Tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes.

~ The incurable desire (or itch) for writing affects many.

(Approx. 2892 Words | +/- 25 min. read | About: Writing.)

- - - - - - -

Experience. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® Blacklist™, Red Dead Redemption 2, STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™, Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, BioShock Infinite, Dishonored 2, Shadow Warrior 2, Titanfall® 2, BioShock Remastered, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Pray 2...

According to my achievement list, I've so far played a total of 174 video games on Xbox. That's a lot of games. There are a lot of renditions in telling a story in this interactive medium. And... strangely, at first it makes assigning some level of story quality to Destiny 2: The Witch Queen harder to do. The question suddenly becomes not what my thoughts are, but what is it I am willing to forgive? Per style, per medium, and indeed, the needs of the story to justify it being there in the game at all. 

As I've mentioned in the introduction, the "Witch Queen" expansion is, by and large, REALLY GOOD. And in the same light, the story has its moments of being REALLY GOOD. But, well... I have this criticism, see. And once I get going, I have no idea where this is going to go. 

- - -

In short, are "moments" of being really good, enough? Is that Bungie grade? Is that Bungie "Owned-and-Partnered-with Sony" grade? Is "good enough" good enough? And if it is, even if it isn't (which is not a declarence), can it stay that way without effecting quality?

For that answer, you're going to need to hold on tight folks. I'm going to try and answer this question by starting STRAIGHT ON with an example of my ire: Ikora is a spymaster. Really? Yet neither she, nor anyone else could see the MASSIVE Cabal fleet on any sensor, nor the "big chungus" gun they were building basically right ACROSS THE FLIPP'N EYELINE?!? Having her say "The Cabal are mobilizing" seconds before the "Cabal Dick-Wave" doesn't help either. Folks, that stuff ain't exactly stealth technology! If it was any boxier, the Titans would try to use them as shoulder pauldrons!

What's been presented is beyond incompetent; it's insalubrious. Was... was sunsetting Ikoras idea? Really though, something is wrong, and it is not working at full performance. No one else saw this, or even heard a sound and called it in to the SPYMASTER?!?! Get the fuck out of here.

OH OH! "It's to show the doubt of Ikora"—or maybe you go with—"Magic! Witch Queen Smokescreen Magic-song" blah blah. OR! Or maybe some flipping third thing, but who gives a shit, really? I don't care how it's going to be eventually justified, what matters is WHAT YOU SHOW ME! You could have gone full "Edgar Wright" with this, as I'll demonstrate in a few paragraphs from now with some simple, simple concepts that make it all work. But instead, because the team missed that memo, it looks like nothing more but... and I hate this phrase, "lazy writing," and it looks like this in an intro no less. Not even 30 seconds or so in, we're not even in playtime, and I'm already rolling my eyes. 

It's dumb, and I expect better from Bungie.

...heh heh heh, and yet, with all this and more, many of us can forgive. Or... is it apathy? Whatever the reason, it's probably the same as the reason for such noise being made at all; It-moves the-story along. It's just enough to justify the game play we're about to confront, and we don't care enough. "I just want to blow things up" and the like. Which is odd, right? In the past, in the long past, we'd be all, "Oh shit! There is actually a story, with game-play. There is something to do that is more (work with me here) than just something to do. Go Figure!" Do we fear biting the hand that is able to feed us now, which brings us "something", even though it's the same one that was bitten when it brought famine before? Do we not seek quality? Here too, I may bring an odd question, I admit, seeing as this fan base will happily peck at whatever, like some lightly abused virtual chicken. *Cluck cluck cluck*, all sorts of noise and ruckus about any sort of thing. And so, as a result, with a sea of far more flashy things to peck at, sometimes these less flashy "oversights" of seemingly minor impact can be silently accepted without any requirement of obfucation in "what if" or some kind of "we're listening."

(Shit, it really is a meme.)

My reply? Well, per style, per medium, and indeed, the needs of the story... *SIGH!* "Fine". Sure, I guess. Considering the last year or so, I can forgive this TOO, as I have with this sort of thing a number of times before.

 For now. 

But, Bungie, you're seemingly running out of rope to test against what it appears you want to do. Do you want this to be a multi-disciplined series? Not just video games, but movies, TV, and books, perhaps? You're going to need to up your game and up your game. Get it? Oh yes, even more than you already have. If you want to go "BIG LEAGUE", and not just be a studio, but a media powerhouse, you're going to have to "get it." Get it? I know you do in there somewhere! But y'all, if this is what you have to give, you ain't got it. Why are we still seeing bad habits when we should be past that point by now?

...

*Sigh*

Look, I'm not on Bungies' payroll (yet?), so it doesn't matter what I say. They are going to do what they need to do. I'm nothing more than a long-time Bungie fan, and I'm rootin' y'all. It's why I'm being a touch particular, and a touch hard. Yes, even on something as debatably insignificant as an establishing cinematic. "Not Careing" is a muscle too, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Careing about the BIG stuff is (debatably) easy, as that stuff you see a mile away coming. But the small things that MAKE the big things... well, that's ridiculously important stuff too! It really is a shame that it's so easy to toss aside sometimes. It rarely looks like it's going to be a big deal on its own. Bungie, rules need to matter. If Ikora is supposed to be a Spymaster, I WANT YOU TO PROVE IT! And you don't get to STOP proving it because it's convenient at the time. This is true both in the world and in the best of writing. Don't be sloppy. The "Best" are darn well better than that.

I really don't want Bungie to "Game of Thrones" it up because it just became so easy to keep fan momentum despite some logical or character incongruity that was apparently small enough to "get away with it". That can creep up on you in a real hurry. 

LOL... "Oh Ikora forgot that there were Cabal." ROFL ...OH man, I triggered myself... ROFL... UGH!

...what a shitshow. Holy Heaven.

ANYWAY! ...

Unfortunately, the story of Destiny makes this "proof" both easier and more difficult, as this story is paracausal in nature. There is a reason why the future stories of Destiny are going to probably risk leaning even more on time travel, much like how other franchises are leaning even more into the "Multi-Verse". It's a built-in story mechanic that helps with the patchwork and generates some interesting story opportunities in the process. It makes the writers' jobs easier without it, necessarily, being purely "lazy". It's writer's caulk. A potent in-universe built excuse of "this is magic, so we don't need to explain a darn thing." All you need to know is that it is. The problem is, and I say this to be potentially AHEAD of the curve here, if Bungie depends on that too much, it may come back to bite 'em in the ass and they'll find themselves sitting in shit.

Things can get complicated in a REAL hurry. No longer easy. Right now in "Multi-Verse" land, things are getting complicated. There is SO MUCH stuff to track. Can you imagine trying to keep a cannon running with all of that? It's a good thing "cannon" is also a loose term in that Universe. Yet back here in Traveler-land, be it all paracausal or not, there needs to be a simple level of causality for our simpleton brains to march along to. SO WHEN I SEE, the first 30 seconds as I did, I wonder how far it goes. That's also WHY I felt the need to write all this here, about something that seems SO inconspicuous. The last thing you want to do is fatigue your audience with the story and its elements. And YEAH, Bungie probably knows that already, but you know what? SHOW DON'T TELL. 

In my case though? All I have access to (with this example) is tell, SO HERE I GO! 

Here is my quick-from-the hip example. Straight off the top of my noggen:

Last season, all you needed to do was shoot, "30 seconds" or so of content here and there. In the last week, we have "intercepted transmissions," see? Oh, Mars is suddenly back! You put it on the map, but no one can click it, YOU-TEASE! It's just there. Folks get to chatter about "What's the glowing green stuff on Mars?" Then Friday reset comes along, and suddenly there are Cabal ships around Mars. I don't know how long it takes you to do this, but it feels like to-me an evening's work to flesh out the doing of it. NOT TO IMPLEMENT, just to congeal the ideas needed to move forward in a way that makes sense. Not only would it have added to the hype, but it would have helped move from one season to another, much like other parts of the Witch Queen campaign do with the story at large.

As for the first cutscene we see this season? It's basically the same thing, with slight differences. From space, we see Mars, with Ikoras ship zooming past the camera. "Mars really has returned". Ikora is first eyes on. Smash cut and we see the Cabal in the distance, who are obviously building something. Turn pan to Ikoras ship landing at our home base. Smash cut to Ikora seen talking to Hidden(?) with binoculars, "doesn't yet know what it is across the way." "Keep me updated." Then the rest happens to what we see of Eris and Ikora approaching her, as we see in the trailer that was published. Gun goes over head, a Savathûn ship pops on by, and suddenly ALL THE THINGS make sense... time to go check it out!

Stupid, simple minor shit, but now Ikora's not foolish, and neither is the writing.

- - - -

...YA SEE! I told you that once I got going, I had no idea where this was going to go! All OF THIS, just to yammer about a drop or two of unused sweat! Meanwhile, you might as well be saying to me, "Blah blah blah." That's all fine and dandy advice there, INSANEdrive, but I'm not Bungie nor do I work there. What did you think of the Witch Queen story and campaign?

It's funny how both those things are so intertwined, eh? That's why in the literal next part, called "The Stories (and Videos) of My Gameplay", I give some more granular thoughts about the campaign, with videos! Large ones are more important (or interesting) than small ones, and... 

...this is your CELL PHONE PLAN warning...

 After this, things get all "multimedia" in a hurry. 

Ok? Get it? Alright... What did I think of the Witch Queen story and campaign?

I played the whole campaign on Legendary three times, so my game play experience was potentially more rewarding. Not just in "loot" but in the satisfaction of solving a challenge. And the first thing I'll say is... it's ok! Yes, it is the best Destiny campaign we've possibly ever received, but overall? Well, that's why I have those games listed at the very top, dear reader. It's not just the STORY that is told, but how it's been told. And so... Eh. 7 out of 10. I guess. It's... good? Honestly, of all the things in the campaign that brought forward a mood, the best thing was that darn bell. MAN did that create a mood. And...that's where the praise ends. The problem I'm finding more and more to be unforgivable, is that there is so much "and we're only getting started", where the ending is only the start and there is never a "conclusion," that it's a wonder we still care. I swear, these "live-game" shenanigans feel like a Kickstarter "update". Oh, it's coming! Look at that progress, and hey, if you throw more money at it now, we'll hit that stretch goal and add an extra inch! I "knew" the Witch Queen was going to die and also not die, and even after seeing the outcome, I felt nothing. Just... ok, I did that. Now go do something else. I mean, duh! WHAT GOOD is attempting a PERFECT 10 if you don't STICK. THE. LANDING! It really is a strange sensation of apathetic enjoyment, where I had my fun and when it was good, IT WAS GOOD! But I find I don't care either. It's like... eating a candy bar. It was good while it was there, but I'm going to forget it in due time. 

I refer to you what I asked at the start; are "moments" of being really good, enough? Or, let me put it another way for ya; Paydirt. Knowledge which comes together to provide an answer at the end of a mystery. An emotional punch to bring "in a mood" (Mass Effect was FANTASTIC about this). An artistic vibe, where through simple framing you find in silence the reward at the end of wonder. Paydirt. The return of your self-investment into the media you consume.

I've been VERY forgiving with Bungie as they've worked on figuring out how to tell a story in this live-game format. In fact, debatably their best in-game story work has been the Seasonal stories! I commend Bungie and its writers for figuring out how to make the seasons feel like "something" is happening in this live game, and that it's interesting enough to keep jumping on in to at least give it a peek to the progress.

Good job! If you can keep it.

