A Gameing Lament, I guess. (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Monday, June 19, 2023, 18:18 (522 days ago) @ INSANEdrive

It's Saturday. And I find myself with... what are these words? Free... tyme? Time for me to do... whatever. And, instead of doing one of many things "I can just do that later", I find myself... reflecting. Indeed, on the time so free and so much. And, naturally... some of those thoughts have ebbed to Destiny The Game and.

...

It's been a decade y'all. 2013. And holy shit. fuck. what a ride. I admit, some of that... lol, oh man, some of that sentiment is not from gaming, but, yeah, Destiny the Game. 10 years. We hit the other side.

The "How can anything be bigger than Halo?"

And I'm thinking about the Decade before that... one where Halo "took over the world", and rightly so, to this one of Destiny the Game and all it's... ever continued variances. And, naturally, I'm thinking to the future decade as well, 2033, which... shit. Wait wait... there is a soundtrack for this.

Yeah. I bet. Cool story bro. Anyway, lets keep the context in gameing, yeah? So I'm thinking about Cyberpunk 2077 (which I still haven't touched to it's still new to me), and Starfield, and Mass Effect 4 or whatever it shall be and... big single player games.

In thinking about all of this, I find an epiphany. And it is an answer to the question I've been asking myself at some measure, for quite some time. Why am I playing Destiny? Sometimes I'll even add the word "still" in there for good measure. And I'll find the same 'ol reasons, that while true... something about them were off. Yeah gun-play, weapon feel, explosions, team play, cool stuff, so on. It's been a decade, if you're still surfing around these shores the jest is known.

I mean, yah! It's... it's cool. It's neat. Jump in, blow shit up, good times... I guess. But... spoilers here, Destiny... no... Bungie does not have a monopoly on game-play feel. Nor the many virtual ways of blowing shit up. Cool weaponry, or whatever imaginative way we imbue an ever energetic *pop*, colors and sound. So... Why am I playing Destiny?

Halo, I've realized. True in more ways than one, but also... co-op. NO! Not co-op, but not quite possible with out it either. Only Mass Effect, for me, has even slightly been able to pull off this exacting thing without co-op, and even then... even then. When I finally realized the answer, I went and looked at all the games that can even match the size and scope of Destiny. Really really BIG games, such as those under the Bethesda umbrella, most don't have co-op. If you look at Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield, and shoot, y'all imagine how crazy it would be to Co-Op in Skyrim? The ability to Co-Op in many many large single player games does not exist, and as a result, I've been playing this game for a Decade, as there has been little else "place" to go.

The thing I've realized is, that I've been playing Destiny The Game for a decade due to...

Hijinks.

That's right. Hijinks. The, if I may ever quote Merriam-Webster, the "boisterous or rambunctious carryings-on". The "carefree antics or horseplay". And it's all Halos fault. Freek'n gateway drug, I swear.

I've got memories, in Halo.-In Forge. That are, somehow, simultaneously so much fun, and so much stupid, but exists as some of... out of ALL the Decades of many many many video games from many many many brilliant game developers and... and ideas of vast imaginations, NOTHING has hit quite like that vast chasm of stupid game-types folks came up with in forge. The one that comes to mind right now is the one where we need to climb up a slope while warthogs keep spawning up top and falling down the ramp, like, STUPID shit. DUMB. But holy crap was it fun. And we could jump on, and laugh, and chat, and not give a shit about any of lifes bull because, brother, you were dodging warthogs (or not) and life was good.

We're social creatures, and there's something real nice about being able to play-about with out creating some damage in the process, the eggs on the wall or the rocks though abandoned glass.

And I've been exploring, can such good times exist elsewhere? And yeah, it can, but... eh. It was fun because there was no expectation, but we knew at the same time. After that, it's just the roll of the dice.

And, that's why I've still been playing Destiny, the loneliest social game I've ever played. I've sunk so much time into this game, and I've done it so that I could play, whatever. This game is so cruel.

I've mentioned to some of you that my time on this game grows short, that once we bop on that kawaii S.O.B, that I'm jumping ship. That my watch has ended.

I'm so tired of this game and it's shit. And while I do still find the fun in it, it asks for too much. The one complaint I've had end to end is still true, one where "I just want to play", and if I want to play the end game stuff, it's just not in the cards. A shame, as Bungie finally seems to realize the bull that was it's "power" or "light" system, among with all the rest of its convoluted and purposely cruel mechanics to time-suck away the pain of the overwhelming incompetence on display when they first started this game so long ago. Resolving on a conveyor belt of quantity over quality. But hey, that's modern gaming for ya, I suppose. Why care if its right, when you can just fix it whenever in post.

