From someone mostly dark on Destiny: (Destiny)

by Doooskey, Kansas City, MO, Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 13:22 (3870 days ago) @ NartFOpc

The Borderlands story is funny, and consistent, but it never really drove me. What really stands out is the personality of the characters. The world itself felt bland and empty to me. Even when running around with 3 buddies, there was a certain amount of life missing. I think of games like Skyrim, which has no multiplayer or online, but the world feels vibrant, alive, itching for exploration. Why? Because of the developers. There are ruins... treasures worth finding, lively cities, a vast wilderness. Borderlands wild areas just felt like empty space to make the world seem bigger or as filler to make the journey from A to B longer.

When I see screens/videos of Destiny and hear about the world, I want to explore it... Ruins left to discover, uncharted territory, mystery. It reminds me of the sense I had about Skyrim before it came out. But here's the kicker... Destiny will have that sort of feel on multiple regions of multiple planets (remember, Skyrim is just one region, although it is pretty big) and it will be a shared world. There will be life, random encounters, and epic public battles mixed into the adventures of you and your fireteam. I heard Lars Bakken in an interview talking about "bubbles" of players, some you interact with, some that just pop up on the horizon. What better way to make a world feel alive, interesting, intriguing and exciting - than to have actually people (not AI) creating the sense of life to the world. I have a feeling it will be awesome.

As far as game play, this looks far tighter than Borderlands, plus without a doubt my favorite FPS gameplay has always been the Halo series - and this looks to improve on that. Borderlands is fun though, very fun, even if I think it feels a bit clunky. Don't get me started on vehicle gameplay...

When it comes to loot... In Borderlands there is sooo much loot, but nearly all of it is trash. You fight a great boss, and you can still get something worthless. In a game like Skyrim, you traverse ancient ruins to find that one chest... and you know whatever it is, it will be worth your time. There is a sense of earning the reward and having fun while you do it. Borderlands sort of crams loot into every nook and cranny (and toilet) so that you lose that sense of achievement/adventure. You may just turn a corner and see a random chest out in the open with a killer grenade, but you can fight through tons of difficult enemies and not get anything worth your while. I looked at WAAAAY too many gun descriptions, and did way too much comparison in that game. I probably spent as much time in menus looking at junk guns as I did using guns worth my time (before I level up and left that gun behind). In Destiny, your guns level up with you, and when you find an exotic, it becomes a part of your character, your story, you won't just chuck it one day, but as you use it - you will upgrade it. When you no longer use it, it will become a trophy on your wall, in your apartment, in the tower... :)

Borderlands did a lot right... But man, Bungie knows how to create epic story moments, epic multiplayer moments they know how to create interesting characters, story and lore (I am excited to see Bungie's take on investment for myself) - I think, when it is all said and done, we won't even be comparing these two games because Destiny will be so different. It's just too cheap and easy right now to say, "Detinsy are Halo disguized as bordurlnds"

I can think of a lot of similarities between two games like Skyrim and Borderlands, but they are sooo different in how they execute those similarities. Just because Destiny is an FPS and it is doing some similar things as other games, does not mean the execution will be anything close to the same.