But, when it comes to the Destiny "Campaign" work, I'm done. It used to be a crown jewel. And now we're pandering over how it's good "for a destiny game". Fuck.-That.

(If I start ranting about "the old days", do I get Pepperidge Farm cookies in the process? Is that how this works?)

I WANT BUNGIE GRADE Campaign STORIES again. The like ones which helped them start their quest for WORLD DOMINATION in the first place. The Bungie games which, after a certain point in its history, always had amazing game play that stacked on to an even more amazing story, which fed into the amazing game play of an even more amazing world. "A detailed, complex plot that is fundamental to gameplay and player advancement". ENOUGH with this "action-only" story. ENOUGH with the go here and go there "goose chase" story plots, which while better in this expansion, still mean, still feel like, nothing in the end. ENOUGH with good enough.

Enough with "and we're only getting started". 

This is why I gave ALL THIS PREFIX above! Destines' biggest and longest-standing campaign issue, which has been true for TOO long; is how now we're here and, by and large, things still feel the same. Where EVEN the BIG things feel like they don't matter. Part of our consumption of a Story, I'd say, IN ANY MEDIA, is the (un)expected exploration of ourselves or our character from whom we play as. The BRINGING of our emotions to some form of fiction, or otherwise, suddenly made true in a moment. Character used to mean something! And I'm not getting ANY of that. Everything is just cheap thrills and explosions. Bad guy in-between bad guy in-between... .

"oh it didn't feel that way to me."

Fantastic! Enjoy the game! If you managed to get what you wanted out of it, power to ya! Even I can admit there were a moments where I sat up and went "OH! I get it! ", such as a realization involving certain past "void light" experiments, and that was cool. But unless you DIG into the lore, what changed in the game?

 Everything is just one huge stalemate.

::GUN::

[Meme] Always has been [/meme].

As a result, I didn't feel an "accomplishment" in finishing the campaign. Frankly, it felt very anticlimactic. Here I am at this big moment, and I would have had my character shrug if I could have. It felt like a check box. We know more, and yet progress feels far less. That's the alternate title for this whole thing, by the way. More, and yet less. 

"And we're only getting started."... UGH!

The Witch Queen campaign was fun to play, and deserves all the praise it gets. Yet, you have to remember, this is the Witch Queen telling us a story. And thus, should you have some perception of all-around quality? 

Well...THAT, is its greatest trick of all.

De nobis fabula narratur.

~ About us is the story told.

(Approx. 2255 Words | +/- 19.5 min. read | About: Gameplay Impresstions.)

- - - - - - -

At this point in the life of Destiny, a new expansion means one thing; we're getting a new raid. Oh, and I suppose there's that whole campaign thing too and what not but... all the focus in those two-ish weeks or so is making sure, for those whom -even just might- be blind raiding, there is a readiness for the unknown. On the same coin, a new season means a new artifact. Every season, the first thing I'm thinking about is... how soon can I get the artifact? This is for obvious reasons; I want that XP to go towards unlocking the artifact perks as soon as possible.

And so... for the entirety of these parts here...

Alt title; Where Artifact

"Where Artifact?" "Where Artifact?" "Where Artifact?"

This question is also what brings about an interruption in my play. This first level is... quite long. It all felt like a wasted chance to start building the artifact XP up. I kept thinking... did I go too far? Did I miss something? Oh no, am I wasting time? THE ENTIRE TIME, I was just holding my breath. "Where Artifact?"

This is why I stopped almost at the end of the first level (which I didn't know at the time). I thought I did something wrong, or missed something. "Where Artifact?"

After going to the tower, and finding nothing indicating where the artifact was, I decided "well, I'll just jump back in".

HEY UI TEAM. THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT!

Part of the reason I stopped is because of my presumption that it would be a place where there would be a checkpoint. It was a WHOLESALE gamble. A presumption that I also felt like it really shouldn't be. Right? After all... Bungie wouldn't be THAT dumb and not have a checkpoint for a level SO LONG, right? RIGHT!?

SO folks, let's get on this emotional roller coaster. Here's the video below, followed by my textual descriptions of what you can't see.

SO in the first part of this clip here, I'm seeing...

• NO Checkpoint Icon.
  
  
• NO Difficulty Screen
  
  
• The Intro Cinematic
  

...and in this entire time, I'm growing an apple in my throat. My heart is sinking. OH. MY GOODNESS. Bungie, don't you... you're not this dumb. I was growing quite shocked. Looking to leaders for answers, INDEED! AND THEN...

• Difficulty Screen
  

WHY WOULD THERE BE A DIFFICULTY SCREEN IF THERE IS ALREADY A CHECK POINT?!... was my logic at that moment. Retrospect, that's kind of silly, of course you have to say if you still want the same difficulty, but unfortunately what I had seen before had wound me up and my brow begin to furrow. I'm still holding out on disbelief that Bungie, which has seemed to be turning a new leaf in competence, would do something so dumb. I'm hoping this is merely a lack of UI testing. I back out. I want to be sure I didn't miss something. After jumping around the menus and finding nothing, I decided to commit. It's going to be, what it's going to be. I jump through all the hoops and!...

One Minute and Fifty Three Seconds later... I finally see the screen that I was expecting to see.There is the checkpoint. And I continue with a sigh of relief. I Beat the level, and explore the new void system menu and Mars home base. Done.

---

Speaking of MARS, I want to tangent real quick. I'm SO HYPED! I am... SO SO EXCITED about the... I'm going to call it "the reveal" of telling stories about the past visually. The "temporal instabilities", a "window into the golden age." Bungie has brought into the game one of my FAVORITE concepts, which I know from originally because of BioShock Infinite, and brought it into Destiny. I'm SO HYPED. For the longest freek'n time, I've been wondering how Bungie was going to pull it off. Yeah, we had a moment with Saint-14, AND THAT WAS COOL! 

(...BRING BACK Season of Dawn GUNS YOU COWARDS!...)

 But, that was too hero-based a solution. To tell a story of an age, it isn't just about HUGE battles, and glory, and all that dreck. It's simpler stuff, even as little as what we can see in the background, such as a building on fire. Or, say, and I'm making this up, imagine walking through some buildings in ruins, then suddenly walking into what was once a room to eat in. And in the middle of that dilapidation, a "temporal instability" with an apple and a ham and pickle sandwich. Or, whatever. And how odd that there is a button here. It's a face, a green face with a sharp pointed toothy smile. How odd. I wonder what faction this was?

It's all about environmental storytelling, which I've said before, I'm all for. That kind of stuff is my JAM! 

Anyway, the creator in me LOVES LOVES LOVES this "temporal instability" solution. It is a marvelous idea. And I await, with bated breath, every instance of this trick. All I want to know is... when do we get to see Titan again. :D !!! :D 

Oh, and for those of you in PvP, one side "temporal," one side not? Right? RIGHT! ... though let's not get carried away. It's still Destiny. Good luck getting that second new map in another "two and a half years", or whatever.

----

Returning to game play, I did as the rest of everyone here did, I constructed my glaive, looked over the artifact, and so forth. I'm just trying to make sense of all this newness. Which brings us to the next point of interest. I'm wondering if I'm alone in my initial comment when I saw...

Holy crap! When did we join the empire!? :P

That's what I said, first eyes on. I mean, it's obviously not 1-to-1, because lawyers, but look! Between the color scheme and the starburst in the center, boy did I double take for a quick second. 

Kit like this is why my vault is forever 499.

Being able to have the right tool at the right time is a lovely thing. On this topic, note that not only here but in the entirety of these "essays", I say little about the new "weapon crafting" system. It's not because I don't have something to say about them, but instead it's because most of what I would have said has already been said. (Why do guns we can craft drop in the world?) The only thing I have to add is that, for an extra fee, I'd like to double or even triple the perks, should the framework allow. That would REALLY help with the vault space. It really is SO HELPFUL, having guns that are condensed together. Since the only thing that frees up space in my vault at this point (short of an emergency purge here and there) is if stuff can meet or exceed what I already have, if I could BUILD what I need to free up some space, that would be HUGE.

 It might not be 1-to-1, but close enough works too.

I play the game some more, learn schemes... so on so on... and then I get to...

THAT PART. One of the parts that everyone was going all Spoilers!! Spoilers!! for. THAT PART.

Hmmm. Gonna' need a bigger gun and some new pants. 

"HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" I went. "Well... that, could be a problem." But then, folks, then... my brain decided to TWIST THE KNIFE! AND Said... "Man, I'm about to one-man Riven "again", AND I STILL DON'T HAVE One Thousand Voices!!!""

I didn't have the kit for this kind of fight, so I switched my kit, sacrificed for a flag, and went to work...

At the end here, I thought I was about to wipe. More words than I care to put here, but... this was interesting.

I can put more words here. As I say, I did think I was about to wipe. I thought that this last part was a one-man do or die final stage. The burst of adrenaline on this one was nuts, and man... could I feel the delay on the controls. Of course, it wasn't a wipe, just one last trick. No wonder Savathûn (or would it be Sathona), added this magic to her worm.

Overall, this was a fantastic use of existing assets, not only for folks who are unable to raid, but for those of us who have raided multiple times. This part, without question, elevated the whole campaign from mundane to... memorable! This was a "story moment!" Not so much a TRUE story moment, as it by and large doesn't mean anything, but in the whole of experiencing the campaign and its story, this is a moment of note. And, for future campaigns, we need more of that. If we had more of that sort of thing in this campaign, maybe I wouldn't have just called the story good. Maybe it could have been great.

THIS is a moment I will remember.

---

In my lone wolf playthrough of the Legendary Campaign, I rarely encountered any problems. That's not to say I did it all flawlessly, or that I didn't get my butt kicked here and again, but... by and large, after two or three times at my worst, I could brush myself off and say, "Here is what I did wrong." Then, I'd go X, Y, Z, and get it done. In the level "The Last Chance", there is a portion called "The Apothecary." It's fairly pretty and has a part with a bunch of waterfalls which you can also get to in free roam. It's kind of nice. But then there's this FLIPP'n BRIDGE.

This one part here, in ALL THREE of my play thoroughs. THIS ONE PART KICKED MY BUTT AGAIN, AND AGAIN. I don't know why, but this part was apparently cursed. If it could go wrong, it DID. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

And the embodiment, which is now funny in retrospect, of all of that is in this clip here. 

I must have done that portion 20+ times per character. Just brutal. The rest of these are not so much failures as moments I had while trying to get this part done. 

And then... we get to the heart of the campaign. THE BIG STORY STUFF.

...We learn the trick, we have a team meeting, and then we learn about the dark, and its tricks...

These are all HUGE HUGE GINORMOUS moments. Huge story beats that reverberate into the future of Destiny.

But for me, they kind of fell solidly on their edge. And I don't know exactly why. It's not flat, as... I mean... WOAH, but I'm not too thrilled with it either. It just feels like, "oh, another trick." Maybe it's just fatigue at this point, the result of being part of this game for so long, but... so what? There's always some trick, or catastrophe, or blah blah... all because of two gods and their $1 wager on all reality. 

Assholes.

Anyway, on the last level, we get a Big 'Ol Skybox, Ikora be'n a BAMF, and a A whole rigamarole to open a door until...

...and I get to the final ending cutscenes, which I'll be talking about momentarily in The Ending, Once Upon a Time. 

I then fly to Mars, and chat with Ikora...

...where then it occurs to me as I briefly mentioned in The Story of a Witch Queen...

