Probably not a popular opinion but... (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, July 24, 2014, 14:12 (3786 days ago) @ Fuertisimo
edited by Cody Miller, Thursday, July 24, 2014, 14:30

For all the things Destiny is doing right (awesome visuals, interesting sci-fi world, awesome music, cool social features) it is pretty disappointing that they so patently lifted gameplay systems pretty much wholesale from Diablo and WoW.

And it lifts the WORST ASPECTS of those systems.

My biggest problem with Destiny is that it is overly loot focused to the detriment of the missions themselves. I feel like the beacons should be giving you missions like the story missions are now, and the story missions should be as substantial as a level in Halo for example. They are they way they are because they want you to grind for faction points, and to replay the story missions in the hopes of getting cool drops or end rewards.

As a result, instead of using missions and bounties to expand the world like all the side quests in the original Deus Ex, they are busy work that are not fun in and of themselves. Likewise the story missions are just barely connected to each other, and no weight is given to your actions. If I'm going to "Become Legend", then why isn't the story advancing because of my actions? Every mission after the first begins with something like "Reports say that…" or "Our Scouts say that…". Each mission should begin because of something we do in the last one! It doesn't feel like you are shaping the story, but are just a guardian for hire.

There is definitely a critical mass to narrative, and a bunch of little story missions do not equal fewer larger ones. Just look at Spartan Ops in Halo 4, and to a limited extent episodic adventure games.

There is so much potential here, but it really is being ruined by stupid systems that in the long run nobody even likes. I have this nagging feeling I'm going to enjoy the game for a while, until the inevitable 'sideways' progression appears and has me grind. Again, the systems I am talking about are the PLAYER INVESTMENT SYSTEMS. They suck. Just make your game deep and enjoyable, and have everything be its own reward.