What? I'm INSANEdrive, not COMPLETE-F'N-IDIOTdrive... well. At least in theory anyway, lol. Change is part of the deal. I've let Destiny have time to change, and now I'm working on making yet another change of my own. I have plenty to do without video games, including cleaning my Den which apparently I'm doing my darnedest not to clean even though I KNOW, I REALLY REALLY need to do it! You could have done it when it was light, and now you're going to do it when it's DARK!

Stupid COMPLETE-F'N-IDIOTdrive and his stupid. Dumb, lol.

So... when I stop playing this game, just... remove it from my Xbox hard drive, what then? I've dedicated a decade to this stupid stupid. And as I mentioned, co-op in other games, or at least the ones that to me seem like something I want to play... man alive.

I don't know.

I guess I'll just start walking, and find where ever my feet take me.

Aw shit. Guess I gotta clean the den now. ...

Shit.

This post is weird to me, because your sadness doesn't come from your relationship with Destiny, but rather, your addiction to it. Your dependence on it to fill the hole that it once did.
Here's the thing, though. That hole? It's not Destiny-shaped. It's not even filled by Destiny itself. More than anything, it's been filled by the people you play/used to play it with. People who don't regularly hop on anymore. People who shared the new content, who struggled by your side, and who would often end the nights with an extended trip to the tower and a "see y'all tomorrow". The Dogcows, Ottermacks, MEZes, BaghdadBeans, Up Norths, and Cougrons :(
The list of people to share these new experiences has dropped steadily.

I think that's the itch that the gaming nights fail to scratch for you. Each person you can no longer have experiences with is one more shortcoming that this game has. And those who have stuck around aren't experiencing new things, they're just on the wheel with you.
When I reinstalled the game recently, I hopped on, and didn't even bother to look to see who was on, because nobody would be doing the struggle of leveling from 1600 the long way like I was. Everybody would be doing the fifteen runs a week of the ritual activity that they needed for the pinnacles and patterns and fish and nightfalls, so they could be leveled for the raids, and Grandmasters, and Exotic quests, and dungeon, and blah blah blah blah....

I haven't been in a rush, so my goal was to go up five points of light per game session, then I'd call it and play something else. I hung out in parties, but listening to folks play destiny was a weird bummer, because I don't hear anyone having fun. It's just people doing work, discussing pinnacle drops, frustrated about loot, looking for checkpoints, ranting about Crucible, mocking Claude's builds (lol)... It's weird to see some of these folks have absolutely nothing to play besides Destiny, but so desperately need to play something besides Destiny.
So that's where I see you. "Can such good times exist elsewhere?" My guy, Destiny is probably the worst place to seek good times! You need to play something besides Destiny. There are some really fantastic gaming experiences just waiting for you, like you said, but you know why you just let them sit in your library? Because that live-service itch just keeps pulling you towards Destiny. So you know what you need? You just need to rope a friend or two into a co-op game. You need a transition game to push the Destiny addiction out, then you'd be Cyberpunking, Finalizing your Fantasy, and Ragnaroking in no time.

You may remember a player we used to play Destiny with named Sammy.
Sammy likes playing games with others, but refused to play Destiny on Bungie's terms, so when it came time for her to figure out how she would engage with gaming, she bounced to games that don't demand grinding for numbers or item rolls to play. She wants things to just work, so when a new expansion, or raid or dungeon came out, I made sure to have builds and Light levels ready for her to experience the content.
Because to her, it's playing with others that's fun, but if it means grinding for ages just to experience that tiny portion of content, nobody's worth that to her (except maybe playing with Claude, lolx2).
So recently, she convinced one of our friends who only played BRs to play a co-op game with her. I've never heard the guy have so much fun as when he was playing Resident Evil 5, which is famously remembered as a "bad" game.

We all then started playing The Forest, and listening to us play convinced another friend to get the game (as detailed in the community check-in post). So while you mentioned co-op games under the caveat of being "something you want to play", the trick is to just play one. Any. Find someone, find a good co-op game, and play it. Remnant: From the Ashes is a fantastic co-op experience. Try out Deep Rock Galactic for a night or two. Both of these games have investment systems, but unlike Destiny, the investment is not the game.

Grab anyone and run through The Division 2's free Descent mode, which is completely separate from the buildcrafting of the main game (which has long separated itself from the numbers grind in favor of targeted sets of gear and upgradeable secondary stats).

Just sit down and play anything with anyone that's not Destiny.
You'll be free of that addiction in no time.

Aw shit. Guess I gotta clean the den now. ...

Shit.

No totally. I hate to quote the King of the Incels, but absolutely:

Clean Your Room.

You'd be surprised at how much of a good effect clean surroundings have on your mental wellbeing, even when you're just crossing the room to sit in front of a monitor.