I felt nothing. Just... ok, I did that. Now go do something else. I mean, duh! WHAT GOOD is attempting a PERFECT 10 if you don't STICK. THE. LANDING! It really is a strange sensation of apathetic enjoyment, where I had my fun and when it was good, IT WAS GOOD! But I find I don't care either. It's like... eating a candy bar. It was good while it was there, but I'm going to forget it in due time. 

So, what would fix this? What would had made this campaign "a meal" worth remembering instead of some candied snack? Well, let's look at history! I never felt this way whenever I found myself "finishing" a fight. Not in one Halo game by Bungie did I ever feel in such a way. Perhaps... this is the answer to why I feel as I do. "Destiny the Game" can never give any closure. There must always be some dammed thing to chase. The end is hardly an end, if it's ever an everlasting continuation. And, Destiny will never be as good as it can be if it can't allow us to just...

AHhhhhhh. That's what I miss. That is what can make my 7 into a little more. That's the game going "stand down soldier". It's not permanent, obviously. "And Halo was never played ever again" lul. Even the greatest warriors need to breath every now and again, there Bungo. Just chill. You don't need to sell us the next part of the story RIGHT THEN AND THERE. Fuck. The game is live, you have time. 

Just... Shut up, and let my Guardian grab a cola and bourbon or something! Hand out 'dem PARTY KEYS Y'ALL! 

Letz get CRUNK.

Or shoot! BRING BACK THE FARM and/or something relaxing like that space was. Let us chill and run around the FOOTBALL/SOCCER ARENA.

Y'all are just too serious for your own good, let alone the game you're making. We're building up to have some REALLY dark times, no pun intended, in Destiny.  But hey, make sure you don't forget the good things too. 

I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." ~ Gandalf (J. R. R. Tolkien ~ The Hobbit)

Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli.

~ According to the reader's gifts, books have their destiny.

(Approx. 1668 Words | +/- 15 min. read | About: Character Design.)

- - - - - - -

For the last... oh, it has to be at least a half a decade, I've shoveled through a lot of the Gameplay and Investment teams' shitty renditions. Wall of text after wall of text, and 1/3rd of that might just be because of the pure ghost pepper taco shit that was sunsetting. All the same, my criticisms have tended to be directed towards one generalized area involving the design and choices in how this game has been built (or broken) to play.

On the flip side, the art and concepting teams at Bungie have been untouchable in my eyes. A whole different kind of shit! As in, "SHIT! Y'all are good." Just fantastic. In fact, real quick, here is me raving about Europa. And here is a bunch of us talking about the Dreaming City. And then here I am talking about...art? Or, at least, having fun with it. "Wonderfully heartening and somewhat puzzling" indeed! It's still true. lol. ^_^  

I've had NOTHING but good things to say about what the art and concepting teams have created.

Until now. 

CONGRATULATIONS! 

You've earned ONE... (J.I.C; "One" is what mere mortals call "a number," art team. It helps communicate an amount. You're welcome.) ... internet exclusive INSANEdrive rant. Since this is your first time, I should let you know that this means I'm about to "Lewis Black" your shit, you motherfuckers. It's nothing personal, and if you take it personally, you're doing it wrong. AND! Since I'm talking about/to an art team, I've INCLUDED VISUAL EXAMPLES! They are probably lousy visual examples, but 'ay. I'm (mostly) self-taught, and I suck at everything! Such is life. Also, as an artist, my stuff is always the worst stuff ever! Therefore, my-art-sucks. Shut-up. I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it.

So! Let's get this party started. The first two minutes of this video below are simply the ending of the Witch Queen Campaign. Feel free to watch it if you wish, but what I have to say starts afterwards. 

Out from the shifting noise of the warbling black ooze, a form collects toward the camera as hands collected, resting palm side in, creating the shape of a pyramid. The rest, "of-form", follows, built in ever shifting arrays, into a tall, slender body. The hands break their rest, and seems to temporally onion skin against reality. The camera pans down and shifts to the right of this slender form, which is passing the camera by. A cape, also seemingly rubbing against time itself, not only "onion skins" upon this reality, but at the foot of it, glows an eerie orange hue. A hue often seen when the power of the darkness is at play. 

While this shape is in some place, and indeed also speaks prophecy and warning, these are not the parts which require focus in this text here today. The focus is exactly on this form, clearly sentient and now centered upon. This form seen in whole, is at its top, misting or perhaps boiling a smoke(?) of faces. On the whole, it is undoubtedly an unearthly thing. Speaking about its truth as true worlds dance around as mere diorama, a simple.-Childs.-Thing.

Know that for me, dear reader... I was so completely blown away. Everything seemed so RIGHT! 

And then...

AND THEN!

Bungie revealed... this. 

No...wait...

THIS!

What. The Fuck. Anime bullshit, is this?!

You...

I...

*Consternated Shock* MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

THIS SHAPESHIFTING SUCKA IS THE DARKNESS! DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT FUCKING KAWAII!

I could forgive the human hands, I could forgive the general construction of a "human form", as after all, YOU DID EVERYTHING TO SHOW "this foe is THE ree-al"! IT IS THE!-SHIT! AND IS COM'N. TO! CO-LLECT!

THIS MOTH'A HAS FLIPP'N FACES BOILING OUT 'IS GOSH DARN HEAD! And Y'ALL... with the ability to make THE FARTHEST REACHES OF YOUR IMAGINATION! You go for the fucking, basic bitch, "dish-sized and basically human" cornea, iris, conjunctiva eyeballs?!?!? WHO IN THE -FUCK- APPROVED THAT SHIT!

Of all the GOSH DARNED options...*rrrra*... Well. Well 'd welly well well well. 'pprnt'ly the Darkness is da Grays, and there for the Light must be *GASP!* *whispers* LIZARD PEOPLE. Of course! HOW COULD WE BE so blind! All them co' blud'd little shits do is bask in the light, and kill. Them the CATS of the lizard world!... lol... OK, so I'm having fun here being "outraged," but geez louise.

You just... had to go and belly flop into the trope pool of gosh darned "Most Writers Are Human". FOR FUCKS SAKE!

(Warning: Almost 29 year old spoilers for this Star Trek:TNG episode.)

"...but perhaps...one day..."

You know what I was HOPEING to see?! Something along the lines of...

For starters. At least it would line up with everything else I saw. And you have to admit to (or at least I do) feeling SOMETHING when you first see that. It's the most BASIC-YET-ON-BRAND thing you could have done, and you just SKIPPED over basic, and just went for SIMPLE SIMON regular ass eyeballs. Shoot, ass eyeballs would have been an improvement! Darkness has seen some shit! ...lol.

Apparently, BECAUSE THEY MISSED THIS ONE THING OUT OF A MILLION AND THUS IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE, I have more imagination than ALL of Bungies art team! What? I'm TOTALLY being serious right now. I'm not biting my cheek at all! ow my butt.

...You know what I was hoping for? To NOT see a face. That's right...

NO FACE! Oh shoot, I forgot the nose! ... oooo. That... that's look'n kinda fali... no no I can fix this, I can fix this...

Hmmm. That's uh... kind of worse... One moment... one moment...

...THERE!

YEAH! So it's not entirely "No Face," but you get the idea, right? I'm looking to turn this shape-shifting (?) look'n fella into Koh. That would be something! No face, with all those faces coming out of the top of its head? THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN LEGIT! And, in case you missed it, It was right there! Looking you in the... 

(Click the picture for what I'm referencing.)

...FACE!

There may have been a downside, though, as I noticed there was nothing to draw the eye to all the empty space, which is why I kept the mono-brow here. Plus, a pyramid felt too cheesy. The last thing anyone wants is to turn the darkness into a gosh darned power ranger.

But, for the sake of argument, let's say Bungie is convinced the character known as "The Witness" needs a human-recognizable ability to see.

So fine! We'll just cyclops this fool!

"Mr. Anderson" ...No wait... that's not right... hmmm...

"Dormammu I've Come To Bargain"... no no, sorry sorry, I just, THERE WERE SO MANY RENDITIONS! I don't have Perforce! I know it looks messy, but I know where everything is! I just need... to... I can find it... I can find it...

AH-HA! FOUND IT!

Yea? I mean, if you're going to have it be a giant human eyeball, you might as well commit, right?

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

While making my mock up, other ideas came about, as they do.

So here is a rendition where I was thinking, "Instead of eyes, why not warped folds of 'skin' where the eyes would be". That would be alien and unnerving. But! As I started that, I got hit with another idea, so I made a quick (and honestly, my worst of all of these) scribble when suddenly I found myself reminded of...

...THIS!

I found myself thinking, "What if the 'Temporal Instability' caused by, well... 'it' the darkness, was its eyes!". That should be on its face! Not only would that be cool, but in the order of how things play out in the ending cinematic, that would make A TON of sense with the "face" reveal. Oh, surprise!!

But then I go and say, "OK, let's add this to the idea, and shade things out a touch." What does that look like? So I go in and shade these "folds" or whatever and...

Well... it's definitely alien. In some ways, it kind of reminds me of a... cuttlefish? I'm not sure why. But then I realized between the lines... I fell back into the trap I had criticized. I made eyes.

That said, I still think this is a huge improvement in concept from what we got. On one hand, I made something that is humanly recognizable, but is also, on the same coin, strange. AS EVERYTHING ELSE of this thing is strange!

But then... I knew, I had not yet reached perfection.

SOMETHING WAS MISSING!

|

|

|

SOMETHING OBVIOUS.

|

|

|

IT WAS LOOKING RIGHT AT ME, and then I KNEW WHAT I HAD TO DO!

|

|

|

I realized...

|

|

|

...The Darkness, in its (APPARENTLY) true form...

|

|

|

 ...truly is...

|

|

|

PERFECTION!

PERFECTION!

I could make, no more.

Well... I could turn it into a DBO usable avatar.

Here ya go DBO!

^_^

Yeah, I know. I am a very silly man. But despite the silliness, I am quite serious in my renditions and, if a touch colorful and obviously exaggerated, thoughts. You could have made it be ANYTHING, and you just went with eyes. And I think, for a studio that has proven it knows how to make art, this just... is kind of sad. I can't know what your intentions are, and I hope your reasons are worth it, but... man, EVEN IF it's all shape-shifty, THIS was the face you wanted to show first!?

I do not understand.

 

Ah! I re-triggered myself! 

Bungie, you put freek'n Disney Eyes on the embodiment of the darkness, fuk'n really?! What were y'all thinkin'! It looks like something you might see in a Korean skin care commercial. When it blinks, does the action push its head back?

Ugh. I really don't understand. It was all SO CLOSE.

Other than that... I mean, shoot, everything else is basically straight fire. I know some folks here aren't fans of the swamps, but that's OK. Not everything has to be a gleaming jewel. It's interesting, and it looks like what I know. And as for the stuff that is purely made up, it looks like what one could imagine. Though, do I *sniff* *sniff* yes, I do sense a hint of Minas Morgul in the inspirations? Someone in the art team used it in the reference sheet!

And...that's all I have to say about that. Y'all are awesome.

GG folks.

Palma non sine pulvere.

~ No reward without effort.

Ad astra per aspera

~ to the stars through difficulties

(Approx. 2,915 Words | +/- 25 min. read | About: Weapon Play & Design.)

- - - - - - -

(The first 9 minutes should be enough. Not required to watch, but a good reference to consider what I speak of below.)

