts.

I also have feelings! You'll be seeing all sorts of expressions with that, but I do not just speak of feelings in emotive terms. There is a tactile meaning as well! Not just in the aforementioned weapon above, but in the newer mechanics with light and... a change I've noticed. I think I've noticed. It's very subtle, and it may be just a human error on my part, but I do speak about it. It's about the difference a year brings. A fear I've found in Bungie being afraid. I fear Bungie being in fear. How do you handle your fears? And to that, what do I mean? Well, this is the intro, dear reader. Right now, it could be anything! ;D

Now do me a favor and bite down REALLY HARD on this hook. 

I also have some things to mention about my experience with "Vow of the Disciple" and then... 

...and then...

...and then...

...and then...

...and then...

WE go crazy. But, am I?

Remember! When keeping an open mind, it is best to make sure nothing falls out. Apparently. Pro tip.

So! If none of that sounds interesting, and if you care nothing about my ramblings and musings upon all things, while using the Destiny 2 "Witch Queen" expansion to deliver such... probably nonsense, then the TL;DR you are looking for is the sentence below. But, if I may say so, all this kinda sounds like good nonsense to me, so I'm rolling with it. And videos. And pictures. And plenty of "sentence enhancers".

 TL;DR; The "Witch Queen" expansion is by and large REALLY GOOD, but it also feels like... well. It was like a bunch of people were separated and forced to rely on the cool of the idea to sell the fun. If the greatest POWER of a workplace is the TEAM successfully collaborating off one another, I could FEEL those hiccups in this expansion.

(TL;DR ends here. This is the part where I start to tug on that hook.) 

Hmmm... I wonder why? What COuld possibly cause that effect in the production of VIDeogames? Could it be the rating?! Nein, ich sehe nicht voraus, dass die Teenagerbewertung eine solche Wirkung hat. Alors peut-être que le problème réside dans la traduction? Non, pas dans la langue, mais dans le temps. Afinal, essa tradução é totalmente imaginada pelos artesãos da Bungie. Eles têm que adivinhar/puxar da experiência o que vai funcionar com 6 ou 8 talvez até um ano de antecedência. 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100000 01100011 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100001 01101001 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100101 01100001 01110011 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110011 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01100101 01100011 01101000 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01101100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101101 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01100100 01100101 00101110.

Hmmm... I wonder why? What could possibly cause that effect in the production of videogames? Could it be the rating?! No, I don't foresee the teenage rating having such an impact. So maybe the problem lies in the translation? No, not in language, but in time. After all, this translation was fully imagined by the artisans at Bungie. They have to guess/pull from experience what will work 6 or 8 maybe even a year in advance. It certainly can't be easy, and I say this on top of all the other technical considerations that must be made.

In any event, for whatever reason, a lot changed in this expansion. And as always, "they're only getting started." Blah, blah blah, which of course you are! This is also part of the problem. The Witch Queen is not the Taken King, and it never wanted to be. And for me to explain, let's get this deca-set of thoughts truly started in earnest with a... ..."story".