Quests / Missions (Destiny)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Thursday, March 27, 2014, 15:25 (3902 days ago) @ Ragashingo

I'm totally with you on this - I'd love to see stuff that can be missed if you're not paying attention (because then NOT missing it is worth more).

This.

The biggest problem I see (and I have no clue how Bungie - or any other company, for that matter - is actually handling it) is that there's a conflict between wanting to give the player cool options like this and being able to justify to whoever's paying for development the work involved in putting in content that might not be seen by a significant fraction of the playerbase. (I know where YOU come down on that conflict, Cody - but it ain't your money, at least not during the development phase. ;) )

Also, this.

Ten years ago cheat codes were trivial to find on the internet and even the most complex, hard to reproduce easter eggs (like the Halo 2 IWBYD skull) were being shared by the people who had capture cards or were willing to point a camera at a TV screen. Now, with everybody's computers and video game consoles recording video of their actions all the time, the expenses of making a how to video have also vanished and with any vaguely interesting thing spreading over Twitter and Youtube how does the calculus of a feature not being seen even compute anymore?

There are a couple ways to deal with this, which I sincerely hope Bungle will employ in Destiny:

1. Specifically timed events. The example that leaps to mind is Skorm's Bow in Fable. You had to complete some task, I think toss money in a well, or execute an innocent or something, at the stroke of midnight in a specific place. The reward was the best bow in the game. Basically circumstances in the world have to be right for some secrets to reveal themselves.

2. Rare, "roaming" encounters. A la Doom Gaze from Final Fantasy III (VI). Also, I think there was a ghost ship of some kind in LoZ:Windwaker. Kind of another case where the circumstances have to be right. I think cases like these provide some of the most pervasive and persistent lore-related encounters in a virtual world. If it's rare enough (and the payoff valuable enough), word will spread within the community like wildfire. However, (and maybe this is just the sadist in me talking) specific measures could be taken to thwart farmers, to ensure that the rarity of the encounter (and potency of the legend) remains just that.

It strikes me that all that really needs done in this regard is to have faith in the community. The samurai helmet in H3 was a great little gem, unfortunately ruined by the folks that chose to delve into the game data. Much like a masterful author, Bungie simply needs to trust their audience. After all, they didn't gain such a passionate following by pulling punches and pre-masticating puzzles.

No hand-holding, I think, is really Cody's wish here. And I wholeheartedly agree. To preserve the mystery, to reward exploration and investigation as much as possible, and to demand better from what's becoming a generation of lazy-minded gamers (and coddling developers), I think as little direction as possible would be the best approach in many cases.

~m