---

Experience. Now, before I start this segment off, I'm going to apologize. You're on the internet, so, naturally, you've got a bunch of clueless folks recklessly telling Bungie to press the art button and turn that "make game" knob to, in many cases, break the game in some capacity. I am not one of those people. Or, at the very least, I try not to be. And I'm not sure I can't PROVE that, short of what you see before you, because if I could prove it, Bungie would have known my thoughts of this far more casually than what I'm about to mention. I can only imagine the conversations there could have been months ago on Slack or whatever, instead of now after launch into the live game. Here I am, on the internet! And I can not begin to state how HARD, DIFFICULT, challenging, demanding, formidable, LEGENDARY-MYTHIC this task Bungie's Weapon Designers had in bringing to Destiny a first-person melee weapon. At least we have triggers on controllers, so that's something you can work with. However, there is no pole arm! No free-range VR control here. Just buttons and sticks, or a mouse and keyboard, which I don't use. It's... a crazy task, and the deck is stacked. Even the button options are limited! For even trying at all, I thank you. With that said, the Glaive, as it exists at Season 16 (Season Of The Risen) launch in the Witch Queen live game, is without a doubt, not only the worst weapon ever added to the Destiny franchise, but ever in the whole of the Destiny franchise.

Figured I'd rip the band-aid off relatively quickly with this one. In fact, I had to, as I expect this is going to be... erm, hard to discern. I shall be both direct and indirect. I'm going to do my utmost to show you what-it-is I see as glaring flaws, using a variety of my available formats, and it is my hope that you, dear reader, will be able to make up the difference. After all, in any other game, this weapon is not shit. It's not baaaaad, per se. And even in this one, at least on a naive level, it is fun to use. It does... exactly what it needs to do, and nothing more. Which... may also be part of the problem, yet unseen in these still very early days.

The Glaive is one of the bigger sells in this Witch Queen expansion. A new weapon type! Thus, a new way to experience the quite-violent-yet-toned-down world of Destiny. As the Glaive is a first person melee weapon, the...  association, bearing, the connection between player and digital foe is different as well. We've had melee weapons for a while now in Destiny, yet the former have all been in third person. It's not so much YOU in the fight as it is your character and their senses. A first-person perspective, in turn, is far more personal.

Why do we play Destiny? Why do we play this stupid, unending, wasteful, and sometimes quite abusive game? Shoot, why do we even come back? Why have we stayed? There are so many other well made games worthy of our attention, and... just why? LET ME STOP YOU THERE, as that is a bigger question than the scope I mean to point out. But probably, one of the answers in a suite of answers is weapon feel. Or more broadly, how the game "feels" to play. The core mechanics that make pulling that trigger or pressing that button so unreasonably satisfying... again, and again and again. I even just recently made a post talking about this very thing. (Also, in my case blah blah arcstrider. Ok I said it.)

Despite all the shooters, and all the other options, nothing else plays -in its core- like Destiny does. And if you enjoy it, like I presume all of us here do, I think it beyond important that this consistency in this game's core ("how it feels to play") is exactly that. Consistent. With each weapon; sniper, pulse, bows are fantastic at this... you feel as if you are holding it. Using it. Or at LEAST, wielding it. Do you understand that difference, dear reader? Holding, using, wielding?  

(Oh, my! How odd that I bring all this up in the segment about the Glaive! Gee I wonder!)

In my observations, I also have to bring to the forefront how first person non-motorized melee weapons have worked in other games. In fact, one game in particular. A game I've played which also included an even larger assortment of first person melee weapons in its roster of options.

This clip here is Shadow Warrior 2. The clips which you'll eventually be seeing below, are from the original non-sequel. Both of which "developed by Poland-based indie development studio Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital". In so many words real-quick, it's like they watched every B-grade ninja flick and said, "Let's make that a game with more bitches and cuss words." And yes, it's irreverent and stupid on purpose. That's its charm, I suppose. This game is... well, very indie, and quite frankly shit, but in a good way. It's a dive bar game. You turn your brain COMPLETELY OFF and destroy endless hordes. It's an awful game, I can't recommend it, and I look forward to the third one when I get around to it. 

Ya see that title at the original root of this post... no no, I'll bring it down here;

Is cool, fun? (Roll credits, *ding*)

Other words I could have used; Bold, Neat, Exciting, Interesting. All of those words at least, I think, are rolled into the word "cool". With this informal use and context that's how folks seem to use it, and that's how it's being used here. 

So while you mull on "Is cool, fun", let me show you something here...

This clip here is me using a third person sword with EAGER EDGE, "which gains increased Sword lunge distance immediately" after switching to such weapon. It has no right, none-at-all, to be as much fun to pull off as it is. And while the sword itself is fine, the action, the options afforded, makes it cool. The weapon is not cool by its self, it's what you can do with it. In this case here, I found this moment "so cool" that I wanted to add sound effects from a "samurai based" tv show that I have enjoyed to emphasize the moment (at least to my mind) of how it felt in the moment. "How it feels to chew gum" blah blah. The only things missing from this clip are some tall grass and one guy falling down after a delay. Generally, I don't care about "weapon feel" with third-person weapons, as again, it's not so much YOU in the fight, as it is your character and their senses. But this weapon, with this perk, with these kinds of moments... has a feel I can associate with a sword (hence the edit), even in third person! And... a unique one at that! It's FUN! It's COOL! It's!... again, not the sword. It's the perk with the sword. Or let me put that another way, don't even hang up on the word "perk". What can you do with "this" particular weapon? What is it's character? Golly! Why am I being so redundant about this? Eh, otherwise, it's just a "I need burst damage RIGHT NOW", which is less about feel and more about being able to feel anything at all.

Speaking of "feel anything at all" let's look at the IN-FIRST-PERSON "far more personal" perspective pole arm weapon, the Glaive. First person pole arm? THAT, on it's own, is COOL! What can you do with it IN-FIRST-PERSON? What cool things can you do with this cool thing? 

Well... let's look over the move set.

• Weapon Fire = Fires Energy Projectile.
  
  
• Weapon Aim = Shield (If charged through weapon use)
  
  
• Player Melee Button = One "Stab". Loops through three animations - Two Stabs, One Pommel.
  

...aaaaand that's it. THAT'S IT?!!?!? O_O

You know, after adding these clips, I just want to apologize again. Y'ALL WORKED ON THIS THING FOR A YEAR!?!?! >_< I feel like such a shit here, but OH MY GOODNESS! Did ANYONE! ANYONE!! ...Go hands on and actually HOLD a pole arm weapon for inspiration? What did you all do to come up with this VERY VERY limited move set? I... I don't understand. It just seems to me that in that exploratory phase, in figuring out what you could do in the concepting of this idea, there was a major overlook. Or, instead of exploring new options, the weapons team fell back on what they know (and do well). Because this is hard, and there are deadlines, and all of this can get quite scary.

Basically, as far as I can tell, you made a melee weapon as if it's a gun!  But... it's-not-a-gun! (uh oh.)

IT'S A MELEE WEAPON! FIRST! The emphasis should Be on the Melee! It's a Glaive! That's not a gun! IT'S A MELEE WEAPON! THAT'S A THING!

YOU HAD FRESH OPTIONS BEFORE YOU! AND INSTEAD OF EXPLOITING THESE OPTIONS...!!!!!!

!!!YOU FELL BACK ON TURNING THIS THING INTO A GUN THAT -JUST- STABS!!!

JUST. STABS!

FOR FUCKS SAKE! IF THAT'S THE BEST YOU CAN DO, YOU COULD HAVE ADDED THIS TO Monte Carlo LIKE THE COMMUNITY HAS BEEN ASKING FOR SINCE... LIKE... FOREVER!-AND-SAVE'D-YOUR-SELF A-WHOLE-freek'n-YEAR!-OF DEV TIME!

...hey man that's not fair, thur's also a shield...

-NOTTHEPOINT-

GA!!!!!

It's... painful. It makes me... so... so very sad. I feel like such a shit. I actually kind of wish I could have helped. Never before has a criticism of this game made me feel like this. If only I could have been there.

(Oh those Covenant fools, they must've known, there must've been signs.)

*Sigh*

What does this add to the game? What does it do? Or, as I will be exploring in a moment, why is this in the form factor of a long-arm bladed weapon at all? The whole loop for this form, "The Glaive," is a sham. Don't believe me? Watch this! I'm going to make this WHOLLY NEW weapon type irrelevant. I can't say this with any other weapon in Destiny. They all hold their own in the context-of-style their interaction brings. The fact that we have a pole arm, that it's a glaive, literally doesn't matter. 

Imagine with me now.

(OOoo... nice dissolve.)

Instead of a POLE-ARM coming out of "the weapon smith of darkness," we get three magic rings. I know, I know, OH SO ORIGINAL. Just work with me here. Each ring glows when its power is used, because of course they do. First person melee animation? Head Butt. Projectile? Light energy imbued shadow knife. (Side note: wait... why can a thing of the darkness make weapons that uses light energy?...)

And the shield? Well, that's easy. Hold your hand up LIKE A BAD ASS, and boom, magic shield.

/Imagining done.

I know, it's a stupid hodgepodge of an example, but it works. Just because I could (thanks bungie?) each move corresponds to a class, so there could be some kind of bleeding-skill lore thing involving memory, or what have you. Sounds like something of an introduction, yes? Like how the Glaive was used. So there is the story requirement down.

Alright, so continuing with my stupid hodgepodge example, why those things? And "Why do you need a magic ring to head butt?" you're probably asking. It's for damage! And...um-no-no, so look, let's not get particular about the example, yeah? The point is what EXACTLY you can do AND WILL SEE if you use a Glaive right now (though obviously not in that exact way). All my example has done is change the WHY. Created a CONTEXTUAL SENSE of what you see. 

On da' flip, note what we're not doing with a Glaive, the first person pole-arm weapon.

• We're not creating distance
  
  
• Not delivering a heavy swinging blow
  
  
• I dream of an ability to parry but that's forgivably unlikely...
  

• There is no footwork, nothing that affects the mobility stat innately per distance of foe(s). (DUH!)
  
  
• There is no footwork. 
  
  • Oh, Oh did I say that already? Gee I wonder if that's important for the feel. 
    
  
  
• There is no charging. 
  
  
• There is no stunning.
  
  
• Nothing to put emphasis on the importance of positioning. 
  
  
• Shoot, there isn't even a "Hollywood" spinny move.
  

 Magic rings, debatably, can't do that. A pole arm type weapon can!

So I ask again; why is this thing a pole arm at all? It all feels like the whole IDEA of this weapon was coasting on the idea of how cool it would be to have a pole arm weapon. It could have been a Halberd, Harpoon, Spear, Trident, War Scythe... whatever. It's the same issue when we come down to the brass tacks of it. Bungie's weapon designers didn't even use what they had with the Glaive. It's nothing more than a miss-used form-factor. It's not a Glaive. It is a vessel of ideas. It's a fuck-ing gimm-ick. *OOF*, that hurt to type.

*Sigh*

In short, as we boil this thing down to its current launched live game form, it's nothing more than a meme. That's it. And while we've had memes before with weapons in Destiny, it's never before been a... whole weapon type. Bungie built a battle loop into a stick and called it a weapon, when it's actually a just a meme. "An amusing or interesting item". Not so much a true weapon, but a utility in the form of one to justify it being added at all. And I have to wonder aloud, what exactly is the shelf life of this meme? Will folks become bored at seeing the samey same thing? Can the loop it has, last? If it weren't for the suppression mod we have this season, how much use would there be? 

I don't know. I DON'T know.

...

 AND THEN SUDDENLY! Because proofreading all of this takes forever when you're an occasional "one man writer and publisher" (/s) in your free time, maybe I DO! HOLY SHIT! Thanks for patching that up Bungie! Turns out, just making the seasonal mod suppression effect more of a build up process instead of an instant effect might be enough straw to do it. Uh... wow!

WOW! lol... Oh I feel so sorry ya'll, man oh man... whata...na, look at all this! Let's get this finished.

...

All this said, I OBVIOUSLY do not mean that it can't be fun. Sometimes, bubbles in bathtubs are the height of hilarity, if you just need to turn you brain off. Sometimes you need to stab all the things, and with your friends to boot. Not sure what that says about society, but THAT's a touch beyond this texts rambling scope.

No, what all this means is that I find this weapon, and indeed possibly the whole archetype, to be far below the standard I expected from Bungie, which had previously been so seemingly effortless. In any other game, this may have been a pass, but for here. For Bungie. This is a fail. 

*Whap*

[F]

 ...And don't get me started on perks with this thing, sience apparently at this point "half" or whatever it is of 'em don't work with "HALF" THE WEAPONS VERY USE.

https://dm.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/tbbkmx/glaive_melee_kills_dont_trigger_weapon_perks_like/

https://dm.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/tc77b0/glaives_are_having_their_power_and_utility/

https://dm.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/t90fsm/glaives_melee_attacks_have_no_reason_to_not/

AHHH! YA GOT ME STARTED!

I know Bungie likes to play (NOT THAT IT IS) 20 questions with what seems like should be obvious, but let me just HIT AT YOU HERE. Put the DARN thing in yer hands. Does it feel good to expect a melee perk to work WHEN YOU MELEE, and it doesn't?  WELL GEE I WONDER! "We play our games" DAM WELL DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT! And I'm not even talking about "balance", that's its own pregnant seahorse of YEEE HAAA, no this is just BASIC BASIC... is having this perk cause reload to be this slow TOO painful? You know, THAT TESTING THING. "Well behind closed doors", oh yeah. Sure. Folks, it's a question of use and it's a question of logic within the perks definitions. When we see it says MELEE, and then we MELEE, we expect it to proc. WHY FUCKING WOULDN'T WE?!!? 

English, Motherfucker, do you speak it!?

It's silly! It's perceptibly aggravating and YOU SPENT A YEAR AND THIS IS WHERE WE... no, shush. I don't know. I don't know. ...no...no, I'm going to stop. Son of a bitch. Instead... instead...

Let's take a real quick look at the game-play afforded by a melee weapon from an indie with (probably) 1/16th the budget and know-how, from a first in their franchise. Note! It's nothing too fancy. Some sword waving, a stab, a 360 degree move, and a "chi" blade for range. And really... look...

I'm playing! It's not just a sword... I'm... having fun with the moment. 

Basically.

 I'm having fun "wielding" the weapon. Shifting my stance, preparing to deliver a killing strike. BECAUSE IT'S A MELEE WEAPON. YOU CAN DO THAT WITH MELEE WEAPONS! Guns...well, less so.  

With the Glaive and its move-set, there's no play... real...PLAY! It's, ironically, a blunt instrument. Instead of poise, it's nothing more than just a "Et tu, Brute?" simulator. This rendition of a first person melee weapon, is not Bungie grade. The Glaive as is, as launched into this live game of Witch Queen, is undoubtedly the worst weapon ever in the whole of the Destiny franchise.

...

Sorry folks.

Do not eat the jellybeans.

An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?

~ Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

(Approx. 1,567 Words | +/- 14 min. read | About: Combatant & Ability Play.)

- - - - - - -

Merit. With the release of this new expansion, we also got some newer mechanics with light. Both in friendly and foe-based ways. 

-Lucent Brood & Lighting Bugs-

What a breath of fresh air. Not since the implementation of Champions have we had foes that (depending on the difficulty) necessitated coordinated attention and battle-awareness. Yet, unlike Champions, the Lucent Brood aren't obnoxious to play against. You're not being hamstrung by what you're allowed to bring into the fight, and the Lucent Brood don't use their abilities every two seconds like some teleporting Kell. In any event, even if you screw up, it's not because "oh no my weapon didn't proc" whatever de-buff needed, but because in the heat of battle you forgot to grab, OR COULDN'T GRAB the ghost without risking a great cost. Or, even, holding your corners, making sure you keep some cover while the light is flowing. And I can't even begin to say how... bemusing an insult it is to see a VERY familiar grenade type being lobed at you in PvE. I still kind of double take when I see "Hive Brand" Swarm Grenades. It's just... it's something else.

That kind of battle pressure is by far more holistic than the brute force of the champion system. It's the kind of pressure that makes even trash adds a threat, as if you don't drown in the sea fire, you'll be taken out anyway by the rigged-to-blow stopper, preventing your escape. And unless you take care of the battle pressure difference, nothing is going to move. This praise also includes the "Lighting Bugs" A.K.A Lucent Moths. It's not as hard-core an issue as Lucent Brood, but in a much softer way, it applies the same pressure. If you ignore them, you either get to face on an Ogre with an overshield, or get to watch them turn into slow-homing grenades if they can't find a hive host. A fantastic touch. Bravo.

Here! Some clips!

-Void Light is Nothing-

My answer is, "I don't know. I know nothing. " My questions are, will this grow stale? Is this too much or too little?

Ever since the announcement of Void 3.0, I've been... "thinking out loud". Perplexed and puzzled at what has been allowed and removed. And to some degree, it's because I've been a part of Destiny the Game since its public announcement. Alpha, Beta, and all that jazz, which is ever so interestingly long ago. It may be how what was once foundational, a stone that had long grown moss, was suddenly being moved about! Heart of the Pack and all the rest. Cleared away for something new! Something new and thus unknown. So unknown, in fact, while I am surprised that Hunters did not have blink added into their jump options, I'm also not surprised, because at one point, Destiny had done that before. Unknown! But THEN AGAIN, I AM surprised! AAAaa! I mean, Shoot! Look at what once was, and now is! Suddenly, we're all sharen' over here! Titans and Warlocks, with a rudimentary PvE cloak?!! Titans and Hunters with Devour?!? Unknown!! Unknown, unknown, unknown!! AAAA! I'm still kind of miffed that my Warlock can't supercharge a suppression grenade, but I suppose that's to keep Warlocks on good terms with the Titans.

(I thought that's what the crayon tithes were for. Who knew.)

And, for the longest time, I was wondering if, as everything was being intermingled (far more than I knew), what the difference was going to be between classes? Apparently, class abilities. Taking what they are, and dialing them up to 11. Simple enough. Brilliant, maybe, but... is it?

The problem -I think I sense- is how... hamstrung the class identity is now to their respective class abilities. WHICH, in first consideration, IS RIGHT ODD TO SAY RIGHT!?! More ways then one on the face of it. Of course class abilities are... per class. "Class Identity", means in part how they play, and each class can do something with that class identity ...per what that class is about. Duh. Gee how silly of INSANEdrive, right? But, part of the sell in the 3.0 ability reworks was customization, that freedom to create what your Warlock, Hunter, Titan was all about. The problem, or risk, or... SOMETHING, is all in where the emphasis of that class identity lies. It's a Henry Ford, "any color as long as it is black." Warlocks absorb, Hunters cloak, and Titans have overshield all the time. There is... nothing else! THAT'S IT! 

YOU SEE?! BEFORE, in Void 2.0, I had with my Warlock... (and I'm quoting from my linked post in "puzzled")

Warlocks! My main with Void 2.0 has set ideas, top tree (Attunement Of Chaos) is Power. Powerful grenades, Melees which also build that grenade energy back (Entropic Pull), Bloom which makes void abilities also explode, and then the Super. A big, fat, homing "slow-va" bomb with it's very own "wolf pack rounds" to match after it blows up.

Middle Tree is about a Warlocks favorite four-dimensional manifold, SpaceTime. Dark Matter makes it so that any void ability use not only gives back all ability energy, but heath too! That's important, as while top tree is about brute force, middle tree is about creating momentum, or at least changing it. That tide of battle. Middle Tree melee, Atomic Breach, it not only puts on a delayed explosion (though not like titans can), but also drastically pushes whoever dared to get close BACK. Again, momentum, creating that space, giving you time to make your next move. Play on words, but... that's what it does. It works! Handheld Supernova, whatever it's form, needs no introduction. And the Super "Nova Warp" needs no introduction either.

Then there is Bottom Tree. The "energy absorption" tree. When I say "Heart of The Pack", any Destiny Vet knows that means Hunter. Weapons of light? Titan. It is known. Devour? Warlock. Which, by the way, triggered with melee (or super). Or, eat a grenade. Everything about bottom tree is about surviving your own death through the death of other things.

But now... my Void warlock is the "absorption guy". I can do ALL SORTS of combinations now that BEFORE in 2.0 were impossible. But now, in 3.0, while my Warlocks IDENTITY is far more FOCUSED, it also feels more watered down. I could be three things before. Now I'm one thing, plus whatever else. It's all watered down.  

DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Can anyone follow what I'm see'n here?

Keeping with this, now I'm asking myself about this emphasis. If I'm (the Warlock main) just the absorption guy, Hunters the cloak folk, and Titans all-over about that over shield, will this grow stale? Or will we not care because of "utility"? Keep in mind, this is a live game, so this can be changed as needed, but... just like with the glaive, I just wish I could have had a quality behind doors conversation with... ALL THINGS design really (as you'll see).

I respect Bungie for being so (and this will seem strange after you read "The Wrong Fears" next) fearless in creating these changes. There is merit in their choices. Unlike some of the other things I've mentioned thus far, I understand. I grasp the need, and the whys'. But I also feel a need to fall back on experience here. As stated, before in Void 2.0, each tree had an identity in its play. With 3.0 and its smothering reliance putting all the chips of class identity on class ability, I fear that all classes will get the "well-lock"/"tether"/"bubble" treatment. Where... we have "all these choices," but suddenly, there is only one choice. 

For myself, the Warlock main, I've been asked to "well-lock" so much that I almost don't want to "well-lock" ever again. In theory, the 3.0 system should help alleviate such experiences. But, in these early days... I'm not yet so sure. Remember what things were like before Bungie finally started adding consistent additions of new perks into the game? The same perks always came to the top. Kill clip Outlaw. Kill clip Outlaw. Kill clip Outlaw. ... and I can see this potentially happening with abilities now. If instead, say, we had THREE options that can do "the same thing" differently, much like you can see in perks now, this might be avoided. Heh... a-void-ed.

Check this out...

Lets presume up something with Solar, because we don't yet know what Bungie has in mind yet. Warlocks in 2.0, yes middle tree, can take their grenade and turn it into a healing buff. What if, you could change how it applies, like different grenades do, except it's a healing salve that cures all wounds. It's the SAME THING, differently, get it? So that way, at least things won't get stale in this NEVER ENDING GAME! Not to get all motivational here, but little changes can have BIG impacts.

*YAY!*

*RAINBOW* *PUDDING* *UNICORN*

Anything else?

I am going to miss the ability to just jump to menu and boom... click and done. Personally, I think they should have gone Hybrid. The ALREADY had the IDEA in place! They just needed to bring chocolate and peanut butter together. You click on the "aspect" or whatever you want to change in one of the diamonds, and there you go! One of those diamonds could have been a quad...it just... eh. 

But hey whatever. 

Did... any of this make sense? I refer you back to the beginning of this portion with my, ever eternal, answer.

- No text -

Audacia pro muro et scuto opus.

~ Boldness is our wall, action is our shield.

(||LAST COUNT||: Approx. 2482 Words | +/- 22 min. read | About: Blind Gameplay Play-by-Play.)
- - - - - - -
This next essay is one-half a retelling and one-half a collection of thoughts. A recollection of my best raid "adventures", often performed blind on both sides of contest mode. While I begin with a step-by-step account of my experience in the "Vow of the Disciple" raid, please keep in mind that this retelling is also my, for the time being, ONLY experience. The moment my teams' established days of blind raiding ended, ALL OF THIS... what you're reading here and more, began.

And so then... LET US TRAVEL BACK! 5th of March, 2022. (Feel free to skip this first one.)

AND WE'RE OFF! The six of us jump into that howling Unknown; BlazeRunner1084, bluerunner, INSANEdrive (hey! that's me!), Kermit7, Pyro, and for last, BUT MOST CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, the FORUM LEGEND, from whom NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION, but whose sheer presence REQUIRES IT ALLLLLLL THE SAME! "Squiiii-dee" squidNH3!

*Fan Girl Screams* :P lol.

Our first run through the "payload" phase was successful. Which, as it just so happens, leads to a question; if the run was successful, why was it the first? In my case, a guitar error. We were all kicked to orbit. Unfortunately, not the only raid group to experience such networking difficulties.

We're currently investigating connection issues in the Vow of Disciple raid, including ANTEATER, GUITAR, and BAT error codes. Stay tuned for updates.

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) March 5, 2022

We are currently investigating a rise in error codes and server instability.

Players who do not own a Destiny 2 Season or Expansion will begin to see a sign-on queue.

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) March 5, 2022

Curiously, when we jumped back in, we found that there was no checkpoint. BUT THEN! We got hit with another error halfway through our second run! We tweaked our load-outs a touch in the hopes that fewer orbs and wells being spawned would help our connection issues, and jumped back into... a checkpoint?!

As you may have guessed, it wasn't the first time we were kicked.

(Scroll down a little more, under this video below.)

I'm still not too sure how that happened, but I'm happy about it! It took us a few moments to figure out where to go next, but once we found the hole in the ground with the SIZEABLE fall distance, we were on our way, breaths held in a marvel of the scope and halls of which we aimlessly wondered about. Wow! Is this place big! Is it fair to say that I haven't seen this sort of scale in a Bungie game since Halo? Forerunners, in particular. As we wondered around, looking to find where the next part of the raid took place, we finally found... something? Vaguely obvious, but on the same coin, not 100% sure, we found ourselves in (what I'm calling) the "Distraction Phase" of our blind run. All we knew was that something in this room was interactive, had a puzzle element in a hidden room, and... well, that was enough.

Like a moth to light, we poked at what it could be with our faces.

*dink* ... *dink* ...*dink* ... *dink* ...*dink* ... *dink* ...*dink* ...

There was a silver lining to our toddler like curiosity on the first interactive thing we found, as we were able to learn what the proper names of each symbol were, instead of pure ad-lib. That's not saying that we all got it 1-to-1 right away (and even I blanked out every now and again), which, of course, resulted in some very imaginative call outs. The best one of the night (courtesy of bluerunner, yes... that was the warning);

Ascendant Plane = Two Jellyfish Fucking.

(Thanks for that mental image, Blue.)

Meanwhile, it seems that basically EVERYONE immediately understands the grief one. SO... .

Anyway, the clip above doesn't show everything, as I realized we were going to be in that room for awhile before someone pushed us out (*whispers* thanks Squid). I'm guessing here, but we must have burned about 20 minutes in that room. Valuable time! We could have used the extra opportunities to fail in the actual encounter! Again and again on...

Edited for time.

This part. This part right here. This is where we would live for almost the entirety of the 48-hour Contest Mode. It must have been AT LEAST 7 hours. EASY! And I'm probably underselling the estimate. This part we did, again and again and again and again and again and again and again. By the way, you'll see me leave in this clip above, as to use the D.I.M Build function, you need to be in orbit or at the tower. Grumble grumble if only in game you could grumble.

As the day progressed to evening and evening pushed into the deepest of the night, our collective fatigue started to really show, myself included. I hope I didn't scare anyone with my sudden impulse to sing folk songs! :D

We were exhausted. Not just by seeing THE SAME THING, LOOPED OVER, Again... and... Again, but MOST OF ALL, I feel, in that WE JUST. COULDN'T. SEEM. To SOLVE the DARN Obelisk.

It seemed like we had done ALL THE EVERYTHINGS we could muster, and SOMEWHERE. Something, some aspect, this ONE thing eluded us. That's not saying we knew we were missing one "thing-to-do." Instead, it was more, where we understood everything ELSE, we did not understand what the missing trigger was.

Flummoxed and tired, we decided it would be best to reset and rest up. As a result, we would FINALLY get this part done on "Day Two" of three.

(Contest Mode is still on.)

While there were a few things that hooked us here and then, such as an early fascination with what mechanic was operating the doors, and the significance of the Taken "Disciple's Compass," there were two things that really snagged and prolonged what was otherwise solved: Glow Amount. And Timing.

We observed when shooting the Obelisk, sometimes one symbol would glow. Sometimes the WHOLE column, the WHOLE THING would glow. Which is which? Is more "Glow" good or bad? That took up time, even after I suggested we fail on purpose. Why? Well, because of the one thing that can screw up even THE BEST of well made plans. Timing, ever a magical thing. The rest is simply human.

Even when it seemed that everything had been done right, we just couldn't seem to make ONE BLASTED offering phase happen successfully. This meant that doubts would mix vigorously, as finding what was wrong took time. I don't recall the steps and happenstance observations we came about to lead us to the conclusion that would end up being the answer, but at one point we were able to finally get it right. Only one Obelisk is correct, and you need to shoot the correct symbols on each side AT THE SAME TIME.

This is what we missed the day before, by the way. Our attempts were too casual, messy, and slow, perhaps in part due to fatigue. Once we got "THE SAME TIME" in, we solved the puzzle, and this would be the only part that gives out loot that we would be able to complete during Contest mode.

We would get to "The Collector" next, but Contest mode would DPS check us.

Thus, we rested...

...DAY THREE...

... and would come back on with Contest mode now turned off. With myself and Blaze being, apparently, as quick as a flash with the Obelisk, we were able to quickly and properly DPS to beat "The Collector." We only did the third stage twice, I think? Three tops. Considering we're STILL blind, that was pretty cool. I was pretty happy about that, anyway. ^_^

At the next encounter, time would claim the evening. My blind raid group would not be able to finish the next encounter before we had to go our separate ways due to a hard deadline in the group. Something about "Sleep" and "Work" or whatever. But I think we've gotten quite far. We just couldn't seem to pull off the third room in time. But, I did capture this cool moment with bluerunner just before we had to go. :D

And... that was my blind team's experience in the raid!

So what did I think of what I saw? What I experienced? I look forward to future playthroughs! But then again, of course I do! As this raid's core mechanic involves visual recall, there may be some unavoidable bias on my part. It's kind of like how fish are addicted to water due to the whole "moving" and "breathing" thing. I naturally know what to do, and I do it well.

Here is a visual metaphor of how I felt, in so many words, when I realized the core portion of this raid relied on visual recall:

In other words, childs play. As a result of what "should be" an added effort being instead so effortless for me, even during contest mode, I found that I could get a lot more enjoyment than I usually do in blind runs, even with the fatigue! I was able to relax more and thus enjoy the experience more. As I haven't BEATEN the raid, I can't say for purely certain how highly ranked this will be for me. But as this raid gives me more options than "and I'll run DPS" (so I don't F* everything up ._.), there are good odds it'll be high on my list.

---

Quick side tangent! I've found the designs in these raid symbols to be fantastic! There are few things more PURE in the "graphical designing arts" then visual iconography. Being able to imply, at a glance, a message that could potentially be understood in any language is -as seems to be the pattern- HARD, and quite so! Not only a message, but readable at any distance! And some topics are harder than others. More abstract. Which is why, in turn, it is no surprise to me that this ONE symbol I'm not particularly a fan of is;

(None of these are thumbnails. No need to click around.)

ENTER. So, I'm not sure what they were going for with this, but to me, it's "Dunce Cap". I'm not sure how this is supposed to imply "going into something". I do not see "enter" in the symbology. Is this supposed to be some kind of arrow? Classically, "enter" is often an arrow or some "half-open door + person" type deal in our public every day. Often it is played with some very basic, but literal idea. Can't really pull that off in a... what shall I say? A vessel for a god, or something?

So again, of all the ones that were to be missed, THIS was going to be the one. It's hard, traditionally. That said, I think, unknown to the goal, the designer got too literal with the idea. The fact that this is to be seen inside the ship gives a whole new dimension to be played with! So, for fun, I whipped up a real quick idea of what may have been better.

Note: these are quick raster (pixel) doodles, not vector (math) drawings.

So, instead of being so literal with "enter", since this is more of a "bad guy" ship or whatever this is in lore, I was thinking of making the visual look more along the lines of "come hither". It's STILL "enter" but with more "foolish mortal" slant. An eerie glow and a mist of darkness. I also have an idea of what this might look like as a vector style, which is what these appear to be plus some raster texturing. Buuuuut, that would have taken more time to figure out correctly than I'd like to give.

I mean, sheesh, do you SEE how big this darn thing ballooned? How much feature creep there is! My brain just can't seem to shut up! AHHH! BRAIN SHUT UP! See? Didn't work. :P

Oh, and one more last second thing. I KNOW I KNOW, the ideas just keep coming. and then I'll get off my tangent.

Look at this. I included these three here, as they're easily mixed up. Note "Witness". On its right, that shape? Zoomed in, would a hand under that shape look like enter? Like a sort of beckoning? Imagine just the door, with a hand (of the witness) under or around the doorway. It seems to me that this might also have worked.

Ok... tangent over. Back to raid stuff.

----

As far as blind raids go, and despite all possible bias, this one was more of a test than fun. This is totally due to our just getting completely stalled, and that's a shame, as I did have fun overall, especially with the collector. Unfortunately, with us being so stalled for so long, it meant that not many memories could be made with this one as a result. It was fun playing with y'all folks, make NO DOUBT about that. All of us just absorbing the enormity of the place was pretty sweet It's just something to keep in mind for the next blind run, right?

Obviously, I can't talk about the overall experience in this one as I haven't beaten the raid and thus I have no idea what happens with the boss, start or finish. I do know its name though! Right unavoidable to miss at this point, but that's fine.

In comparison, to show what I mean by memories, "Garden of Salvation" proved to be the best blind raid so far, at least from a "memorable" perspective. If you were in that raid group, you know why.

"PTSD" Warning.

Death Run Try 1 got corrupted somehow. :/

Eventually we would get to the last (though we didn't know it was... for a time this just felt like it would keep on going) part of this stage of the raid. It only took us... 6 1/2 hours, according to video metadata. When we did get to this point, and we all turned and saw ALL THE "Cyclops" turrets, for whom were the Bain of our run, we all just screamed in exasperation - HOLY SHIT! That was Death Run Try 1.

This is Death Run Try 2. Unlike #1, we knew what was coming... and we ran. DEATH! We Screamed. DEATTTH! We Yell'd. DEAAAAAAAAATH!

Well. Third time is the charm right?

(It was.)

While I'm mentioning highlights, I hope the ending of Vow is as solid as the best ending of any raid ever, second only maybe to Kingsfall. If it's not, well, ok... but THIS is the type of stuff I expect from a raid end. THIS kind of thing is COOL!

Bungie that ending is DOPE AF.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I read all that."

Is this you? If it is, here is a warning. I don't know when you're reading this, but stuff is about to get real crazy and real weird. You might want to stop for a moment before you dive into INSANITY: Where is the logic?. For this next one, you're just going to have to jump in, and hope you can survive the plunge! Good Luck!

Why?

...

... Uuahho My head feels like it's spinning. What happe-

...

...  <_<

...

...  Where am I? >_>

...  

Why?

...

... What do you mean, why? INSANEdrive; Where is this place? Where are we?

...

Just... why?

...

...  Oh heavens not again. FINE Why what? What are you talking about now INSANEdrive?

...

...

...

The most neglected part of Destiny the Game. 1,2,3,a,b,c. Why?

...

...  Wh-what? Oh shit, this is going to be a long one, isn't it?  Dang it INSANE, you know I hate this game.

Why?

...   Alright! I'll play along ya fuck'n weirdo, what do-you-think is... the-most whatever, neglected part of whatever, Destiny the Game? whatever.

OH! I'll get there. But first, can you answer the question "why"?

...

...

...

...

My, but you're so quiet.

...  INSANEdrive, you're talking to yourself!

WELL, DOESN'T THAT JUST ANSWER EVERYTHING!

If you've been a regular around these parts, you have come across my rants, my pleas, and my over all hope for logic. And so my prevailing question through out this segment is; where is the logic? 

In hopes of sparing you all, I'm going to try and not restate what I've said in the past, but simply point to it. Here is my thread titled "'My Vault' prevents playing Destiny". I wrote this at the beginning of this year, 2022. I mention in it a hope that something would be seen in Witch Queen, even as I knew that if there was, it was decided months in the past before I wrote one word of it. 

And yet, it was true then too. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that.And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that.And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that. And before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that.And before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and before that.

But not before this. Destiny is a loot game. Destiny is a game with guns. Even then, in that development chaos, only one of those was done right. And it limps on into Destiny 2. Not fixed, but remedied. Do note that even with the vaulting, our vaults are STILL in-part stuck in 2018, That's over 3 years and 6 months. Or, to put that in "COVID time", 3 millennia and 6 centuries 'cus holy smokes does 2018 feel bygone.

Oh, and do note my mentioning of "in-part", as, while the vault space amount may have been increased, nothing else was changed about the Destiny 2 Vault. So, if you want to get really technical, add at least 356 days MORE to the real world time since there were any changes to our in-game Vault Methodology.

Shit, it's a wonder I feel anything at all.

...

...

...

...  <_<...>_>

...  Is... is that it?

...

...  So... all this is just about vault space, yet again?

...

No.

...

...  Then...?

...

...

...

The most neglected part of Destiny the Game. 

...

...  Yes, you've mentioned. But if this isn't abou-

I'm making a painting! 

...

...  Oh gee...

...  *Sigh*

...  A painting! Well! Tell ME MORE! Is this *feigned shock* a painting!

...

Oh MY GOSH! YES! How did you know-DON'T ANSWER THAT. You see, this next brush stroke is in the sub-thread "Have and Have-nots". This conversation happened in November of 2021. It starts out in protest of ability changes, but as the conversation evolves, we get this sub thread where I note the increase in granularity. About how more important build crafting is becoming. And then I say, in part;

We might not see all the necessary parts, "because game dev" I guess. By the time Witch Queen content drops if we haven't seen an update to build crafting implementation, I will stand along with you all torch in hand, bewildered.

True to my word, I stand here among you all, bewildered. And now I find myself with a problem; this is a... oh, my my, a VERY nice torch. Is that zebra wood? It would be a real waste of fuel to jump around with it. So instead, I, ever the artist, have decided to paint with my torch instead.

...

...

...  Oh. Kay.

...  

...  (Whatever.)

...

...  So... what are you making?

...

...

...

A very tall post for starters.

...  Yes I noticed. Do you have a reason for all this?

... 

*Full Body Nod*

...

...

...  So, uh, where are you going with all of this?

...

*Sigh*

Why isn't there a system to assist our playing of this game? IN GAME! IF IT'S IN THE API, WHY CAN'T WE DO THE EXACT SAME THING IN GAME! It's... moronic! Being able to do stuff outside the game IS COOL, but it should not be at the cost of the game and its usability. You know, THAT THING BUNGIE CLAIMS THEY CARE ABOUT! That's not totally fair but... I... shit I'm repeating myself, should not NEED to use a third party app to play this game.

Well, I guess that was going to sprout somewhere in this.

...

...

...

...  Can I, uh... can I leave? You're... worse than usual today. Gotta admit, you're kinda scaring me. I mean, I get it, you're "the crazy", heh — you go and do you. But, uh... this is kind of a lot.

...

Nu-Uhhh! This isn't like the macaroni incident. TO-TAL-LEE different. You'll see! There are reasons for *flails arms* all of this.

...

... Well, I guess it's not like I have a choice, so *Sigh*, fine. I'll bite.

YAY! 

...  So, you've referenced the vault, build crafting implementation, and your old rant about what you can do in-game and outside of the game. Why do you keep talking about this?

O_O

Well, that's just a dumb question. 

...

...  No no, I mean... ummmm, you'reee ultimately talking about usability, right? The ability to play the game with out the play of the game removing that ability?

...

...

...

...

... Uh, INSANE?

...

THEY SPENT a gosh darned year making a poll arm that doesn't even poll arm! Fuck.

...

...  INSANEdrive.

...

...  INSANEdrive.

...

... INSANEdrive!

WHAT! What.

...   This is about usability, correct? The ability to play the game without the play of, oh how did I say it? To play the game without that play... um, in turn, removing the ability to play the game. Or something like that. Basically, the more you play, the more you can't play. All the stuff that needs to be managed.

It's something like that. Ultimately, all this is about my question; where is the logic? 

...

...  You're ridiculous. Than why don't you just ask "Where is the logic in the Destiny 2s usability? Forgo, all of thi- Where are we?

...

...

Ahhhh, heh heh, *cough* *Breath* Because... I can't answer that. I can't answer that. And neither can the Devs. This is all just, madness. WE BROKE IT! IT WAS GOOD! And we broke it. But then the Devs broke it, and now... it's all sad. 

...  Reader. YEAH! I'm talking to you! WHY did you do this to me! Why did you grab the hand! You shouldn't of grabbed that hand. Now I'm stuck here, and I don't know how to get out. Bah! Like it matters. It looks like I'm stuck in some shitty plot. Problem is, I don't know where it's all coming from. It's really alarmingly empty in here. Where does all of this come from?

...

Who are you talking to? You sound C-R-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AY-Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heh-heh-heh.

...

Really? I sound crazy?! I'm FLOATING in WHO EVER KNOWS WHAT, and my companion seems like he's HIGHER THAN A MOON WIZARD! Dude, what is this all about?!?

...

*Chuckle*

*Sigh*

Oh! Heh heh heh, that's a QUESTION! A fair question. It's about... what we're not getting, I suppose. And my Spin-foil hat whispers that it's because BUNGIE WANTS it to be time consuming. Heh heh heh. But... Okay, so check this out. Did you click that link in "the vaulting"? IT'S OK! Even if you didn't, here is the jest. It's a Paul Tassi Destiny article about this Youtube video which all boils down to the reasons for the "Content Vault". Spoilers! It's because SOMEONE apparently felt that making a "Destiny 3" (at least so soon) would be pointless.

The headliner of it all being;

Luke Smith explained to the group the idea that Destiny was full of so many bugs and so hard to develop for because it essentially needed to be rebuilt. And that the purpose of the content vault isn’t just about saving hard drive space, it’s that these planets and activities are being rotated out of the game in order to be "rebuilt" in a way that suggests a new process or new engine, in order to be returned to the game later in a "better" form. 

SO! With everything in this game, with as big as this game is, Bungie is doing everything they can to make sure it isn't held together with spaghetti. For the sake of what we speak of, fine. Every time there is an expansion, CODE IS BEING UPDATED AND ADDED! Basically meaning that what we get in result could be called Destiny 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and so on. That article was written in August of 2020. We've had a Beyond Light Update and now a Witch Queen Update, plus all the little tweaks in-between. 

The OLD vault is still shit. Untouched. Folks, it's not just about vault space! Even just an update to how you find stuff IN your vault would be a win. Give me a drop down so that if I select pulse rifles, I see all pulse rifles in my vault. SIMPLE SHIT! SIMPLE SIMPLE SHIT! It's all front-end! (As far as I know, anyway.)

But who cares about the old shit, right? Not that anyone uses it! I'M SO SILLY! It's all about "that new hotness" being made RIGHT NOW! I mean, technically it's the "pasts right now", with the witch queen and all being made then, but... hopefully you get it. For the time being, what debuted in Witch Queen is the new shit.

So here we are. A WHOLE NEW EXPANSION! Go Fast is more gone than not, and we are truly now in the age of the Mod System (there is a British joke in there somewhere). Not just in armor, but slowly in light/dark too. Age of the Build Crafter; armor, weapons and abilities. I reiterate, these choices of "what to make" are made months in advance. So if there is this push for this new-ish way to play through an emphsis in build crafting; WHERE IN THE FUCK IS THE FRAMEWORK FOR QUICK and EASY build crafting?! IN GAME! We know Bungie can do this stuff because IT WAS IN HALO: REACH! That's over a decade ago! We KNOW that this is the new intended way which Destiny is to be played. If that is so, WOULDN'T A FOUNDATIONAL FRAMEWORK BE SOMETHING YOU WOULD PUBLISH IN A NEW EXPANSION TO BUILD ON TOP OF!?

WHY WOULD BUNGIE NOT WANT TO MAKE THEIR GAME EASIER TO PLAY??! 

It's LIKE THE ONLY FUCKING LOGIC IN DESTINY, which is entirely built on the concept of LOOT is "why make a bridge, when you can just swim across?"

HERE! TAKE THIS D.I.M RAFT!

I can at least guess my answer, but, again, third-party apps should not be at the cost of the game and its in game usability. It boggles my lost mind to metaphorical tears. If I can do it with a third party, why can't I do it IN-GAME!? Y'ALL KEEP kicking the the CAN down the road, and it keeps building up gunk. It gets harder and HARDER to do, kick kick kick. Worse and worse.

I guess some dev is likely to say, "Oh, but the time we would use to build on this would be at the cost of other content to play. You'll literally be losing new content to play". To that end, I say, GREAT! FUCKING DO IT! Put it to a vote even, if you must. If you can waste a year making a pole arm become nothing more than a magic knife on a stick, you can spend a FAR OVERDUE year reinforcing the very FOUNDATIONS of playing your game. THE LOOT SYSTEM, and the MANAGEMENT of SAID LOOT. IT'S A WHOLESALE NEEDED part of the game Y'ALL BUILT. It's a LOOT GAME! There is going to be loot. So the faster we can finish, the faster we can go play. Make what is time consuming, not. FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Why can't I compare things without moving it all around? Right now, we can only compare ONE piece of kit with ONE other piece of kit AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME, and it has to be ON YOUR PERSON or you can't compare it! SHIT! BRILLIANT SYSTEM THERE FOLKS! This management shit Is SOOOOoooooOOO fun!  

oh but hey man you can do this in D.I.M

It ain't fun there either! Managing copious amounts of guns and whatever else isn't something I recall as advertised in the marketing material. GEE I WONDER WHY. But the worst part here folks... *Sad chuckle*... it never needed to be... *sigh*...it never needed to be like this. For all of this, they've been SITTING... Bungie has been seemingly sitting on the solution for years. It's already built into Destiny 2.

The Collections Tab. 

As the grizzled among us know, when Destiny 2 launched, there were no random rolls. The solution, of sorts, already existed. It was launched into the game. But then the community, or at least parts of it, cried out loud enough for the slot machine with RNG perks. And Bungie acquiesced to the request, making the collections system they had built... moot. But before random perk rolls to weapons (and armor) were implemented, Bungie said, or rather at the time, Investment Designer Matt McConnell said this in a Bungie Weekly Update, dated on 28th of June, 2018:

We don’t like keeping some items from experiencing the full Collections treatment, so we’re looking at a long-term solve for storing your exact perk rolls in Collections.

Exact perk rolls. Brother, I could not agree with you more... though I suppose the misspent textual emotion, or rather the continually purer expressions of pure bewildered confoundment, implies that. I wonder what happened, as we obviously did not get this, well over three years later. As a result, we, should you play enough to do so, find ourselves crushed under a false problem erroneously built, shoehorned into the systems around inventory. It seems to me that we, the fans, broke the plan. A hairline crack in the wall. But then, perhaps in ignorance of scope, or perhaps an over abundance of hope, it was decided that there was no need to make a Destiny 3, and so this hairline crack grows to this day. And while it doesn't explain why we don't at least have "a reach like system" to help us quickly select the builds we can make, it does help show the folly of all of this. 

But hey! What if! 

The first thing to keep in mind is that RNG Loot is nothing more than ability points you can lose. More so true now, as Bungie seeks to make guns the primary expression of your ability and in turn the paracausal powers we can wield, less.  

Imagine for a moment. Imagine if we had "no inventory," as collections would be our inventory. Even if it was just an odd half measure, which I'll get to in a moment, there would be far far less need for any of this crap squeezed into the loop to have fun in this game. Want a gun? Go into collections. Does it need to be an exact roll? You grab what you've saved/earned/built-up in collections, because this game lets you craft your fun. We're already moving that way in building guns, and hey! Even the artifact is in on the act. What about the light system? Well, I don't like the light system either, but one problem at a time. So, with it in mind, things drop in the game at light. That's your "loot". You infuse it into a weapon in your collections. Boom now all of those in that branch of weapon type in collections will always drop at that light. Yes, I know there are problems with that, but for the sake of the text, deal with it. The Light system has its own problems, which I can rant about another day. So, anyway, with this idea, you can't infuse collections drops, as I presume there has to be (even if I think it would probably be unnecessary,) some sort of "play the game to build the game" loop. What about armor? In a way, armor does have some sort of "collections" system built in with transmog, but armor is a different beast, for which I don't yet have a conceptual answer. As I said, "half measures," but I sure wouldn't mind suddenly having access to 500 slots for just armor. It would make builds a lot easier. But even if the collections concept only worked for weapons, what a boon! By freeing this game from its needless horseshit, by letting us build our fun and keep it, by letting this game be exactly that, a game- IT WOULD CHANGE THE GAME! Making and imagining up builds is a fun time-consuming task, but sorting through your loot and deciding what to keep and what to shard isn't fun at all. It's busy work. I just want to play the game man! Collections could have been the infinity pocket, before we all SNAPPED it away. It could have solved so many problems, and it has just... been forgotten. THEY DON'T USE IT! It's ALREADY IN THE GAME!

There is SO MUCH VARIETY that only grizzled veterans know. Brilliant fun hidden under needless stupid. HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THIS?! HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY this status quo, for years. Wheres the "Director's Cut" about THIS kind of stuff, yeah?! I could go on, but honestly... I'm just so fatigued by it all, I just... I just... it hurts to think about.

...

...

...  Wow.

...

... That was, one Big 'ol wall of text. You've, uh, really been holding that in there, eh? A shame, I really hope that was cathartic for ya, because you know... nothing is going to change, you know that right?

...

...

*Grrrrrr.*

...

...

...And I just got growled at? This is my day.

... so INSANE, thank you for sharing your perspective, so... how do I get out of here? Is this like Alice in Wonderland? Mario 64? Do I need to jump into a painting, or what?

I remember when I was painting. Boy, did it make my fingers taste awful!

...

...  uhhhhhh, waaaa????

...

...  Uhhh, INSANE... are you ok?

This one time, I made this BIG BUTTERFLY! And then I gave it to my mommy. 

...

...  Oh?! Uh, INSANEdrive did you breath for ANY of that wall of te-

WAIT!

...  <_<

Do you hear that? I hear... voices. The keep saying the same thing AGAIN and AGAIN. WHY DO I HERE THEM?! It's like they are trying to berry their thoughts INTO MY BRAIN! Do you here those food steps?

...  "Berry"? "Here"? "Food steps"? Are those typos?

AAHHH! 

AHHHHH!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

WHY AM I AN IGUANA! I DON'T WANNA BE AN IGUANA!

... OK! Quick decision, I hope this works. *SLAP*

OW!

...

How did you do that?!

...  I don't know- but who cares-it worked. Let's just finish this.

...

Right! No, sure, you're right... where was I?

...

...   Honestly it felt like you were done to me, but ?I guess you have a reason for ALL OF THIS! So, eh, is there a magic word I need to say or something? No? Nothing? Fine, you were talking about... I think, about how a segregated portion of the game in both past and current systems has been affected by this game being so broken so many times, and as a result, things that should NEVER of been neglected have been neglected. They would be time consuming to implement, as the fix to allow such things would in themselves be time consuming to implement. A maintenance ouroboros, if you will. Thus that "can" keeps getting kicked down the road, building up gunk along the way-

Like managing the Vault Space? Comparing what you had drop with what you have already? Switching from one load out to another? Even creating builds in the first place? Those kinds of things?

...  sure, sure 

Did I mention how collections is and has been the easiest way to solve numerous problems with the-

...  -You did mention something about collections, please let me finish...

Oh, sorry, go on.

...     As I was saying, and as a result, most of the utilitarian portion of the game is so universally ignored that it seems to affect everything, INCLUDEING CHOICES, regardless of their age. New or old, just about nothing can be done, except build around it. I guess it's just a band-aid on top of another band-aid. You said that it seems like Bungie doesn't want their game to be easier to play, (but that's a bunch of crap) and that they WANT it to be time-consuming. Old or new, Vault or "Builds" organization, you implied that if it wasn't pure PvE content, it doesn't matter to Bungie, which again isss craaap... It seems to me that you're so distraught that you're having a hard time figuring out the "lack of logic" and, Oh!

What?

...     That was what you said was the main question. Where is the logic? OH! WAS THAT THE MAGIC PHRASE! I, feel something? AM I FREE NOW!?! *Pat* *pat* I FEEL SOMETHING! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING! Getting kind of dizzy...

Where is the logic? Hmmmm... Well, isn't that a fantastic question.

This isn't the first time Bungie has or has not, done things that in turn left me feeling basically empty, left with only my wonder. In those times too, from my very first "Mega Post" as I recall, it was all because of unfulfilled expectations. Not unreasonable, mind you, just unfulfilled. Made up. Basically nothing more but what you see here; a conversation with my self. He's OK. Bit of an occasional grump though. Not that I blame 'im sometimes.

ANYWAY!

With this topic, I can't help but keep mentioning it, and I feel like I'm going crazy. 

Again and again  and again, I speak about this. And it feels like I might as well be talking to myself! I can't help but keep mentioning it! I feel like I'm going crazy. 

#Paydirt #Formatting #WinkyFace #gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo

(Did anyone here catch "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"?)

I've listed all the reasons I feel as I do, and I'm left wondering what else I should do. Can do. We're not Reddit, so we're not cool enough for a direct answer. And, by all odds, my post would be lost on reddit. (Shoot, some of you might be lost here :P)

I don't know what more I can do, short of writing a hard paper letter and sending it VIA snail mail. I've talked and ranted and rambled about this for far too long, much like the thing I've been ranting about. As it is, for far too long.

Bungie likes to talk about how much they love this game. PLAY this game. You know the shpeel. And I honestly don't know how they do it. It's crazy. Just... crazy. 

And shit, while we're at it, since all this will have to be planned MONTHS in advance, can we get a SEASON of PvP? NO PvE content. AT ALL. And I say that as a person who is all about PvE. It's... y'all been doing those PvP folks dirty for too long. What's that? Season 17? Is there anything about Vault Space?

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. ~Narcotics Anonymous

Just crazy. And I can't help but ask...

...

...

...

Why?

...

...

...

The Power of the Dog by Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie—
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But… you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long—
So why in—Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

A Builder Or a Wrecker by Charles Franklin Benvegar

As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”
He gave a laugh and said, “No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.”

“I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do.”
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play'

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can'

Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!”

Well, congratulations. You made it.
Welcome to the home stretch.
I admit, it did have its silly moments, which were fun to write.
I hope they were fun to read, and that they lent forth
some interesting sight.

Despite what art or tendency I'm helpless to bring, that a wider sense of things can be made of it.
And while, I did not intend for this to be so much more an event, it apparently simply needed to be.
By what reason or happenstance, is at present, simply unknown to me. ...But, I can hope.

Of the thoughts I could bring to bear in an evening, I might as well finish here.
And while I do not bring meaning to the true of the word, it is indeed still true.
As where I sit, I'm but helpless to it.
Despite all evidence contrary, for myself... it's nothing new...

...and I am an Idiot.

It is beyond frustrating, to find limit in your sight. How dare I, a mere mortal, be so constrained to light.
Most of my criticism, observations, and whatever else I've brung,
brought about,
Shown before you to look SOMETHING LIKE THIS!
Implies, without me personally doing so, a certain perfection.
That the clock is 9 to 5, and that everything is going to plan.
I make it sound oh so pure and simple, like some blue-bird song collection,
echoing in the hills.

I am an Idiot.

Despite my hopes that everyone reading this either understands,
or is able to bring them selves in to know "in on the joke,"
I know that some of you might not be reguler DBO folk,
and that you may miss that.
People who have worked SO HARD to provide for their families and... us!
WE THE FANS!
Only to be roasted by some git, a kebob and a spit,
some unknown face, seemingly proclaiming their wrath as some kind of wit.
I bring no excuse. Know my full apology here now.

I am an Idiot.

I know there is a limit to what can be said by Bungie.
A pure shame, indeed, as it's fun talking shop sometimes. About that creative brass.
Sharing love and task, with out even a need to ask.
We're all creators in some way, and right now, this is what I have to create. Alas!
For the silence we find, we must blame the risk of a wretched world. Blame the lawyers. Blame the laws. Blame the folks who are ACTUALLY toxic. Making death threats and harnessing game developers. *Spit*
...I know that this is just a game.
And yet, for me to spend so much time with my scribbles here?
I must speak again all the same-

-I am an Idiot.

Boundless enthusiasm to bring, wasted here. Saved still by the joy of unknown peer.
An insane drive, if you will, and it's a shame that,
for now, this is the easiest way for me to show that enthusiasm. Chat chat chat!
Lost in a world that dares to ask of my acquirements.
To bring forth "proof" in a world of shapes and requirements.
A madman who knows no shape. Who CLEARLY has nothing to give on a page.
"Clearly, this is so true."
3 seconds glance is all that is due.

I am an Idiot.

And it's a shame. Not just that I am an idiot, but that for all my unrequited passion, whatever good thoughts I DO bring forward are so lost in a sea of words. That I must swim to the outskirts of my mind, lips clenched and chest tight, just to have a chance to bring forth unknown riches (should their sparkle prove true) to the surface.

I'm an Idiot. But, I am not stupid.
De omni re scibili et quibusdam aliis,
Thank you, Bungie. I look forward to the next one.

Cheers,

INSANEdrive

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. ~ W.B. Yeats